Approaching the Unknown (2016)

I had great expectations for this movie after seen the trailer, that looked amazing. Well, what a disappointment this film was. Is not that the acting was bad, or the production values. Neither the visual effects, which are OK. It's just that NOTHING happens... at least nothing that can move the spectators to feel, or even THINK something. The whole thing is an exercise on futility, good concepts wasted and pretentious sequences of slow motion stuff trying to be philosophical or something, but just coming out... lame. If you want to see an exciting, deep, or even entertaining sci fi space film, look somewhere else.

Fmovies: Following the success of movies like Moon, someone thought it would be a good idea to try with a movie about a mission towards Mars. Mark Strong starts off as an astronaut that is sent there and thinks about his place in the world and talks to people on Earth. It got me excited. Yet by the end I couldn't decide if I am to feel stupid or offended.

Alarm bells started to ring in my mind almost immediately. The personality of the guy was unstable to being cowboyish. The science didn't add up. The atmospheric dye effects had no connection to space or to the story. The water got contaminated by a battery short?! The astronaut's motivation to go to Mars was specifically because he liked the feeling of dying. I mean, come on!

But even with all this aside - and I am capable to putting aside the technical aspects - the film is actually saying nothing concrete. Should we abandon going to space because it is folly or is it that the writer has so little faith in NASA that he thinks all astronauts will be allowed to be depressed artists that write their journal with pencils and feel lonely in space? Is there a point to all the inner dialogues of the guy or is he just losing his mind in this really slow movie? We don't know.

Bottom line: I liked the production values of the film and the acting, but I couldn't get my head around what the writer/director was trying to say. It's time artsy folk understand that not only engineers are a completely different type of people from them, but that writing and directing your own movie is only rarely a good idea.

After all these bad reviews I practically expected nothing and was positively surprised.

Indeed it's not a Thriller. There's no action in common ways, and yet it is a challenging story about one man who at all costs wants to become the first to live on Mars, brilliantly portrayed by Mark Strong and his supporting actors.

I would never compare it to "The Martian". All they have in common: the red planet and survival. If you really need a comparison, take "Gravity" or "Moon", though here was obviously much less budget available. So in this case I really don't care about technical, astrophysical goofs.

It's a psycho-philosophical Sci-Fi-Drama; small, profound, serious and quite slow. Therefore it hopefully will achieve more acknowledgment in future.

Approaching the Unknown fmovies. If you are looking for a typical Hollywood Mars movie this isn't it. Film's story and its main focus is inside the mind of the main character and the struggle he is facing on his journey to Mars, as opposed to more straightforward action in a 3-piece act. It may also come across as pessimistic as it deals with questions of fate and what life can bring on a one way journey, as life really is, into the unknown; Mars, future, afterlife etc. It isn't satisfying in sense that it brings you a "proper" conclusion to the story, but rather makes you wonder, which can easily turn into dissatisfaction that you were cheated as you waited for the story to bring something forth, instead it leaves you wondering. I applaud the risk the story took to delve into the mind of an engineer and how it handled it. I also applaud Mark Strong for his captivating performance. I don't recommend this to everyone, but to those who don't mind to be left with an unfinished story, come to the conclusion on your own, or keep searching.

This is 90 minutes of my life I will never get back. Premise is terrible. Characters have nothing to like. Why was there only one astronaut in each space craft? Why was there a space station three weeks from earth? Why would you stop a spaceship three weeks from earth to resupply when it has built up momentum to get to Mars? Where were the science advisors for this pathetic attempt at science fiction? Cinematography is worthless. And it only got worse as it went on. Someone, please, send me to Mars by myself so I never have to endure another movie like this. Please warn me if this writer, director, or studio executive is ever allowed to make another movie. I wish there was an alien to eat my brain after watching this.

After seeing this movie, I was really thrilled and thought I had seen something worth seeing. Yet I can also understand why many other don't feel that way. This movie doesn't aim to please all audiences, it really targets a specific group of viewers you may or may not be part of.

As other reviewers already stated: if you're looking for an action-packed sci-fi or anticipation movie, move along because this one is not for you. If you're looking for an uplifting, Hollywood-style feel good movie... move along. If you're after great landscapes of Mars and big spaceships roaming about, you should also probably look for other movies. Yet this movie has a lot going for it, as long as you realize what you're in for:

This is a story about a character who is willing to leave everything behind for the greater good, for science and for the slim chance of becoming the first human on Mars. The whole movie is basically a "huis clos", a closed stage in a cramped vessel, where you follow a single individual during his journey of 270 days in space, alone. He has to fight boredom, madness and growing technical issues he is partly responsible for due to his overconfidence and his belief that he can solve everything on his own. He also has to cope with the burden of the entire humanity back on Earth cheering for him and placing the highest expectations on his shoulders. Yet he's just a man. Hopes, successes, failures... They are all part of the journey, and the lead character confronts each in a very believable way.

Acting is spot on (bravo Mark Strong), and the reactions never feel alien or unrealistic. FX are good enough, but this movie doesn't rely on them heavily at all.

There is one very big leap of faith the audience is supposed to make: I find it highly dubious for various reasons that humanity would send a single person on such a long journey without backup: way too dangerous. Yet if you're willing to go with it, you'll find this movie to picture a very believable analysis of human nature when confronted to loneliness, various pressures and challenging situations.

All in all, this movie is more of a psychological approach of long journeys in isolation and adversity, rather than a sci-fi/anticipation movie on colonizing Mars.

I would definitely recommend this movie to those among you who like slow-paced, "psychological" movies such as (with some similarities): - Solaris (2002) - 2001 Space odyssey - Silent running - Das Boot (in some ways) - 127 hours (in some ways) - The survivalist (in some ways)