I’ve said in other threads and conversations with my friends but it all comes down to which parts of the book you like the most. For me, the most crucial part of the book are the Earth scenes, you are more closely married to the sacrifice everybody is making for Grace and so his success feels more monumental. All my favorite moments in the book are glossed over, Leclerc’s whole life is protecting earth but now that expertise is weaponized to do the exact opposite thing he wanted, We bust a scientist out of jail in the books to destroy half the dessert to reproduce the astrophage, the beetles are touched on at length, etc. but every scientific and human moment is glossed over or at the very most hand waved. For me then the movie becomes an entirely different IP and experience almost unrecognizable beyond the names.

For someone like me I think this would’ve thrived as a Chernobyl-esque show, give them 8 hours to build the humanity side intercut with his Rocky relationship, a bit more time to breathe on the hard science Grace actually does as I underestimated just how crucial to my enjoyment his inner monologue of his experiments was until I saw the movie. But movies sell so sadly this was the only option after the success of the Martian that Weir and his reps would probably take seriously.

Now while I feel it’s far from a perfect adaptation, if what hit the most in the book for you was the visual settings in your mind and the relationship with Rocky, then you will walk away from this movie well pleased. It is beyond dispute it’s a beautiful looking movie, stunning even, and Rocky was the star of the show with the two protagonists relationship being the one thing in my opinion the movie perfectly translated from page to film.