Neil deGrasse Tyson, the noted astrophysicist, Cosmos host, and armchair movie reviewer, is at it again. Having previously shared his thoughts on Gravity and Interstellar, Tyson took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to weigh in on Hollywood’s latest space drama, The Martian.
Tyson had mostly good things to say about the Ridley Scott-directed film, which stars Matt Damon as an American astronaut stranded on Mars and forced to use his scientific knowhow to survive.
The filmmakers “got crucial science right, while enhancing the story by fictionalizing the science that remained,” according to Tyson. (Indeed, Scott worked closely with NASA while making the film, and even knew about water on Mars months before us ordinary folks.)
In the @MartianMovie, they got crucial science right, while enhancing the story by fictionalizing the science that remained.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 2, 2015
Tyson also praised The Martian as a movie “where Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math are highly developed characters unto themselves” and “where you experience Love, Hate, Envy, Anxiety, Pride, & Heroism, all through the lens of science.”
The astrophysicist did have some nitpicks as well. For example, he noted that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., doesn’t actually track astronauts — only the Johnson Space Center in Houston does. (Although watching the two NASA centers collaborate on screen was “geek gold.”)
Tyson also quipped that The Martian reveals its fictional nature in that “All [the characters] who make important decisions are scientifically literate.”
The @MartianMovie — where Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math are highly developed characters unto themselves.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 2, 2015
The @MartianMovie — where you experience Love, Hate, Envy, Anxiety, Pride, & Heroism, all through the lens of science.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 2, 2015
Evidence that the @MartianMovie is fantasy: All who make important decisions are scientifically literate.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 2, 2015
Head over to Tyson’s Twitter page to read more of his Martian musings.