Excellent portrayal. Compares well to the original novelette

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2014)

People who are complaining that this doesn't compare well to the book need to remember that the book was expanded from the earlier 1978 Hugo-nominated novelette of the same name. The movie appears to quite closely follow the original work -- as best as I can remember.
It is never a good idea to compare a lengthy book to a movie as there is simply no way that you can ever cover the same details. The book is 384 pages and would take the average reader over 6 hours to read. It is simply common sense that no 2-hour movie can cover the same material.
I found the overall feeling of the movie to be very good with just the right amount of desperation to the storyline. Ideas are presented without the director feeling the need to pound them into our heads. The SciFi purist will be offended by the seemingly unavoidable desire of directors to have noise in space, but we seem to be stuck with that despite the success of "2001: A Space Odyssey." The music is, unfortunately, overdone and intrusive and keeps me from rating it higher.