There’s nothing like the movies to provide a respite from reality — and there’s nothing like rock star of science Neil deGrasse Tyson to bring reality crashing right back down on them.
During a pop-in at TheWrap studios, the astrophysicist submitted to a fun little game that’s as timeless as it is one we just made up: “Neil deGrasse Tyson Ruins Your Favorite Sci-Fi Movies.”
We asked him about films like “Ex Machina,” “The Martian,” “World War Z,” “Jurassic World” and “X-Men: Apocalypse” to get his take on the sometimes shaky science portrayed within them.
Of the virulent zombie contagion in “World War Z,” he said, “Think of it as an analog to a particularly potent virus — and take heed.”
Of the super-dinos featured in “Jurassic World,” he said, “All the lifeforms that exist today are super versions capable of surviving in conditions that previous species could not — that’s why they’re extinct!”
And of the occasionally dubious portrayal of gravity in “The Martian,” the host of “Star Talk” on National Geographic stepped to the film’s defense: “When [Matt Damon‘s character Mark Watney] was not in his space suit, they restored regular earth gravity because they did some experiments and it just looked really surreal when he would drop something dressed as a regular person.”
Finally, for those of you concerned about humanity’s future, worry no longer: We’re doomed. When asked whether it’s inevitable that A.I. like that portrayed in “Ex Machina” will eventually turn on us, Tyson said, “I don’t see why not.”