MAIN CAST: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastian, Kristen Wiig
IMDB Story Line
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
WHAT I LIKED
When I viewed the trailer for this movie I was turned off and did not give this movie a fair chance, and that was unfortunate for me, because I missed the opportunity of seeing a great movie at the theater. Most of the story was great, Matt Damon's Character Mark Watney had to find a way to survive on a planet with no air and no water, This was the ultimate fictional survival story. It was a adventure. I Really like the believable creative ways that Watney came up with to survive.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
I did not like the rescue part of the story. It seemed like a extended version of the 1995 movie Apollo 13 Staring Tom Hanks as Tom Lovell. I thought that part of the story was made over complicated, However the acting and directing was so awesome that I was able to get past it and enjoy the movie. The script and story was well executed to make a great movie
Movie was given a well deserved PG-13, I would cation this as a family movie because of intense drama and in frequent strong language.
I gave the movie a 8 on IMDB, it was a great and enjoyable movie, I did not see it in theaters but I will looking for the Blue Ray to add to my collection
Whenever a movie based on the Bible comes out of Hollywood the debate begins of how close it was to the story of the Bible, and even the best Biblical representations has problems with production or length. I think it would be impossible to give a total accurate description of any great Bible story unless the movie would be at least six hours long.
For me I enjoyed the movie, I was totally entertained by the special effects, and the over all story based on the Book of Exodus. When ever I watch a movie based on a Bible story I always tell myself they where not there when this story went down and nor was I, we only know what the writers of the Bible told us and no more. For example in the movie The Passion of the Christ directed by Mel Gibson there was one lighthearted moment when Jesus was showing his mother Mary a dinning table with chairs he created, because we all know Jesus was a carpenter, Mary laughed and said it would never happen. OK it was not in the Bible, but I have no problem giving Jesus the credit for the table and chairs, I was not there when it was created and I don't know what Jesus built when he was a carpenter and no one else does. I was not offended when that happened in the movie.
In my opinion the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B. DeMille will always be my standard of a Biblical movie, and even that movie had a few issues, but not many. it was a complete explanation of the events in the book of Exodus from the Bible. And I said it was a explanation,it was still not the Bible. If you want to understand all the events of the Ten commandments story,you will have to study the story from the Bible and not Hollywood productions.
When I left the movie last night I enjoyed it but I kept thinking to myself, Why can't I see Moses instead of Christian Bale like previous movies that he had done. In some reviews it has been said that the cast of the movie let the director down. There might be some explanation of that with a recent interview with Christian Bale from Screenrant.com
“The biggest issue was about how much you could include because [the
story] is so dense, you really could make an 8-hour-length film,” Bale
said of early discussions he had with Scott about the film. “You really
had to make a choice about how far you went with the story. It’s called ‘Exodus‘ for a reason, it’s not called ‘Moses.’
Steve Zailian who wrote the screenplay really felt it was a story of
revolution so it’s his story up through the Exodus, you can see we went
up through the crossing of the Red Sea, but it was tricky.”
So was he not focused on Moses?
I am surprised by this approach from him because of his previous roles like the Batman trilogy, 3;10 to Yuma and Terminator Salvation, where he convinced me of the reality of the characters he was playing. While I was watching the movie I forgot about Christian Bale and seen Batman or what ever character he was portraying. I am thinking this is unusual for me to be seeing him this way, then Bale said this from Screenrant.com
“The very first film I rented immediately after meeting with Ridley and
while I was still trying to get my head wrapped around it, thinking
whether it was something that could be possible, I went and rented The Life of Brian,
which is a favorite film of mine, a beautifully made film,” Bale
revealed with a smile. “The point being that not only do I enjoy that
film but anything where you are approaching it from a very earnest point
of view can have the potential to become TheLife of Brian
very quickly, so it was sort of the guiding light throughout and I must
confess, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” was kind of always
humming through my head. And then after that I rented Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part 1.
You have to get it out of your system. You have to have humor with
something that is as earnest as this and as heavy as this, you have to
add an element of comedy during your everyday life during filming
because otherwise it becomes too exhausting.”
I am sorry, I take any story from the Bible very serious, why would he start his research from a comedy? I am sure there is a better wayto research a rolelike Moses then a comedy movie. I am sorry to say that I am disappointed in Bale looking at the role of Moses this way and it explains why the reviews say the cast let the director down and I can agree with that.
I believe when they make Biblical movies these days that the directors and producers are more interested in being politically correct and are not focused on telling a story from the Bible. I mean any thing about Jesus or the Bible is taken out of public places. The Ten Commandments has been removed from court houses across the country. How and why would we expect the" dyed in wool atheist" as Ridley Scott describes himself in a interview to make a heart felt movie from the Bible? Ridley Scott made a great movie based on a story from the Bible, not a religious family movie.
I am what most people would call a Evangelical Christian, however I am not offended at the movie because I know what I am watching I know who wrote it and directed it and I also understand the world we live in today. For me I agree with the reviews but I still enjoyed the story. I don't care how great of a actor or director you are, you can't do a Bible story unless you believe in where the story comes from
