A little different from the book, still excellent

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2015)

It is remarkable that the run time of this movie surpasses two and a half hours. After watching I felt that there was many points missing from the book and this was just a bit short (without realizing how long I was in the cinema). The acting was really good, with one notable exception, but there were a lot of "holywoodianisms". I understand they wanted to change the ending and suppress anything more adult in order to appeal to teenagers as well, but the balance of hard science fiction with an inclusive form of entertainment proved to be really tricky. Those who enjoyed all the explanations and scientific reasoning in the book will miss some of that, and yet, might feel surprised to notice the overlooked emotional journey of the protagonist is also compelling.
The earth bound characters were very well represented, except for Rich Purnell, which was the only disappointment. This character went from a workaholic that most hard science professionals will recognize as themselves or a friend to a goofy sketch of it. The crew was really well casted, but could not develop much given their shortened role in the movie, which is justifiable keeping the runtime in mind.
Finally, in my personal opinion, the rescue in the end that shifts the mentality from following strict military operations rulebook to Hollywood heroism does not necessarily means that the people involved did not understood the aim of the story. It merely shows how much they need to bend in order to acquire a wider public.