I reported on the book The Martian some months ago and said how much I liked it, especially for the science parts where astronaut Mark Whatley was describing the thought processes he went through to find a way to live a little longer. This is part of what made the book great. But you can’t do that in a movie.
Had the producers of the movie tried to put in even half of the science behind what Whatley was doing, the movie would have been dull and put everyone to sleep. Even the little bit they did put in could easily make people’s eyes glaze over.
But that’s OK. The movie The Martian didn’t need it to be good. I was curious how a movie based largely on astronaut Whatley’s notes and videos would translate to the big screen. But translate it did. By skipping over the slower, science parts and accentuating the action and dramatic parts, director Ridley Scott made a great film.
Scott also did a great job moving between the action on Mars and the action on Earth, showing the viewers just what they needed to see to keep them interested. Although Mark’s science explanations were limited in the movie, the movie retained his sense of humor (well played by actor Matt Damon), which was also a big part of the book.
The movie was true to the book in most ways. There was only one catastrophe they left out, near the time when the astronaut was approaching the site for his lift-off. I agreed with that decision. Another catastrophe would have been too much and actually slowed down the film. It needed to keep moving along at that point to get to the climax.
The climax was, of course, Whatley’s flight into space to meet with the ship to take him back home. It was, arguably, the best scene in the film. Action that I had a hard time picturing while reading the book came through magnificently on the screen (especially in 3D). Even though I knew how it ended, it was exciting, suspenseful, and ultimately, satisfying. I also applaud the ending of the movie, which made it clear what happened to all the major characters.
I highly recommend the film the way I highly recommended the book. In spite of their differences, science fiction fans will enjoy both.