Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.
NOTE: I’ve tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but even so you may not want to read this until after you’ve seen the movie.
The movie was definitely good, but fell pretty short compared to the book, and especially when compared to The Martian’s adaptation.
For one, the movie felt way too much like a comedy, almost like a Taika Waititi Marvel adaptation of the much more serious (but still very funny) book, which felt tonally weird and didn’t really land for me. Even the weight of the reveal of
spoiler
Grace’s refusal to go
was completely undercut by a tonally inappropriate, almost zany
spoiler
chase sequence
that robbed the scene of most of the pathos it should have had. Reminds me of this excellent video about how modern blockbusters seem allergic to sincerity to their detriment.
We also didn’t like how much more useless the movie made Grace feel. The book went out of its way early to show that he was a resourceful, intelligent, excellent problem solver, and while there was certainly a bit of this in the movie, it still felt like Grace was pretty much useless, undeserving dead weight, and like he either completely lucked his way through or had to rely only on
spoiler
Rocky,
while in the book their partnership felt much more collaborative. All of this combined to make the reveal I mentioned earlier feel much darker/more depressing, because you get the impression that no, he really didn’t deserve to be there, and then what he says at the end of the movie completely falls flat, because it felt like almost none of it was the result of his choices or character. Feels like it completely undercuts one of the main themes of the book, which is that he did deserve to be there, and that he was the right person for the job, even if he didn’t think he was.
We also thought the movie omitted some of the book’s best lines. “You can hear light?” is an all-time great line that still gives me shivers, and it definitely should have been in the movie.
Things we liked: 1. The movie was visually stunning - everything it was going for in the looks department it completely nailed. 2. One of the most important characters in the movie was very well done, in both design and characterization. Maybe a bit too manic, but that’s a relatively small quibble in the larger context of just how well they did with him.
So yeah, very much an enjoyable two hours, but not as good as it should have been due to a few flawed adaptation decisions.
The chase sequence was one of my favorite parts! A few reasons:
It didn’t feel zany at all to me. I was focusing only on Ryland and felt his panic, to me his actions looked like an animal trying to run from certain death.
The betrayal by everyone he worked with during that time made it a much more intense gut punch for me. Especially Carl.
And most important: It felt true to his character. If he faced it stoically, it would have felt like fake Pathos to me. Instead it was a wonderful display of character growth (going from having to be dragged onto the ship to save billions, to risking his life and future to save his buddies’ people).
Yeah, the thing your first spoiler is mentioning really didn’t do well for the flow of the movie at all. My gf and I looked at each other during this part and agreed it was a very awkward scene.
And not because we were bummed that the character would act that way. It’s realistic. It was just done very strangely.
They went lighthearted and fun with the adaptation. I’m not sure how much i would have enjoyed the movie if i didn’t read the book. But my friend that didn’t read it liked it and said it was good.
I ended up having the opposite experience as your friend. I never read the book and went in blind thinking it would be akin to Interstellar. I was hugely disappointed. I wanted more science and drama, but instead it felt more like a modern marvel movie with never ending montages.
That’s not a spoiler (if you’re talking about what I think you are) - it’s a horizontal line to break up the wall of text into easier, more digestible chunks.
Edit: the last spoiler is working on my device, so ¯\(ツ)/¯
NOTE: I’ve tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but even so you may not want to read this until after you’ve seen the movie.
The movie was definitely good, but fell pretty short compared to the book, and especially when compared to The Martian’s adaptation.
For one, the movie felt way too much like a comedy, almost like a Taika Waititi Marvel adaptation of the much more serious (but still very funny) book, which felt tonally weird and didn’t really land for me. Even the weight of the reveal of
spoiler
Grace’s refusal to go
was completely undercut by a tonally inappropriate, almost zany
spoiler
chase sequence
that robbed the scene of most of the pathos it should have had. Reminds me of this excellent video about how modern blockbusters seem allergic to sincerity to their detriment.
We also didn’t like how much more useless the movie made Grace feel. The book went out of its way early to show that he was a resourceful, intelligent, excellent problem solver, and while there was certainly a bit of this in the movie, it still felt like Grace was pretty much useless, undeserving dead weight, and like he either completely lucked his way through or had to rely only on
spoiler
Rocky,
while in the book their partnership felt much more collaborative. All of this combined to make the reveal I mentioned earlier feel much darker/more depressing, because you get the impression that no, he really didn’t deserve to be there, and then what he says at the end of the movie completely falls flat, because it felt like almost none of it was the result of his choices or character. Feels like it completely undercuts one of the main themes of the book, which is that he did deserve to be there, and that he was the right person for the job, even if he didn’t think he was.
We also thought the movie omitted some of the book’s best lines. “You can hear light?” is an all-time great line that still gives me shivers, and it definitely should have been in the movie.
Things we liked: 1. The movie was visually stunning - everything it was going for in the looks department it completely nailed. 2. One of the most important characters in the movie was very well done, in both design and characterization. Maybe a bit too manic, but that’s a relatively small quibble in the larger context of just how well they did with him.
So yeah, very much an enjoyable two hours, but not as good as it should have been due to a few flawed adaptation decisions.
Interesting, as someone who didn’t read the book,
spoiler
The chase sequence was one of my favorite parts! A few reasons:
Yeah, the thing your first spoiler is mentioning really didn’t do well for the flow of the movie at all. My gf and I looked at each other during this part and agreed it was a very awkward scene.
And not because we were bummed that the character would act that way. It’s realistic. It was just done very strangely.
the practical effects were very impressive
They went lighthearted and fun with the adaptation. I’m not sure how much i would have enjoyed the movie if i didn’t read the book. But my friend that didn’t read it liked it and said it was good.
I ended up having the opposite experience as your friend. I never read the book and went in blind thinking it would be akin to Interstellar. I was hugely disappointed. I wanted more science and drama, but instead it felt more like a modern marvel movie with never ending montages.
The montages killed me. Especially the “i like earth” one where theyre on… A rollercoaster? That Rocky can’t even see? What the heck
Your last spoiler is broken
That’s not a spoiler (if you’re talking about what I think you are) - it’s a horizontal line to break up the wall of text into easier, more digestible chunks.
Edit: the last spoiler is working on my device, so ¯\(ツ)/¯
This one