Clint_L
Legend
I saw Lord and Miller's film adaptation of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary. I am interested what other folks thought of it.
I really enjoyed it, and think it is superior to the book. The book's big weakness is character development; Weir, by his own admission, is great at writing plot but weak at character development. His Ryland Grace is a step forward from Mark Watney in that he has a flaw (a big one, at that) and thus character growth, but it is executed in the most heavy handed of ways; he's still something of a stock character. The film does a much better job of making me buy into Grace as a person, not least because of a spectacular performance from Ryan Gosling, who is on screen for almost every minute.
I also loved the practical sets and puppetry used to bring life to Grace's alien counterpart, Rocky. Rocky is highly entertaining, and the film is great in helping the audience quickly become attached to, essentially, a pile of rocks. Interestingly, though alien in appearance he doesn't some off as alien in consciousness, expressing a very human perspective and emotional range, so this isn't a film that is really interested in exploring alien perspectives. Instead, it is basically an "odd couple in space film."
It is visually spectacular, the score is magnificent, the soundtrack choices are apt, and I was completely immersed for almost the entire 2.5 hours. My one major criticism is that the end of the film is oddly constructed, so that the emotional and plot climax does not match the character arc climax, leaving the last 30 minutes to...kind of pleasantly trail off. That's the one thing that prevents me from considering it an all-timer, and the reason that I like The Martian a little bit more, if we are comparing Andy Weir adaptations. That said, this is an excellent movie that I would recommend to just about anyone.
I really enjoyed it, and think it is superior to the book. The book's big weakness is character development; Weir, by his own admission, is great at writing plot but weak at character development. His Ryland Grace is a step forward from Mark Watney in that he has a flaw (a big one, at that) and thus character growth, but it is executed in the most heavy handed of ways; he's still something of a stock character. The film does a much better job of making me buy into Grace as a person, not least because of a spectacular performance from Ryan Gosling, who is on screen for almost every minute.
I also loved the practical sets and puppetry used to bring life to Grace's alien counterpart, Rocky. Rocky is highly entertaining, and the film is great in helping the audience quickly become attached to, essentially, a pile of rocks. Interestingly, though alien in appearance he doesn't some off as alien in consciousness, expressing a very human perspective and emotional range, so this isn't a film that is really interested in exploring alien perspectives. Instead, it is basically an "odd couple in space film."
It is visually spectacular, the score is magnificent, the soundtrack choices are apt, and I was completely immersed for almost the entire 2.5 hours. My one major criticism is that the end of the film is oddly constructed, so that the emotional and plot climax does not match the character arc climax, leaving the last 30 minutes to...kind of pleasantly trail off. That's the one thing that prevents me from considering it an all-timer, and the reason that I like The Martian a little bit more, if we are comparing Andy Weir adaptations. That said, this is an excellent movie that I would recommend to just about anyone.
