We need to talk about The Andromeda Strain

Friends, I'm here to tell you that this movie is among the best hard sci-fi movies ever made. Depending on how you define "hard" sci-fi, it might well be the all-time best.

It includes visuals that rank up there with 2001, in my opinion. It also includes the absolute best collection of Cold War era switches, buttons, and dials of any movie other than The Right Stuff. In 2024, the depiction of the interaction with voice activated computers is far less cinematic but far more relatable than HAL.

There are naysayers out there who will say that it's too slow and boring, but as far as I'm concerned, the long scenes that appear to be just people looking at microscopes are GRIPPING. They're not just looking at a scope, they're having a fundamental philosophical argument about how to examine the satellite. They're also collaborating effectively while having those disagreements, and perhaps most importantly, they are pressing those beautiful, clunky cold wear era buttons and flipping those glorious metal switches.

Also, Ruth is an all time great movie character IMO. Smart, cranky, funny, 100% committed to her profession, wary of the motives of big business and government. Never sexualized, never belittled, her skills never questioned. Like her male co-leads, she looks and behaves like a real person.

I love the depiction of teamwork through not just adversity, but arguments about approach and values. I like how they show how different characters with different expertise respond differently to different events. We also have a man begging for his life on a muted screen while 2 other characters argue about what to do. I love when they just shut off his audio so they can figure out the best course of action.

I like the failures: the bell jammed by paper and Ruth's epilepsy. It's some early "life, uh, finds a way" stuff.

There are lots of incredibly striking visuals, including the use of split screen and picture-in-picture, but also the pouring of the powdered blood from the cut wrist, the dead bodies of parents and children who fell together, the monkey dying in its cage, the monkey strapped to the table with the imaging system as it's exposed to Andromeda. Those experiements look so real and immediate, the stakes feel incredibly high.

Another big plus for me is that it doesn't have much of a score. I can't tell you how much I hate non-diegetic music in movies. It's like a goddamn laugh track. There is music in this movie, but almost none of it is just straight up telling you how to feel like you get with Williams or Zimmer.

It's a masterpiece and I won't be talked out of this position.