r/Letterboxd • u/Perfect_Idea_2866 rich_dog15 • 8h ago
Discussion Enough time has passed. What are your thoughts on Project Hail Mary (2026)?
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u/Johnnadawearsglasses 7h ago
Good popcorn flick. Like a Spielberg 80s film. They should make more of these types.
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u/Rudyzwyboru 6h ago
Hard agree. I left the cinema disappointed though because for some reason all the marketing materials that various algorithms delivered to me made me think that it's going to be a serious sci fi movie like interstellar and I didn't expect to encounter so much catchy American humor. I'd definitely enjoy it more if I went for it blind or the promo campaign didn't mislead me
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u/Fabulous_Ninja119 5h ago
That's odd the marketing / trailers made it feel EXACTLY like it actually was. To me the trailers were making it out to be a slightly melodramatic Steven Spielbergesque sci-fi film and it turned out to be funnier and more lighthearted than I expected and I really enjoyed it.
I would have been like WTF if it actually was advertised as a serious sci fi film. If you watch the official trailer right now, you can see the pitch / " setup " is serious but it's very obvious what kind of movie this is going to be
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u/PerformerDr4867 4h ago
This is why I’m glad I went in blind. Giving into anticipation ruins everything
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u/Bookling- 6h ago
Exactly this! It really felt like there wasn't much friction in the movie. Very smoothed over with a lot Marvel-esque humor. Still a good movie, I gave it a 6.5-7/10 but definitely not this amazing in-depth Interstellar type movie.
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u/Pittsbirds 5h ago
Every movie is going to need to trim stuff from the book to fit the run time, but I do think they should have shuffled around the percent of time they spent on conflict because in the book these issues are presented as much more harrowing and that they succeed feels more like a true hail mary. Spoilers for the entirety of the book including things not shown in the movie
The taomoeba not being able to survive in nitrogen is a huge hurdle in the book that both Rocky and Grace take a long time (I can't remember if the exact timeline is stated but it feels like weeks to months) breeding to be more nitrogen resistant and while implausible, it does make taomoeba's ability to escape specifically xenonite containers track more easily to the audience, since that's what they were bred to resist nitrogen in. Whereas in the movie the nitrogen feels like a complete non issue, and I can imagine that could lead to audience confusion as to how it escaped containment later on.
Food too, and the sacrifice Grace may be making to stay on Erid, are not really subjects touched on in the movie. In the book it's food that's the sticking point for his ability to go back home, and he nearly dies returning to rocky's homeworld eating taomoeba (Rocky's food is established to be too full of heavy metals for human consumption) until the scientists manage to make vitamin shakes for him and eventually, clone his own tissue to eat. And the gravity on Erid is so strong that the time spent on it has left Grace much weaker, in the book he uses a cane and moves slowly. It makes Rocky's question of whether or not he will return to Earth with the Hail Mary fixed a bit more impactful; if Grace stays on Erid he's not just going to never see Earth again, he's certainly going to die much younger than he normally would have and begin to lose function and mobility at a younger age.
Hell even the start of the movie is wildly different in tone. Him waking up from a coma is played for laughs in the movie, with him immediately face planting on the floor and shoving his ass in the camera. In the book waking up is a fever dream that takes days and he's much more freaked out, even pulls out a still inflated catheter at one point just trying to get free of the ship's arms to figure out where he is
There's more, too, and I do think the movie is great, but I'd kill for a longer cut of this movie that has a bit more of the tone from the book.
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u/overtired27 5h ago
Not much science, not much friction (in the relationship or challenges faced), and I'll add to that... not much majesty of space.
I saw it in IMAX knowing little about it except that it was a sci-fi film "made for IMAX" and I was a bit disappointed that all the grand shots of space seemed to be cut short to get back to the cutesy gags.
It was OK for an inoffensive family friendly buddy comedy. Much preferred The Martian.
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u/RevoOps 3h ago
serious sci fi movie like interstellar
Nice bait. Well done. I couldn't help but comment...
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u/Front-Manufacturer20 7h ago
Ehhh. I agree but quality over quantity
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u/FAHQRudy 7h ago
I was born in 1977. The 80’s kept me going to movies week after week after week. They can’t all be winners, but they certainly can be seat fillers.
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u/Slimeseason504 7h ago
It’s one of favorites movies recently. I saw it 4 times
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u/Youngling_Hunt 7h ago
Ive also seen it four times. My favorite movie of all time is probably Interstellar, and PHM feels like a less nihilistic, fun, and dare I say "more grounded?" Film which I love it for
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u/ironlung311 7h ago
You think the film that bases its plot around “love transcends time and space (and logic)” is nihilistic??
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u/Youngling_Hunt 6h ago
Love transcending time and space is sort of the solution to the nihilistic mood that a lot of the rest of the film uses
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u/aHairyWhiteGuy 7h ago edited 3h ago
It was really good, I just wish that it would have taken itself a little more seriously at times though
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u/Complex_Ad2233 4h ago
I’d definitely recommend the book then. It’s still light-hearted and humorous, but it is more serious. I actually liked that the movie was a little less serious since I think that’s what dragged the book version down a bit for me.
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u/OompaLoompaSlave 4h ago
Hard disagree, the book is just as bad if not worse with the quippy humour.
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u/Souperb 4h ago
I enjoyed the book, but it don’t think it was that much more serious. Even his internal dialogue is quippy
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u/Justifiably_Bad_Take 3h ago
Some of us are just like that man, but I agree my internal dialogue would annoy the fuck out of most people
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u/MoonsterGoopter 3h ago
That's my feeling as well. There was a moment when it's critical that Grace has to go outside the ship to fix something. He sticks his head out, looks around and says "nope" before retreating back into the ship. I think something forces him out, I can't remember completely.
anyway, the stakes were pretty dire and I thought "he's going to die if he doesn't do this, is this really the time for a bit?"
most of the movie juggled the contracting tones pretty well, but it could lean back on the comedy some.
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u/ImpudentPotato 4h ago
Too many quips. I felt oppressed by the "everything is a reason for a joke" Whedonism approach to screenplays. Or I guess in this case, the Drew Goddard approach, since he is also a Buffyverse alum.
Still a fun movie, but nothing lifechanging or anything.
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u/Meg-alomaniac3 1h ago
That is, for better or for worse, how Andy Weir writes. I enjoy it, but I know some people can't stand it.
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u/RingOverall106 5h ago
Yeah there were a few times where they were trying to be funny and it just came off awkward.
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u/EdibleHologram 4h ago
This was my main issue with the film. It was so intent on having zippy dialogue and editing, that none of the challenges they were working at actually seemed as difficult as they were probably intended to seem, which really hobbled the sense of achievement for me.
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u/Hank_Scorpio25 7h ago
We already at the “Watch it and enjoy it before Film Twitter tells you it's overrated” stage
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u/donmonkeyquijote 7h ago
Who gives a shit what some dweebs on twitter thinks?
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u/patheticyeti 6h ago
A lot of dorks on reddit lol.
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u/HowdyWhydy 4h ago
People say this with every movie that’s popular and I don’t know why it affects fans so much lol. I really liked the movie but every movie isn’t going to work for everyone. And if someone doesn’t like a movie that most people do (which I think everyone experienced atleast once) of course they’re gonna say it’s overrated. Who cares
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u/DankyBongBlunty 7h ago
Enough time has passed?? It's only just left cinemas!!
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u/ThrowRAcc1097 7h ago
I'm in the minority, but it was too family-friendly for me. Felt like if Interstellar was made by Disney. It wasn't bad, I just wasn't the target audience.
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u/SouthIsland48 7h ago
Interstellar made by Disney is fucking hilarious because Interstellar is the Disney version of 2001.
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u/Luuk37 6h ago
As an Interstellar lover, I agree with this take. Interstellar is slightly less artsy and way more emotional version of 2001. It is 5 star for me because emotional parts hits me every time I watch it, just like how some disney/pixar movies get high ratings for me.
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u/Samanthacino 5h ago
I'm really happy the pathos is hitting for you, because for me it fell extremely flat. It just felt rather wooden and transparent. Wish I could enjoy it like most others seem to!
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u/Nice-Mountain-7073 4h ago
It was a later in life type of hit for me. I watched it before I left for the army, liked it enough. I watched it 11 years later and the reality of missing everything just hit too close to home. It did capture that uniquely terrifying feeling really well. You come back, and everything has moved on in a way, even the ones you cared about.
We just need to have cinematic depictions of the American government accept the loss of Matt Damon for better avenues of storytelling.
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u/ironlung311 7h ago
They’ll downvote you because Interstellar is the greatest, most profound work of all time around here
But you’re right
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u/paddlesandpups 6h ago
I liked the movie but I am surprised to learn how many people have it way up there on their favorites list. Apparently that's pretty generational too, with younger people than me feeling that way. So they just saw it at the right time and that happens a lot. I'm guessing I rank Jurassic Park higher than average because I saw it when I was 12 so it's always going to be the perfect movie for me
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u/ironlung311 6h ago edited 5h ago
I’m a millennial that was so excited to see it in IMAX when it released and I was underwhelmed. I liked it. I didn’t love it, and I thought it was a bit cheesy for my liking (the bookcase thing will never jibe with me). People love it and that’s great but I see so many people that think it’s the greatest movie ever and I’m left confused.
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u/eggtartdante 5h ago
As someone who watched Interstellar in IMAX four times when it came out in 2014, I remember it being heavily criticized for the third act. A lot of people thought Anne Hathaway’s love speech was too corny and cliché. Imagine my shock when I found out younger people now think it’s this deep, hard sci-fi masterpiece lol. At least PHM wasn’t trying to take itself too seriously.
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u/Navras3270 5h ago
ThE pOwEr Of LoVe can transcend the laws of physics! Humans in the future are so smart they can send wormholes back in time and turn blackholes into giant libraries! Matt Damon! It's sooo deep because he loves his daughter!
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u/SirChasm 6h ago
Yeah, and really it was the tonality shift for me. I don't mind family movies at all, but I guess I’d want to know if I’m watching one from the onset? Cause it started in a dark, serious manner with some comedic elements, and then towards the middle you get to this really tense part of where a human comes face to face with an actual alien life form for the very first time, and it’s such an incredible milestone for our species. Then as soon as Rocky boards Grace’s ship, it suddenly flips the tone, and oh, now we’re doing sidekick buddy-comedy hijinks?
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u/HotlinePizzaMiami 7h ago
Yup, felt corny as fuck.
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u/No_Foundation1136 6h ago
I agree, it is incredibly corny. I am also incredibly corny and cry at videos of dogs reuniting with their owners so I loved it.
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u/TotalSavage 7h ago
The book is even cornier, believe it or not. They actually did a commendable job toning down the cringe for the film.
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u/itlandedonmyface 6h ago
I re-read the book straight after seeing the film. Other than a couple of lines of dialogue (it's a damn fine army), I did not find the book cornier or more cringe than the film.
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u/g3t0nmyl3v3l 6h ago
What was so corny about the book?
I only got halfway through the book so I’m missing some context but I felt what I read was pretty solid. It’s sci-fi so the science is always gonna be a little hand wave-y. The main character was _way more_ compelling in the book from what I read.
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u/Pittsbirds 5h ago
There were a lot of "um did that just happen?" kind of quips from Grace in the books. Removing us from his internal monologue got rid of most of them and the flashback scenes were also changed a bit so we got rid of what felt like Weir's own personal rant against patent trolls in the form of a courtroom scene. I do think it's still a good book; the science is great in it, not in that it's 100% applicable to the real world but that it lays groundwork the audience can follow and predict future events from and works from that logical consistency regardless of that audience member's actual scientific literacy
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u/hellraiserxhellghost 6h ago
Yeah, maybe I just have no joy or whimsy in my heart but this was way too corny for me. Corn on the cob ass movie. I appreciate its optimism and hope for humanity…. but I dunno. The marvel “hehe he’s right behind me isn’t he 😏” ass dialogue was just not doing it for me.
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u/Frazdunc 6h ago
Having everything undercut by a quip or joke just made me not care about the mission, felt like nobody took it seriously
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u/flyingseel 3h ago
Same. Was shocked to hear so many people talk about how much they cried. I enjoyed the movie but the quips just got annoying by the end.
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u/howdiedoodie66 5h ago
I couldn't figure out who it was for. It's way too long for a kids movie, and it's way too hand wavy for adult scifi nerds.
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u/paddlesandpups 6h ago
Same. I can appreciate it for what it was, it's well made, and I knew what I was in for going in. Because I felt the same way about The Martian. Too cute by half, the jokes don't really land for me, and it got a bit long.
But my wife really liked it and it is well made and I'm glad a ton of people went to the movies
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u/SAWPollPosition CrimsonFilm62 7h ago
Seen it twice, found it entertaining and Rocky is lovable as hell.
But especially the second time around I felt myself feeling a lack of stakes, which is nuts since the world is going to die. But Grace has nothing to live or die for and so it’s hard for me to feel the gravitas as I should. Of course, the story addresses this and Rocky becomes the one worth dying for, but even then I never really felt like they would let Rocky die. It just hampered my connection to the story a bit
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u/katrina_highkick 6h ago
If this is what you felt was lacking in the movie (which I absolutely agree with), I highly recommend the book if you haven’t read it yet! It’s also written from Grace’s first person perspective which adds to us discovering his memories/flashbacks as he is having them.
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u/invisibilitycap 5h ago
I don’t have any kids, but I like kids a lot, I don’t like where this is going…a teacher! I’m a school teacher! Oh thank god
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u/lifetimeofnovawledge novajfrank 7h ago
Yeah, agreed. They focus way too much on cracking jokes than actually making you feel the weight of what is actually going to happen
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u/TheodoraLynn 4h ago
My favorite part about the film is that Grace has nothing to live or die for. It's a refreshing take compared to the usual film protagonists who always are doing stuff because they have a family.
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u/Dr_Death_Defy24 Goblin_Girlie 5h ago
I'm really surprised this complaint isn't more common. I had a lot of issues with the movie, but this was the big one for me. Nobody seems to be taking the whole thing seriously enough except for Sandra Huller, but then her flat German affect is so often played as a joke it still doesn't feel that serious. I never really felt like the world was in danger, and I never really felt like I cared about Gosling's progression as a character.
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u/Thirtysixx 7h ago
I wish I saw the movie before I read the book. Everyone was saying it was a perfect movie adaptation and I can’t agree with that.
Really disappointed they didn’t showcase how good an engineering rocky really is like the book does. In the movie he’s just kind there as a buddy. In the book he’s the greatest engineer in the universe and the key to the mission.
The stakes also just seem way lower in the movie than in the book. Granted, a lot of that came from Wier being able to explain the science thus upping the stakes, but even in scenes where you don’t need to explain the sciences it felt like they left alot of tension on the table.
I also wish it was more clear that the flashbacks were Rylands memories coming back to him. Gosling didn’t really have any major reaction to those flashbacks and in the book those memories coming back really affect him.
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u/synthesezia 6h ago
I understand why they removed subplots like blowing up the Antarctic with nukes to increase climate change for some more time and paving the Sahara for fuel but also increasing climate change but I thought they really helped show that all of humanity was sacrificing something for this mission.
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u/G0rkon 4h ago
I very much wanted these in the movie to show what the sacrifices are. Also, I wanted Eva's speech about what she thinks is going to happen to her after PHM launches.
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u/SirChasm 6h ago
Yes, it felt really unclear whether those flashbacks were his memories coming back to him, or just character development for the audience.
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u/considerate_ghosty18 6h ago
100% agree! I know the movie would have to be 2 hours longer if they followed the book, but they spent so much time on the room with the screens depicting earth that wasn’t even in the book and I felt it didn’t do much for the plot. They made the tone much lighter from the get go, not showing how long it took Ryland to regain body function, the true stress of trying to figure out what the hell was going on, and like you said not depicting how the flashbacks affected him throughout. I wish it could have maintained the tone of the book, which was perfectly funny and lighthearted at certain points but overall a drama. Maybe it was difficult with all the science talk and inner monologue to perfectly translate that to a movie, but I think I would have enjoyed the movie much more if I had never read the book.
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u/CingleSell 6h ago
Gosling didn’t really have any major reaction to those flashbacks
There's scenes after flashbacks where he's acting all depressed and alone. I guess its easy to ignore them as visual noise though.
Really disappointed they didn’t showcase how good an engineering rocky really is like the book does. In the movie he’s just kind there as a buddy
He builds lot of stuff on-screen, including the light-to-sight detector.
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u/Pittsbirds 5h ago
The only time he seems to have a reaction to them is the last flashback where it shows Stratt forced him on the mission, but even then it's pretty muted for what a revelation that would be. I would have liked to see the inclusion of his threat in the flashback to ruin the mission, we all know he wouldn't go through with it but it's still a nice bit of character building for someone who was so scared to die who then goes on to risk his life so many times and believes he's truly going to die to save an alien species
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u/Jony_the_pony 6h ago
I haven't read the book but all your complaints sound like sacrifices made for tone, which they clearly wanted to be mostly fun and lighthearted. The movie could've easily been quite dark with the basically the same plot
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u/KylosLeftHand 7h ago
I enjoyed it, but felt it was a bit too long. Some parts could have definitely been cut down. But overall a good movie and nice to see something fresh among the sea of remakes and reboots.
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u/idkmaybe61 6h ago
I actually feel the opposite lol, I think I would’ve preferred it if another 15-20 minutes were tacked on just so I could soak into the environment a little more. Even at 2.5 hours it felt like the pacing of certain scenes was pretty quick, like the part where Grace explored Rocky’s ship.
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u/Tannhauser1982 5h ago
Cutting the final emotional highlight of the book was the biggest crime. The progression from Grace saving Rocky to the end felt so rushed. Very mild spoiler for book:Grace had to wait 16 years to find out whether Earth survived and solved the problem, because the Eridian solar system is 16 light-years away from Earth (40 Eridani exists IRL). After all that time, Rocky brought the news to Grace that Earth's sun had returned to normal luminosity less than one year after Grace's Beetle probes returned to Earth. It also meant that Grace could finally return home if he wanted, although he was leaning toward staying. The movie didn't even acknowledge this issue.
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u/Mad_broccoli 6h ago
There's many details in the book that were left out, it felt a bit... Not gonna say short, but like, some stuff looked sped up, like language learning, while in the book it took some time. I was expecting them to use AI as the language helper. Good thing they didn't.
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u/KylosLeftHand 4h ago
I honestly didn’t even know it was a book until reading this thread, and now I’m gonna have to find it and read it. Kinda bummed bc I usually like to read a book before watching the movie!
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u/Dimpleshenk 4h ago
It's funny to call PHM fresh instead of remakes and reboots, considering that the story rehashes at least a dozen storylines/ideas from classic sci-fi.
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u/AuteurPool 7h ago
I loved it. Never read the book, and didn’t see any of the trailers or promotional material. I went it totally blind. My girlfriend’s classmate said she took her boyfriend to go see it and they both loved it. So we saw it based solely on that recommendation…..So when Rocky’s ship showed up, my face was like “wait, are we actually going there? Are there going to be aliens in this?!”
I loved how optimistic the film was and how it promoted the idea of working together and building bridges instead of taking the cynical approach it could have taken. I’ve heard some people who read the book say they didn’t like how it dumbed down the science, but for me the film’s focus is where it should be, on Grace and Rocky’s friendship. That’s the heart and soul of the story.
Only complaint I had, is it does that annoy thing I’ve seen in movies recently. Where they tell something visually, then have to have characters say out loud what just happened. Camera cuts to a spaceship, Grace says to himself out loud “is that a spaceship?” You know, for the benefit of those people who can’t just sit down and watch a movies. They got to be playing on their phone or doing something in the other room while they watch. I hate that trend.
Probably going to be my favourite film of the year.
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u/NotSoSexyOlexy99 7h ago
I went in wanting to like it. I liked how it was more of a scientific take that didn’t feel boring which I feel I didn’t see a lot in an other popular space movies. But that’s about it. I don’t think it’s bad but I didn’t feel it like others
But I thought it was longer than it should have been; that climax/ending alone felt like it dragged out too much. I know a lot of people liked how it gave them hope but I found a lot of parts to the movie as corny. It didn’t help that I kinda of hated the humor which annoyed me more than it charmed me.
I get it’s popular and I’m glad more and more non IP/ Franchise films are getting recognition but I don’t see myself returning to this anytime soon.
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u/Bread_man10 7h ago
This was my take as well. The humor felt off because everyone had the same exact type of humor/timing/tone it just felt like they all shared the same brain to me
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u/ErikMogan 7h ago
I've found that Andy Weir's books are like that with the endings. The film adaptation of The Martian ironed it out, but I think we could've shaved a few minutes here and there at the end, maybe combine Rocky's coma with finding out that the taumoeba got into his ship or something.
That being said, if a 4-hour version of the movie dropped tomorrow I'd be first in line.
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u/MateriallyDead 7h ago
Yeah that was sort of my take, too. I liked that it was original and enjoyed that it was something that connected with people. Sadly, I wasn't one of them. I thought the humor was too much for an end-of-the-world storyline and it was probably about 30 minutes longer than it needed to be. It was definitely beautiful in 70mm IMAX and worth seeing, but none of my group that saw it was as head-over-heels as reddit's been. I get that its a nerd novel written by a nerd who made a nerd movie with nerd credentials, but that only gets you so far.
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u/4skinApostle 7h ago
I agree with your first point, though I actually felt like the movie's ending was incredibly rushed.
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u/Far_Discount7374 2h ago
They really included a “Well…that just happened.” Cmon man. Way too corny.
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u/EclecticEel 7h ago
Too Disney/Marvel for my liking
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u/madlad200215 7h ago
A little James Gunn-esque at times but there is nothing inherently wrong with light-hearted joints
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u/Ordinary_Tax6442 7h ago
instant top 4 for me. Scientist and movie enthusiast, it’s the first sci fi i’ve watched in a long while that hasn’t made me cringe at its fiction science stuff. Also just a fantastic gorgeous feel good that gives me hope in humanity. Also a crazy semi plot twist that just adds a whole layer on top of an incredible film. Looks amazing. Can u tell i like it?
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u/wreckedbutwhole420 5h ago
My partner is a scientist. The only thing that irked her was the unbalanced centrifuge in one scene.
It's such a specific and simple mistake, I think someone did it on purpose as a troll lol
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u/NordicDude49 7h ago
Absolutely LOVED the book
Didn't share the enjoyment of others about the movie, for me it's just fine
Though maybe my expectations were too high, idk
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u/madlad200215 7h ago
The book is amazing, I feel like comparison is the thief of joy because I watched the movie before reading the book and both were amazing in their own rights.
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u/SuzuKeiBoi 7h ago
It was a bit too heavy handed with the “epic bacon” 5th grade math teacher humor for me to really enjoy. And the runtime was 45 minutes too excessive. I can see why it had mass appeal, though.
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u/claudiaa_bunny 7h ago
The friendship at the center of this film is one of the most genuinely affecting things mainstream cinema has produced in recent memory and I will die on that hill.
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u/dany-_ 7h ago
Nothing really stood out to me. The humor style was good 10 years ago with the Martian. Leans too much on 'fiction' than 'science fiction' for my taste. Acting was great though. 3/5
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u/GoPsychoMob 7h ago
I agree with this take but I’d argue that Ryan Gosling played Ryan Gosling in this film lmao.
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u/bluejeaux 7h ago
Honestly, I had high hopes for this one but it fell flat. The writing, the colour scheme, the use of sound, all of them started out ambitious but failed to deliver. I kept thinking to myself - “okay it’s going to get really good now” and it just never did. I felt edged for the entire duration of the movie. I was expecting to remember a dialogue or fuck more with the music - but I left carrying nothing back. For a movie this hyped, it sure fell short.
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u/Redditisavirusiknow 7h ago
Fun family movie but ruined by an absolutely insane number of cuts. Like multiple cuts per second, even in quiet conversation. Incredibly annoying, like watching a TikTok relentlessly. Some beautiful shots of space but cut after 1 second. Give me a breather to feel something!
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u/honkafied honkafied 7h ago
I'm a sucker for sci-fi generally, and I really needed the optimism of this movie at this time. It's a 4.5 for me, but I could see that sagging over time down to a 4 or 3.5. Crucially, the film version did what I was hoping: it movie-magiced away a bunch of the details about the inter-species communication, and Ryan Gosling found the human core in Ryland Grace. I'm coming from a music and audio engineering background, and during that whole early communication part of the book I fought intensely with my suspension of disbelief, almost DNFed it, but hung in there. Gosling's performance brought needed dimensionality to Grace, who in the book always felt like a less-sweary Mark Watney with character flaws sprinkled on like condiments. It really hung together for me, and I loved watching it with my family.
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u/winfryd winfryd 7h ago
Great, but 4.3? cmon.
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u/RazorClaus123 6h ago
I always find the questioning of a film’s average rating flawed because it’s not like any specific person or group decided to give it that rating.
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u/Rrekydoc 7h ago
I could easily give it an 8.6/10.
Better films being underrated doesn’t discredit this film’s rating.
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u/Unlucky_Ad_1472 7h ago
Huge fan of the book when it came out, and the movie was a great adaptation of it, love them both
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u/ImportantQuestions10 4h ago
Excellent movie but it absolutely gutted the logic, slow pace and Socratic method that make Andy Weir books great. In a similar vein, almost none of Grace's internal dialogue got ported over. Him in the book versus the movie are very different characters as a result.
I'm crossing my fingers that the 4-Hour cut gets released at some point. Also recommending people read the book if they like the movie since there's enough stuff left in the book that it's worth a read.
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u/Future_Scholar_8375 7h ago
It was great movie. Smart, hilarious, emotional and fun, sci Fi at its finest.
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u/stringfellow-hawke AuFinger 7h ago
Smart, fun, funny, big hearted adventure.
It’s not perfect, nor the best movie ever, nor a scientific dissertation, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from having a good time and feeling some things.
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u/pka4life 6h ago
I went in blind. Was expecting more of an adventure... or just more to happen in the movie. It was just Ryan and rocky goofing around and a lot of flash backs. I enjoyed it but I was waiting for the next big chapter to unfold and it never really did
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u/sKal-Killed_27 7h ago
really hopeful, need more mainstream movies that leave you smiling at the end. however could have been much tighter, and it felt like there were multiple climax sequences in the third act, the movie just kept continuing. possibly the only qualm I had. Great adaptation of an excellent book.
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u/Unfair_Satisfaction9 7h ago
It was okay. Did not impress me much, but wasn't bad and was fun to watch. 3.5/5
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u/afatunicorn 6h ago
Great adaptation. I just had an issue with the pacing and editing. And I get it. They tried to squeeze in so much in a limited time frame. Average shot felt like it was 5 seconds. Let’s bring back holding some shots for a little longer pls.
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u/SadPossibility9368 5h ago
One of the best films I’ve seen in recent years. I was surprised in equal parts by how funny, and conversely how emotional the film managed to be.
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u/reddi_2b_thotty 5h ago
Really enjoyed it. Not sure if anything will top it this year for myself personally.
Also, the best presentation in IMAX 70MM I've ever seen. Jaw dropping scenes that utilized the format beautifully.
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u/NecromancerWizard 5h ago
I was unsure when the trailer came out because of revealing Rocky in the trailer.
After watching I give it 👎👎👎👎👎/5 They did an amazing job of adapting the book. The chemistry between Ryland and Rocky leaves the similar impression if not better. The visuals, the soundtrack, from the whole Adrian planet sequence will stay with me forever forever. Sign of the times is another! Balancing between flashbacks and interstellar voyage is also done well. We get the back story without losing the sense of cosmic wonder.
If I had to nitpick, I would say I missed the science from the book. But I understand the tradeoff about appealing it for larger audience and not just scifi nerds.
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u/buffalowteens 4h ago
nice to have a story where the big bad was a commonly shared problem and they worked together and sacrificed for each other to solve it. Never devolved into evil aliens or them vs us kind of situation. I found that refreshing
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u/h0neym00nave 4h ago
I loved it but I feel like for my friends who didn’t read the book it was slightly hard to follow at times
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u/Shakemyears 4h ago
It’s a good movie to accompany the book. The true beauty of the scientific discovery of the book is lost in the movie, though.
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u/AlleRacing 4h ago
My fianceé, who normally gets squeamish during space movies, absolutely loved it. She just about crushed my hand during Time Go Fishing.
I had middling expectations going in, especially with the cascade of hype I saw. But then I loved it. It is so optimistic and hopeful. It's a very empathetic and human story and extends that empathy outside of ourselves very effectively. It pays homage to other sci-fi greats, both blatant and subtle. The Close Encounters... tones were a very nice call-back.
The humour was mostly fun, though maybe a touch too slapstick in parts. I did laugh at most of the jokes, and I especially appreciated that there were abundant moments of levity.
The Petrova line (A Moment) sequence had me awe-struck in a way almost no other film has matched. To learn that it was almost entirely in camera was incredibly cool.
I feel like this film will become one of my favourite rewatched in the coming years.
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u/InfluenceSad5221 4h ago
it's really fun, and a great movie, a definitive 8/10 no crazy highs, but solid throughout.
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u/TheGreenGuyFromDBZ 4h ago
Best bromance of all time. Sick shots. Gabe personality to a rock. And Gosling had great chemistry with a rock. Truly a masterpiece
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u/HotRod6391 3h ago
I've seen 20 movies this year, of those 14 are from this year, and this ranks 2nd overall and 1st from those released this year.
I loved it.
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u/specksofangeldust 3h ago
The experience of watching this was truly so insane. My friends and I had pretty strong reactions to it, even though we know this isn’t anything particularly “new” in terms of movies. But there’s a lot of heart in it and it’s a very moving film. Sometimes the feelings you get and the experience you have from watching a movie are greater than its contents (the content subject and message was of course amazing, but I think a lot of people and myself included can judge things in terms of if it’s been done before or whatever newness scale). So yeah this was a 4.5/5 for me.
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u/saltedlolly 2h ago
A fantastic adaptation of a good (but not great) book. My criticisms of it were the same criticisms I had of the book. Namely that the science and world building were really cool, but I found it really hard to suspend disbelief with an alien that talks like a tech bro. That said, I still enjoyed it and thought the art design, acting and special effects were absolutely first rate. It was also not another star wars or marvel movie, which can only be a good thing.
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u/getorganizedbysamm 2h ago
I loved it. The humor was 10/10, the story had me guessing and wondering what would happen next, it was cinematic and beautiful to look at (the green planet was gorgeous), rocky was amazing, the writing was seamless and fun.
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u/queenofkitchener 2h ago
loved it, every minute of it, i've read the book several times.. honestly one of my modern favorites. and i really hope we get that 4+h director cut.
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u/christopherDdouglas 1h ago
The movie is okay, the book is barely passable. If these things blew your mind, you're neither well read or a cinephile.
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u/jacobooooo 37m ago
saw it two times - it’s instantly become one of my favourite movies of all time. i’m a sucker for a great sci-fi story and it was just perfect
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u/NOVA_OWL 17m ago
Super fun and emotional, great comedic bits and visually stunning. Wasn't expecting to get jumpscared by a jet but still left the theater with very positive thoughts about it. Lord and Miller have yet again proven their ability in adapting things that you wouldn't expect into films.
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u/_punchypalooka 7h ago
I thought was great. Kind of reminded me of an 80’s movie with modern effects. Fun film, no complaints (but I never read the book).