Ad Astra

[Ranb]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2935510/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1

I watched Ad Astra today.  It was slow, but not 2001 Space Odyssey slow.  I thought it was fair for hard scifi, but there were some problems on screen.  I don't know how to hide part of my post with spoiler tags.

Was the space antenna as shown accurate?
I don't think it passed the Bechdel Test either.  Liv Tyler did not have any lines in the movie. 

[Obviousman]

It is not getting very good reviews in Australia. Since it is sci-fi, and space sci-fi, I'll reserve judgement until after I have seen the movie. The trailer certainly looks interesting.

[raven]

The trailers are making it look like action sci-fi with realistic looking designs, so I was a bit wary, but it now sounds interesting.

[NthBrick]

I seem to be hearing varying things about it. Critics seem to think it's brilliant, general audiences seem to find it a bit slow and dull. Personally, I'm excited to see it, if only because original "hard sci-fi" space movies are such a rarity these days...heck, it's not as if they've ever been super popular or frequent.

Besides, the fourth season of "The Expanse" doesn't premiere until December, and I need my fix.

[LunarOrbit]

I saw it today. I found it incredibly slow. Everyone spoke in unnatural, monotone, emotionless voices throughout to whole movie, which made it difficult for me to care about them.

It seems like with this movie and First Man, Hollywood must think that being a professional astronaut means acting like an emotionless robot.

I questioned the scientific accuracy a number of times, but I'll leave it to others to judge that.

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[smartcooky]

I saw it last night, and while it was slow, it was also intense, and I enjoyed that intensity enough to give it a strong 3½ stars out of 5.

It was refreshing to see a sci-fi movie that didn't involve a raft of over-dazzling special effects, an inimical alien hell-bent on killing everyone in sight, and a super-hero dashing in to save the day.

NOTE: Someone in Hollywood needs a primer in orbital mechanics. I mean seriously, an unplanned  stop off at 1685 Toro during a 19-day trip to Mars. Has Hollywood ever heard of ∆v?

[ka9q]

Has Hollywood ever heard of ∆v?

Apparently not, with the exception of The Martian.

[smartcooky]

Has Hollywood ever heard of ∆v?

Apparently not, with the exception of The Martian.

True, but Andy Weir did all the orbital calculations for Rich Purnell's "3-Impulse transfer orbit" - they had it handed to them.

Now I'm far from an expert in orbital mechanics but IIRC the Earth-Mars distance ranges between about 60 million and 400 million km, so a spacecraft getting to Mars in 19 days would need to be moving at between 36km/s and 244 km/s

Even if we could achieve such a speed (keep in mind that our fastest spacecraft in Earth's reference frame is New Horizons @ about 16 km/s - and that is with a gravity assist from a Jupiter Flyby) how the hell is it going to slow down when it gets there?