The Martian: a Mini Review

I've been pushing for exciting, but thinking movies with more adult themes.  My son is totally hooked on Star Wars and while a lot of fun (and I love watching the movies with him), I want him to take a look at other sciency films, too.  My daughter was totally hooked on Contact and so I am not as worried.  The warrior heritage runs strong in my son and I want to make sure while I support the 'family business' (so to speak), I want him to use his brain, too.  Orest already does math in his head and he reads really well for a kindergartner.  Its a side I want to emphasize along with his athleticism, etc.

On Saturday, we watched at home, Interstellar.  It was a bit slow of the kids, but my daughter was extremely thoughtful with it afterwards.  Avrora asked questions about time, wormholes and whatnot.  My son was underwhelmed.  No fighting he said.  hrmph.  Mission half accomplished.

This sunday I took my kids to see The Martian as the next attempt.

Kids reviews: 

Orest wanted fighting.  He wasn't scared (he's six), but I also covered his eyes during the initial emergency surgery.  Freakin lightsaber nut.  He loved the rockets though. 

Avrora thought it was awesome.  She looked away during the surgery scene, too.  She grasped more than Orest did.

Both kids laughed when the potato plot came up and I quipped Watney was a 'space Ukrainian.'  Space Irish would have worked, too, but my kids are closer to their Ukrainian heritage than their Irish.  No surprise given their mom is a first generation immigrant from Ukraine.  Their German, Italian and etc ancestry falls within the Americana for them.  Pretty funny that.

Parental review.  Gorgeous.  Engaging.  Not slow, really, but still thoughtful.  The language was too strong for Orest at times, but I know a lot of the kids use stronger than I did until college.  One kid Avrora used to know could probably take down a sailor, no sweat, in a "vocabulary" battle.  The surgery scene was the only other bit that made it too intense for unfiltered kid watching. 

General Review:  I have not yet read the book.  I purposefully avoided it prior to the film beause I'd be sitting there doing a comparison rather than enjoying the film. It was gorgeous and nicely paced.  I think it could have done a better job showing the loneliness of being the sole human on a whole world.  It might be Damon's expressions don't signal that for me well.  Other than that, loved his performance.  The humor was spot on for me.  The music.  hrm.

Geek Review:  The science was ok.  The most jarring thing was the gravity not being quite right.  Mars has a lower surface gravity than earth, but everything was obviously 1 g.  The perchlorate soil thing was jarring, but its a case of science catching up and surpassing the author.  The orbital mechanics...better but...um.  yeah.  I did love one of the heroes was the astrodynamicist.  Mike's (my guy for that) is going to love that, if he didn't see it.  Roland, I swear you were the head of JPL!  The tech was off.  Too 2015, not enough 2035.  Rockets are not the issue.  The computer tech amongst other kids.

Snarky Review:  Sean Bean didn't die.  Something was felt wrong there. 

General: 4 stars, weighed down with my geekry. 

THIS WAS WORTH THE MONEY!  GO SEE!