In most cases a book is far superior to a movie made from it. However, there are always exceptions. I have a feeling that this might be one of them. So, what would you recommend? The book or the movie?
Yes.
The movie is a pretty good adaptation of the book. Unlike…sigh… I, Robot.
Book, well audiobook, and I’m not one to jump on the book is better bandwagon. I read (well listened) and viewed this 2x on each medium, and the book is where it’s at. Movie is just too compressed and too ‘Hollywood’, it brings his 400 + sol mission down to 2 hours and it feels like that.
I would say the book. Both were well done, but the narrative of the book was kind of like a journal and you could see both the main character’s humor and frustrations much better. I also thought it explained a lot of stuff better.
Both were excellent, but I think the book wins my vote by just a hair. I’ve also heard it argued that the audio book is the best format for this one, as that was the original format. If you like audio books you might go that route.
This comes closest to my opinion. In addition to compressing out a great deal of the background, the movie sanitized the less pleasant aspects of his experience — probably to preserve a PG-13 rating — as well as Johanssen’s conversation with her father about what would happen if the supply rendezvous failed (and her interplay with Martinez when it succeeded).
I think that this one comes down to the greater detail that books have over movies, no matter how well done. The movie was terrific, and an excellent adaptation of the book. Really no complaints there on my part; they didn’t diverge in any important way.
But the book is just so much richer; you get to know Watney in a way that the movie just can’t come close to. And you get a much better idea of the time scales involved, and the level of determination involved on Watney’s part than in the movie.
With all that said both are worth it. Do both.
I agree with the others. They were both very good, but in the book you got a lot more of Mark’s humor.
One thing I’ll mention about the book, you can skip all the math. There’s times when they spend quite a bit of space working out equations to figure something out, if that doesn’t appeal to you, you won’t lose anything if you gloss over it.
Looks like a close call with the book slightly ahead so I’ll go that way. Then I’ll give the movie a shot. Thanks all!
I agree with all these posts: the movie is fantastic but the book is much richer.
Another vote for the book. “Richer” is a very apt description. The movie is great, but a lot had to be left out of it.
I’ve only seen the movie version of The Martian, but when both the book and the movie are good (which seems to be the case here) I think it’s often better to watch the movie first. I used to think the opposite and made a point of reading the book first, but a movie is always going to have to simply, condense, and omit things. So if you read the book after seeing the movie then there will still be plenty of content that’s new to you, and if the book is a good one then there will often be more depth to it.
I disagree. Having read the book first and then sen the film, I believe I did it in the correct order.
Seconded. I enjoyed both very much.
I enjoyed them both. I did see the movie first, and then read the book. I think they were both very good.
Let me get this straight. Are you asking me which is My Favorite Martian?
You will have more experiences with reading book than watching a movie, but it also takes a longer time to finish the story. I sill choose book to recommend
Indeed. In the book, the trip to his meeting point with the rescue is about half the actual book, while in the movie, it’s almost an afterthought.