The Martian - spoilertastic thoughts

[nanila]

I'm spoiler-immune AND I read the book before I went to see the film, so I will do everyone who is spoiler-sensitive a favour and simply put this entire post behind a cut.

I saw The Martian in the cinema last night with half my lab, most of whom had also read the book. We were all ridiculously excited, and I'm happy to say our expectations were largely met.

Random notes:

• Okay, first off the niggle that's bothering me the most, and no, it's not technical. Why is Mindy Park a white girl? One of the things I appreciated in Weir's book is that he tried to make his core cast of characters as diverse as possible, sometimes just with their names. And to me, Mindy Park is obviously meant to be Korean. I mean, he could have made it more obvious perhaps if he'd named her Mindy Lee or Mindy Kim. But Mindy Park is pretty obvious too.
  
• It was very faithful to the book. A good deal had to be cut, particularly a good deal of Watney's experimentation surrounding his supply situation and transportation (lots of tinkering with the rovers in the book). His 100+ Sol journey to Schiaparelli crater is shortened considerably, for obvious reasons, though they did make an effort to show the physical toll it took on him by giving him sores and also showing his weight loss. Though the latter may just have been an excuse for Matt Damon to get his kit off, which he seems to enjoy.
  
• Representation and diversity: Was mostly faithful to Weir's intentions (apart from the glaring error mentioned above). Two of six astronaut crew being female is...well, frankly, better than the current reality most of the time. And there were female ground staff, though the only one in a senior position was the PR manager, not a technical person. Anyway, I went to the cinema with half of my lab, and was the only female (though not the only non-white person), so again the film is an improvement on present circumstances, which is great for near-future scifi in terms of subtly providing role models for aspiring junior engineers and scientists.
  
• Almost killed myself laughing during the Council of Elrond/secret meeting scene. Sean Bean's faaaaaaace.
  
• The climax (Watney's rescue scene) was really overdramatised. The whole Iron Man bit particularly (disbelief suspension in OVERDRIVE). I enjoyed it, though, especially since it gave Commander Lewis a chance to be the Big Damn Hero.
  
• The bit inserted at the end where Watney's teaching the incoming astronaut candidate class felt really shoe-horned in (and isn't in the book) as "lookie here, this is the denouement"! The montage at the end with the Ares 5 launch was much better.
  
• The trade between the Chinese Space Agency and NASA - we'll give you a launch vehicle for your HERMES resupply if you put one of our taikonauts in space on an Ares mission - was surprisingly subtly portrayed. I mean, I can imagine a lot of people would miss it, since basically you see Martinez and the taikonaut grinning at each other at the very end and that's it.
  
• Seriously, why is Mindy Park a white girl?!

Still, A++++, will def get on DVD and watch again.

Comments

[kaberett]

Thank you for review! :D

[nanila]

:D Oh, btw, I'm so glad we went to see a subtitled viewing as some of the dialogue, particularly at the start, was quite difficult to catch with it being muffled by the spacesuits/noisy comms channels/howling wind!

[whereisirisnow]

Sounds like a nice movie and a nice group activity! :)

[nanila]

It was most enjoyable. Would do it again - and probably will when the new Bond comes out! :)

[redsixwing]

\o/

I caught Martinez and the taikonaut. (Furthermore, I caught that Martinez' presumed court martial did not preclude him Going To Space Today, so that's awesome too.)

The Council of Elrond cracked me up, too. And the poor PR lady just Not Getting It. Heeee.

The orbit guy (whose name and proper title I seem to have lost, alas) was the most adorable person and his quiet presence in the door while everyone was partying and carrying on was the most adorable scene. <3

[nanila]

Boromir was explaining the Council of Elrond. Boromir! Ha! :D

Rich Purnell, astrodynamicist. :) In the book he's equally adorable. "Am I being difficult? Sometimes I'm difficult. I wish people would just tell me." And Vincent does, henceforth, tell him when he's being difficult, which is also very sweet.

[redsixwing]

Thank you!

I'm starting to think I need to read this book. >.>

Also, I wish my boss would do things like that.

[davidgillon]

The whole 'The Martian' thing had kind of passed me by, but this makes me want to go and see it. Must check local showings.

I suppose I should note that one of my great-aunts was a Park on the also valid as a Caucasian name front, but yes, it sounds like it was likely meant to indicate a Korean character, and it's not as if Grace Park isn't out there as a relatively high-profile Korean-American actress to show that! And even if it wasn't meant to show that, hello, diversity is a plus!

[nanila]

I suspect you'll enjoy it very much, even if the whole thing is predicated on a scenario that's physically impossible due to the atmospheric pressure.

I think that particular name works better as a US-ian indicator of (potential) Korean heritage than it does as a UK one. And agreed!