Tuesday, October 6, 2015

The Martian (big time spoilers)

I just finished reading this book for the 2nd time.  It was just as wonderful the 2nd time as the 1st.  I knew how it would end and was still on the edge of my seat.  This is not even the type of book I would normally read.  Brian "Q" Quinn and Sal Vulcano, 2 of my favorite people in the world, have a podcast - "What Say you?"  Q highly recommended the book and I decided to give it a read.  I highly recommend it as well.

I took the day off yesterday to go see the movie.  I prefer to go in the afternoon on a weekday but it was still crowded!  gggrrrrrr...  I was very afraid that they would ruin it.  But they did a really good job. I was still on the edge of my seat even after reading the book twice!  It was actually a little creepy to see it "live" instead of just reading about it.

Here come the spoilers:
For the most part, they followed the book.  Of course there were details in the book that couldn't make it to the movie, but nothing vital. One problem I had with the movie was that they had Captain Lewis harnessed to Hermes to come and "catch" Mark when he jettisoned from the MAV.  I don't think it was necessary to do that. Seeing that process on the big screen looked a little preposterous, but it was still fun.  Also, instead of having a final log as was in the book, the end of the movie showed all the astronauts (including Mark) in the future and what they were doing now. I'm not sure I really liked that.  The final log was so touching in the book.  I liked that ending better.

But all in all, it was a terrific movie and I would recommend seeing it whether or not you read the book.  It is very enjoyable and Matt Damon is excellent.

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