Why so much hype?

Best movie ever!

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

So I was recommended this movie on Netflix due to a couple other low-budget indie-ish sci-fi movies that I've seen. After watching the first half-hour, which consists of pretty wooden acting and laborious exposition, I put this movie aside. The next day I went to IMDb.com, and the user reviews encouraged me to keep on going.This turns out to be a wise recommendation. Yes, the acting and line-reading is, for the most part, pretty amateurish. At points it reminds the viewer of a high school play. However if you accept that these are meant to be ordinary people in unusual circumstances, you can get beyond this.Action picks up after that first half-hour, when the astronauts leave their spaceship. This is not "action" in a conventional sci-fi movie: events happen slowly and with plenty of time in between. This is meant as a compliment. The movie shines in the exterior scenes, and it brings meaning back to the spaceship scenes.This is not a big-budget CGI-filled movie, but again this is meant as a compliment. After that first half-hour, which in retrospect is necessary to set up the astronauts' predicament, the movie does an excellent job at telling a story and making the viewer wonder: how would I act and feel under similar circumstances?Bottom line: definitely worth a watch.

If you like spectacular special effects, creatures and explosions, move on. However, to me this is one of the film's strong points. Granted, it is a fairly low-budget production but achieves a convincing amount of realism. My willful suspension of disbelief was tested by the fact that the astronauts don't behave much like astronauts, some of the acting is far from stellar and my inner geek was offended by a few minor scientific errors. For instance; Vincent Gallo gives a top-notch performance but in my opinion was miscast. Real astronauts are just not that high - strung. Director María Lidón cast herself in the lead role but, in contrast to Gallo, was too low keyed. Production values are generally high, particularly considering that the main spacecraft set was recycled from Space Cowboys. The location shots on the island of Lanzarote do indeed look quite a bit like Mars. Lidón is to be commended for the film and resisting the temptation to resort to over-the-top effects and clichés. Compared to other films of this genre, and budget, it stands out and entertains.

This might sound far-fetched, but this movie in its naturalistic dialogs and desperate setting is one of the best renditions in space of the crazy but humanistic spirit of nineteenth century explorers.The drive to push human boundaries step by step has seldom been captured in such a pure form in cinema. In some ways it reminds me of Tarkovsky's Stalker. The landscape are the gorgeous and alien-like scenes in Lanzarote. The actors are fantastic (even the dubbing problems due to the different nationalities add an extra layer of resemblance to a joint international mission)

Where have I been since 2002? This is an excellent movie for space-freaks like I am. This is a believable movie. Not a tale. Not an artificial fantastic. Not a too complicated drama/thriller. This is be-live-able! This is true! This is real story! (Ah, of course, not, but seems-seems so!) It do shocked me! It will do shock you. Definitеly. Believe. Not to spoil, it is about five astronauts came into trouble while First Man Landing on the surface of red planet. They crashed, their space ship is broken, they have tiny floor, tiny ceiling, four tiny walls, they have air and food resources only for a about a year. A lot of time to organize a rescue expedition? Do you really think that it will be organized? This is nowadays, The Earth-Mars flight is twenty six months long, and, fairly, there is no point in any rescue expedition. And they know it. But don't want to believe. To live! And what will they do?.. And, ah, a mystery! And, ah, the very final scene!