McGyver-Cruso on Mars

Rating: 3/10 (14 October 2015)

OK  so much has been written both good & not so good about this film here and at other movie review sites. Considering myself a seasoned sci-fi fan, maybe it's just my advancing years but, Ridley Scott and company, what were you thinking? When is somebody going to give Mars a truly grandiose sci-fi treatment? How would Kubrick have handled this subject? So much of the suspense and pacing of the book is totally missing from this movie. Even at over two hours the events of the film just doesn't connote the passage of months. Further, it all seems just a little too glib. Our hero doesn't ever seem to be in any peril at all as long as he can "science the sheet out of this" he'll get by just fine. Red Green fans will love the somewhat comic use of NASA's super duct tape too. Even if you haven't read the book, in this typically "Hollywood" film, we know right from the first frame that our wisecracking group of explorers will never be in any real jeopardy. Even the premise of the entire movie is totally false. Wind speeds on Mars can be high but the atmosphere is so tenuous that it exerts a negligible force. The sand storm depiction is just plain wrong. Yes I know - suspension of belief - even Andrew Weir makes this concession in You Tube presentation. It's yet another totally forgettable sci-fi film about Mars. Chris in Winnipeg Canada, Oct 2015.