A Real Astronaut Rates The Latest Space Movies

If you want to know which space movies are legit, who better to ask than retired astronaut and engineer Chris Hadfield? He sits down with “Vanity Fair” in a new video, rating space movies from “Gravity” to “Interstellar.”

Here’s Hadfield’s take.

“Gravity” (2013): He says that “concept” is great, as are the visuals, but says what happens after the shuttle collides with an asteroid field is “so far from reality” that he wanted to look away. “George Clooney is driving around like some sort of space cowboy as the only person who really knows what’s going on,” he adds. “What is he even doing out there, driving around in his jet pack? We don’t go out recreationally.”

“Passengers” (2016): Hadfield takes issue with a few particular details in the movie, like when the ship loses power, stops spinning and suddenly becomes zero gravity. Hadfield points out that it would take a lot to stop the ship from spinning, even if it lost power. But that’d wouldn’t make for a good story, as Hadfield points out!

“The Martian” (2015): Hadfield says “The Martian” is “the most realistic of almost all of the space movies.” That’s mainly thanks to the Andy Weir novel it’s based on, and because of its representation to the scientific resourcefulness that astronauts have to apply, as well as the ups and downs of living in space.

“Interstellar” (2014): Hadfield admitted he was getting “confused” watching clips from the movie, saying it needs some kind of “footnotes” for the viewer. But he calls it a “real interesting coupling” of a “science fiction story” based on the idea of how to visualize something as complex and unknown as a black hole.

“First Man” (2018): About the story of Neil Armstrong, Hadfield calls a bunch of the technical details “all wrong.” Plus, he was “disappointed” that everyone looked “so glum” on their big space mission, wondering where the “sparks of joy” were.

Photo: Getty Images


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