epilogue wrote:It's a super flawed movie with very little stakes when you really look at it.
I don't know what this means. The execution of book to film is nearly flawless in my opinion, and the stakes of the storyline are pretty much as massive as they get.
The designed story stakes are huge -- the end of the world and all mankind. Great. But that's just a premise. The movie has to make us care about that and more importantly doubt that the mission will succeed.
I'm talking about stakes in the sense of how the audience relates to/reacts to the main characters. That relationship is a big way to build tension. One way to increase and test that tension is to worry about a character, worry about their individual stakes, and doubt whether or not they will achieve what they want to achieve. Grace is always fine (we never worry that he won't make it and succeed) and Rocky can basically do anything. While I enjoy watching their journey and there are other reasons to be engaged, the tension and those character stakes are thin and pretty low.
The best part of the story, for me, is Grace on Earth. His "cowardice" and whether or not he'll take the mission. That's undercut, however, by the structure of the film. By the time we can doubt him we already know he's won. But again, it's nitpicky and subjective. There are a ton of other reasons to love the movie, and I do.
Mecca wrote:Counterpoint: we were told multiple times Grace would die after he completes his mission because the fuel would not be able to return him home.
I already talked about this earlier.
But again, we never believe that because he's literally going to a place where there is more fuel! It doesn't really make any sense. But even if we set that aside and just ignore the weird logic, Rocky solves that problem in a snap and we don't have to worry about it again! And there's still a lot of movie to go.
The only time I really felt the stakes was when Rocky got cooked.
Mecca wrote:Counterpoint: we were told multiple times Grace would die after he completes his mission because the fuel would not be able to return him home.
I already talked about this earlier.
But again, we never believe that because he's literally going to a place where there is more fuel! It doesn't really make any sense. But even if we set that aside and just ignore the weird logic, Rocky solves that problem in a snap and we don't have to worry about it again! And there's still a lot of movie to go.
The only time I really felt the stakes was when Rocky got cooked.
There's a book reason for this, but I can't remember what it is.
Mecca wrote:Counterpoint: we were told multiple times Grace would die after he completes his mission because the fuel would not be able to return him home.
I already talked about this earlier.
But again, we never believe that because he's literally going to a place where there is more fuel! It doesn't really make any sense. But even if we set that aside and just ignore the weird logic, Rocky solves that problem in a snap and we don't have to worry about it again! And there's still a lot of movie to go.
The only time I really felt the stakes was when Rocky got cooked.
There's a book reason for this, but I can't remember what it is.
Oh, interesting.
I have the book and I'm excited to check it out. I'm so far behind on my reading...
Mecca wrote:Counterpoint: we were told multiple times Grace would die after he completes his mission because the fuel would not be able to return him home.
I already talked about this earlier.
But again, we never believe that because he's literally going to a place where there is more fuel! It doesn't really make any sense. But even if we set that aside and just ignore the weird logic, Rocky solves that problem in a snap and we don't have to worry about it again! And there's still a lot of movie to go.
The only time I really felt the stakes was when Rocky got cooked.
My assumption was the ship lacked the ability to collect/produce the astrophage in quantities needed to make a dent in the fuel needed. It took a global effort to produce the fuel just to get there.
It was still a prevailing thought in the background until Grace told Rocky he didn’t have the fuel. You’re either too optimistic or just have the benefit of hindsight to say it was never a point of tension
Mecca wrote:Counterpoint: we were told multiple times Grace would die after he completes his mission because the fuel would not be able to return him home.
I already talked about this earlier.
But again, we never believe that because he's literally going to a place where there is more fuel! It doesn't really make any sense. But even if we set that aside and just ignore the weird logic, Rocky solves that problem in a snap and we don't have to worry about it again! And there's still a lot of movie to go.
The only time I really felt the stakes was when Rocky got cooked.
My assumption was the ship lacked the ability to collect/produce the astrophage in quantities needed to make a dent in the fuel needed. It took a global effort to produce the fuel just to get there.
It was still a prevailing thought in the background until Grace told Rocky he didn’t have the fuel. You’re either too optimistic or just have the benefit of hindsight to say it was never a point of tension
It's more that it never made sense to me (either because the movie didn't explain it or I missed it) and so I never bought in. To me it was a signal that he was going to be fine; that the movie didn't want me worrying about it. It wasn't optimism or hindsight. It was having seen these kinds of movies before.
Mecca wrote:Counterpoint: we were told multiple times Grace would die after he completes his mission because the fuel would not be able to return him home.
I already talked about this earlier.
But again, we never believe that because he's literally going to a place where there is more fuel! It doesn't really make any sense. But even if we set that aside and just ignore the weird logic, Rocky solves that problem in a snap and we don't have to worry about it again! And there's still a lot of movie to go.
The only time I really felt the stakes was when Rocky got cooked.
My assumption was the ship lacked the ability to collect/produce the astrophage in quantities needed to make a dent in the fuel needed. It took a global effort to produce the fuel just to get there.
It was still a prevailing thought in the background until Grace told Rocky he didn’t have the fuel. You’re either too optimistic or just have the benefit of hindsight to say it was never a point of tension
It's more that it never made sense to me (either because the movie didn't explain it or I missed it) and so I never bought in. To me it was a signal that he was going to be fine; that the movie didn't want me worrying about it. It wasn't optimism or hindsight. It was having seen these kinds of movies before.
I mean, this wasn’t the type of movie to let the protagonist die for sure; you knew he would make it, but the how was anyone’s guess
Really enjoyed this. I think the kids didn't quite get what was going on during some of it. Had few genuinely good laughs. Didn't find myself getting emotional during the film though. Do I have a heart of stone?
"I really enjoy sandwiches but the other guys are so good at making sandwiches that I don't make them. Now I make sandwiches."
I liked it a lot. I felt like some of the stuff might be missed by people that haven’t read the book. But it was great. Nice nod to Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Mecca wrote:Counterpoint: we were told multiple times Grace would die after he completes his mission because the fuel would not be able to return him home.
I already talked about this earlier.
But again, we never believe that because he's literally going to a place where there is more fuel! It doesn't really make any sense. But even if we set that aside and just ignore the weird logic, Rocky solves that problem in a snap and we don't have to worry about it again! And there's still a lot of movie to go.
The only time I really felt the stakes was when Rocky got cooked.
It makes sense. Just because you drive to an oil field doesn't mean you can easily turn crude into gasoline.
They didn't know that they were sending Hail Mary to a system with fuel. All they knew was that THAT star wasn't dimming. Maybe it wasn't dimming because there were no astrophages there. In fact, that was likely.
Everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?
First film I’ve seen ln a cinema in a couple of years. Felt the hype going into it, and was at least partly expecting it to be spectacular. Won’t say I left disappointed, because I thought it was a well told and well produced movie, with a couple of really good acting performances. Just not movie of the year material for me.
Had a good time, and the baby slept 95% of the time (was a baby cinema). Happy about that.
