STARRING: Ryan Gosling, James Ortiz, Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub and Priya Kansara. Based on the book by Andy Weir. Screenplay by Drew Goddard. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Budget $248 million. Running time 156 minutes.
Astronaut Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awakens from a medically induced coma on an interstellar flight to Tau Ceti, with no memory of why he's there and with the bodies of two dead crew mates as his only companions. Gradually, through flashbacks we find out just what the ruddy hell is going on and it's genuinely rocket science. It turns out that our sun and hundreds of others in our particularly arm of the galaxy are being eaten alive by something called Astrophage, a single cell organism. Well, all the suns except one, Tau Ceti. And so Ryland has been sent to find out why and maybe a cure before the Earth dies freezing. Trouble is, it's a suicide mission as Grace only has enough fuel for a one way trip. As his memory slowly returns and we discover more about his past, he arrives in orbit around Tau Ceti and discovers he's not alone in the universe. Waiting there is an alien spaceship from another part of the galaxy, whose sun is also being eaten alive and whose sole surviving inhabitant is also looking for a cure. The inhabitant is a strange, eyeless, six-legged, spider-like, rock creature who Rylan names 'Rocky' (James Ortiz) and together these two intrepid scientists search for salvation before the lights go out for both of their civilizations. Along the way bonding and becoming friends.
Based on the book by Andy Weir, who wrote the absolutely brilliant The Martian and adapted by Drew Goddard, who also adapted The Martian. It was a film I absolutely loved, one of Ridley Scott's best. And this shares a lot of the same DNA with that previous film, right down to the movie poster. 
Over all this was an entertaining, satisfying, exciting and enjoyable adventure that moved me and made me laugh, indeed there's one gag that made me laugh so much the audience laughed at my reaction. The gag was: "Knock knock." "Who's there?" "I don't do comedy." "I don't do comedy who?".
I went with daughter and wife. Daughter loved it and gave it a 9, wife not so and gave it a 7. Me...
I'd give it a solid 8/10.
It's also clear that Weir has tropes he likes to explore, as both his lead characters are marooned scientists using their wiles to survive and thrive, although this time round the stakes are global not personal. Both are 'hard' science fiction films eschewing space battles and killer transforming robots, but not aliens, which in this case is a good thing. Not since the exceptional 2016 movie, The Arrival has Hollywood presented us with an alien quite so, alien.
Sadly for me, at least, the film starts off by slightly fumbling the ball by playing like a comedy with Gosling mugging, gurning and prat falling his way around the zero-G spaceship as he struggles with his amnesia and it somewhat undercuts the serious content. In the book Grace's amnesia was a fantastic way to get to know our lead character as glimpses of his forgotten life gradually restored his memory and built the plot. While here his memory loss is played mostly for laughs, not broad ones but still enough to put me slightly on edge. I suppose the trouble is I loved Grace in the book and the film seemed to be belittling him. I usually have no problems with adaptations of books into films, I know they are two separate mediums and as such I can't expect the film to be the book and wouldn't want it to be, but here the adaptations felt a less nuanced.
It's the introduction of Rocky, with his own tragic backstory, that elevates this film and gives it its heart as both beings develop a shared language and work together to defeat the Astrophaguel, or to find a cure. It's exciting, emotional and very entertaining. Gosling is easy on the eyes and can do this sort of role in his sleep. the puppetry of Ortiz and his crew pays dividends and I'm glad he wasn't just a CGI creation, having Gosling interacting with Rocky really nails the emotional connection. I'm so glad to see that this has gone down so well with the critics, scoring a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and I hope it does equally well at the cinema, I think word of mouth should work and propel this, it deserves it. I love these sort of one-and-done science fiction films that won't have sequels or overstretched franchises and I hope Hollywood keep on making them. What with this, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die and Steven Speigberg's lastest Disclosure Day (out in July) this year looks to be a good one for original science fiction films and I hope it lasts. Before I sum off, special mention needs to be made of not just the script or the skills of directors Lord and Miller, but also the music and sound track. The film expertly uses classic rock and pop songs to great effect that help to elevate the tension and drama, while the soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton is very satisfying too.
Sadly for me, at least, the film starts off by slightly fumbling the ball by playing like a comedy with Gosling mugging, gurning and prat falling his way around the zero-G spaceship as he struggles with his amnesia and it somewhat undercuts the serious content. In the book Grace's amnesia was a fantastic way to get to know our lead character as glimpses of his forgotten life gradually restored his memory and built the plot. While here his memory loss is played mostly for laughs, not broad ones but still enough to put me slightly on edge. I suppose the trouble is I loved Grace in the book and the film seemed to be belittling him. I usually have no problems with adaptations of books into films, I know they are two separate mediums and as such I can't expect the film to be the book and wouldn't want it to be, but here the adaptations felt a less nuanced.
It's the introduction of Rocky, with his own tragic backstory, that elevates this film and gives it its heart as both beings develop a shared language and work together to defeat the Astrophaguel, or to find a cure. It's exciting, emotional and very entertaining. Gosling is easy on the eyes and can do this sort of role in his sleep. the puppetry of Ortiz and his crew pays dividends and I'm glad he wasn't just a CGI creation, having Gosling interacting with Rocky really nails the emotional connection. I'm so glad to see that this has gone down so well with the critics, scoring a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and I hope it does equally well at the cinema, I think word of mouth should work and propel this, it deserves it. I love these sort of one-and-done science fiction films that won't have sequels or overstretched franchises and I hope Hollywood keep on making them. What with this, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die and Steven Speigberg's lastest Disclosure Day (out in July) this year looks to be a good one for original science fiction films and I hope it lasts. Before I sum off, special mention needs to be made of not just the script or the skills of directors Lord and Miller, but also the music and sound track. The film expertly uses classic rock and pop songs to great effect that help to elevate the tension and drama, while the soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton is very satisfying too.
Over all this was an entertaining, satisfying, exciting and enjoyable adventure that moved me and made me laugh, indeed there's one gag that made me laugh so much the audience laughed at my reaction. The gag was: "Knock knock." "Who's there?" "I don't do comedy." "I don't do comedy who?".
I went with daughter and wife. Daughter loved it and gave it a 9, wife not so and gave it a 7. Me...
I'd give it a solid 8/10.
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