Computer: “Please record video diary.”
Grace: “No.”
Andy Weir must be one of the best sci-fi writer’s of our time. Seriously.
My favourite part of Weir’s stories has to be that they’re remarkably believable. Like, nothing happens that I wouldn’t believe is possible. I probably wouldn’t believe you if you told me a bacteria was actually eating the real sun, but the way they explain it in the film and in his novel is super realistic (to a lay person like myself, at least).
I think that’s part of why this film is so good, why so many people are adding it to their favourite-movies-of-all-time lists, why people are saying “it’s the new Interstellar”. Although, casting Ryan Gosling helps. #CanadianPride
Having said that, there was one part I had a problem with: the language barrier with Rocky. I felt like they made it seem too easy for Rocky and Grace to understand each other. The film seemed to gloss over the details too quickly and didn’t convey nearly enough how difficult it is to understand an unknown language with zero pre-existing knowledge of it. To me, it seemed as though Rocky already knew English, seeming to understand pretty complex sentences from Grace pretty much right away. Watch Arrival (2016) and I think you’ll agree with me.
With that admittedly small & relatively insignificant point said, this film is absolute cinema.
- It’s well shot, keeping me stimulated without overwhelming me with cuts.
- It’s well written & acted, keeping me entertained by being a compelling story.
- It’s got a really good balance of comedic, emotional and tense moments to keep a very science-heavy story from feeling stale and boring.
I genuinely have no other complaints, and I don’t think this filmw as over-hyped in the slightest.
I never read the original book by Andy Weir, but I’ve absolutely added it to my want-to-read list.