As much as I loved The Martian, I immediately watched the trailer for this when it came up, and thought...oh no...now I know the entire story? It won't stop me from watching it, but yeah, too many plot points for a trailer!
posted by mittens at 12:56 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

There's so much more to the story than what's in the trailer though. I think the only big "shock" is rocky, but even then...
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:58 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

This seems like a terrible candidate for a movie -- it's all internal monologue, physics, and arithmetic. But then again so was the Martian and it made a good movie, so what do I know?
posted by eraserbones at 1:02 PM on June 30 [2 favorites]

While spoiler-heavy, the trailer really doesn’t touch on the entire second half of the book. I don’t see how they can cram everything into a single movie, unless they seriously compress all the prep stuff on Earth.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:06 PM on June 30

LOL the trailer is basically a speed run of where I left reading off in the book, so I guess I dodged all the spoilers from that many chapters. Rocky shouldn't have been shown, nor the trip out there. Nor honestly The Plan. But whatever, no one goes to the movies anymore right?

I'll say it: Gosling is just too gorgeous to play the lead. "I'm just this timid nerd who wants to teach kids!". Sure Ryan, sure. Classic ugly duckling until they take off the eyeglasses gimme a break. Stop invading my dreams and maybe we'll talk.
posted by alex_skazat at 1:11 PM on June 30

Indeed some very weird spoiler choices for that trailer there.

I really had fun with this book. When the movie project was announced I was kinda skeptical, not because I don't think there should be a movie (there should definitely be more fun hard sci fi movies!) but because I've never seen Ryan Gosling as the kind of actor who could pull off the one-man affable comedy guy schtick. But I liked the book a lot, like I said, so I've been cautiously optimistic.

Less optimistic after this trailer unfortunately.

Will I still see it? Yes. Obviously. Who do you think I am.
posted by phunniemee at 1:22 PM on June 30

As to the inevitable okay well who would you put in that role then question: Donald Glover
posted by phunniemee at 1:25 PM on June 30 [3 favorites]

I would also accept Andrew Scott.
posted by phunniemee at 1:26 PM on June 30 [2 favorites]

I guess I'm an outlier that I think this isn't a very spoilery trailer. Almost everything happening in the trailer happens in basically the first 25% of the book. Since people have already mentioned Rocky, almost all of the most interesting stuff in the book happens after they meet.
posted by tclark at 1:27 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

Donald Glover

Well, he does have the correct mathematical background.
posted by mittens at 1:27 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

Portraying Rocky is the single biggest problem in bringing this book to screen. I was not at all convinced by what I saw here. Maybe they haven't finished the effects.
posted by Nelson at 2:03 PM on June 30

I think the only big "shock" is rocky

Rocky Shock, you'll always be
A big sur-pri-ize to me
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:17 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

The big shock of the book is

that the main character wasn't in space on purpose

and

that he didn't want to go

which the trailer shows way too much of.
posted by phunniemee at 2:34 PM on June 30

I felt like they walked a line and showed #2 because it makes the character a little different. I didn't catch #1 at all though.
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:40 PM on June 30

This is neither here nor there but I just realized after 15+ years that your name isn't drew bagel 847
posted by phunniemee at 2:45 PM on June 30 [9 favorites]

As a fan of the Murderbot audiobooks and ALSO a fan of the PHM audiobook I am thrilled to get screen adaptations of both of them in relatively quick succession.
posted by hovey at 3:00 PM on June 30 [1 favorite]

I think the biggest shock of the book is the reason that the sun and other stars are "infected". And that isn't disclosed in the trailer.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:02 PM on June 30

My hot take is that the book relied too much on amnesia and non-linear storytelling to create artificial plot twists / surprises. I think the book would have been just fine with a more linear structure where the reader was aware of more things up front.
posted by mbrubeck at 3:02 PM on June 30

The audiobook of this was excellent; read the fanfare
posted by lalochezia at 3:07 PM on June 30

Hmm, I read this book, and I remember nothing aat all. Guess I'll have to read it again.
posted by evilDoug at 3:12 PM on June 30 [2 favorites]

I really hope this is one of those first look trailers that is not at all representative of the tone of the final movie because the trailer was hella cheesy.
posted by piyushnz at 3:17 PM on June 30

I loved the book! I’m not that worried about the trailer because it’s maximizing funny bits all in a row and has that horrible grandiose song playing loudly. Funny bits will play well in the film and Gosling is naturally funny. That song is not likely to get played during the movie, maybe in credits.. Idk the artist but it gave Aerosmith from the comet movie vibes, which is to say it’s fucking terrible.
posted by caviar2d2 at 3:28 PM on June 30

The trailer made me cautiously optimistic, which is quite an accomplishment, because I thought the book was one of the worst things I'd read in the last decade.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 3:37 PM on June 30

Way too much in the trailer. I have not read the book. I will see this, though.

Nice to hear that Harry Styles song in the trailer as well. However, this cover of it by three 15 year olds and a 13 year old is much better than the original.
posted by dobbs at 4:31 PM on June 30

While ya'll are waiting, go watch the excellent Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall.
posted by pjenks at 4:39 PM on June 30

Yes, fine, okay, I will consume your hard-ish sci fi that i do not favor as much, in the hopes that you produce more hard-ish sci fi that I do. Please do Aurora and House of Suns next please.

...and oh goddamnit finish the expanse.
posted by furnace.heart at 4:50 PM on June 30

Looks like fun...
posted by jim in austin at 5:03 PM on June 30

I can feel the Kenergy.
posted by vverse23 at 5:05 PM on June 30

I know somebody already posted Donald Glover’s bona fides from The Martian, but I still wanna say “steely eyed missile man.”
posted by whuppy at 5:13 PM on June 30

I thought the book was fun, and Rocky was great as an alien written to be essentially a talking dog. I’ll watch it, if only because my kids are big fans (though in strong agreement re: Kencasting)
posted by q*ben at 5:27 PM on June 30

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