En approchant l'inconnu

This movie is unbelievably terrible! All scientific facts are wrong and the story is excruciatingly trivial and stupid!

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.

I was told that this movie was going to be better than Gravity. Man, that's big shoes to fill and Approaching the Unknown could not fill them. For the most part, the film is total propaganda for all of us who support getting to Mars. In that sense, the film has a great concept.

Mark Strong plays an astronaut who willingly signed up for a one way trip to Mars not just so that he could get to Mars, but so that we as a whole can finally get to Mars.

It will appeal to you regardless, if you are a fan of the recent campaigns to go to Mars, but I need to warn you, if you heard the same rumor that this was as good as Gravity, it's not at all.

The story is exciting but the film making is not. I don't want to judge the filmmakers harshly on what is a low budget film with some cool art direction (I did like the space suit Strong wears), but this movie does nothing with the little they had.

All the actors in it who also include Luke Wilson and Sanaa Lathan seem to be phoning in their performances, this may have a lot to do with the bad writing to a cool story. The movie counts on a lot of dialogue that is not that interesting and puts me to sleep.

Mark Strong in Approaching the Unknown is not as interesting to watch for 90mins as Matt Damon in the Martian for over two hours. It's pretty much the same film in a lot of ways, but Strong, who I like, was not as charismatic and could not grasps me enough to keep me interesting.

I'm on the same boat as Approaching the Unknown as I would love to see Mars even if it means never coming back to Earth, and I wished this movie was better, but it's boring.

This movie is good. I honestly understand the bad rating, because its not mainstream and you need to understand the "zen-spirit" of it.You need to have sensitivity and some wisdom to appreciate a movie like this.Its atmospheric and poetic.Lets you experience space from an angle of basic reality and not heroism nor action.

The slow descend into madness, his monologues, it is good.

A good story isn't about a lot of action, a lot of events, it lies in the subtleties and how they come together.

Just a good movie. I guess, blade runner also had a bad reception when it was released. This movie is perhaps not meant for this generation of action spoiled viewers. I really hope this will get some appreciation along the line, so that we may see more of this quality. Real sci-fi fans will love this movie for what it is.

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)