I really liked it, expertly acted, slow building tension to a powerful finale... But I didn't like like the sudden departure from scientific credibility at the end. Launching a rocket into space with open windows, without a nose cone?? This would create an irregular and unpredictable ballistic coefficient, and it would spin wildly. He would've been pancaked to the walls with the force of a dozen Gs at the very least, and only 6 Gs is usually fatal.

And yeah sure I know this is science fiction; we accept that the Starship Enterprise jumps to warp speed in an instant which would turn the entire crew to mashed potatoes in the aft cabin, but The Martian is held to a higher standard of realism, kinda like 2001 A Space Odyssey, which is the only reason I gotta raise a few eyebrows.

Other than that I really enjoyed it and thought it was bold to present a scifi disaster flick that was mostly realistic, no green men or "laser" beams necessary. (catch the Austin Powers reference? 😂)

My question to you, since you've read the book, is did it have that same nosecone-less, windowless rocket launch? Or was that Hollywood's contribution? How exactly did that scene play out in the book?

I'm sorry to tell you it's exactly the same in the book lol

“You’re sending him to space under a tarp.” “Pretty much, yeah.” “Like a hastily loaded pickup truck.”

The author said he had no contact with NASA when writing this book so all the math was done by him, calculated personally.

Hastily loaded pickup truck hahaha. Cool to know, now I'm thinking it's symbolically a nifty way to go, if you can suspend your disbelief a bit.

I think there were similar grumbles about the climactic scene in 2001 A Space Odyssey when he jumps through the airlock without a helmet. NASA nerds & armchair scientists alike had some spirited debates about that one 😅 But either way it makes for great cinema.

Haven't seen that one, was it any good? The reviews I see are mixed some saying it's boring others say it's a masterpiece.

@JustcallmeT said:

some saying it's boring others say it's a masterpiece.

It's both! 😅

Definitely don't attempt it unless you have a high tolerance for long silent scenes of astronauts eating, watching tv, and running on giant hamster wheels. But that was Kubrick's intent: to make us feel the boredom of humankind's stagnation.

If you liked The Martian, which itself did a great job of making us feel Watney's mundane existence, I think you should give 2001 a go sometime. It's definitely the grandfather of scifi realism, movies like Apollo 13, The Martian, Gravity, etc that focus on the human condition rather than laser battles & stuff.

Okay then, another movie added to the list 📋