So as a counterpoint, I enjoyed it. Not perfect, and not as good as the movie this most felt like to me, Moon. But it did several things I like.
The story itself is one that, at a broad level, works for me. The framing of it as a pseudo documentary/ press conference release isn’t a bad idea, even if it doesn’t fully come together. The way the mission discoveries are laid out was effective, even if the ultimate reveal was predictable.
Now the mission structure, and the way it is pursued, did have issues. The Russian biologist in particular I felt acted stupidly, and against type. She had her singular discovery. You don’t push further on the first exploration, you analyze your first sample and get that data before pushing deeper. Instead her foolish act cost the team valuable science data. And the orbital mechanics… no. Just no. Also they would absolutely not send the entire crew down on the lander like that, and the lander would be far smaller! And the gravity was all wrong. I know I know, I’m being picky on technical details with that.
Still, despite several flaws with technical and character actions, the ultimate story does well by both. Particularly in the form of Michael Nyqvist. In the end the characters decide to sacrifice themselves in order to achieve their ultimate mission, and how the discovery of life was more important than themselves. Despite my annoyance with how cavalier some were about it, most of the crew rightly prioritized the mission.
The vistas were also appropriately interesting, though good lord would they never land in such broken terrain! Anyhow it isn’t up to The Martian standards of design for accuracy and utility, but it’s above par.
But the fact they took a fairly grounded story about looking for extraterrestrial life and made it the focus? I approve. Which is why, though I probably could come up with more criticisms than accolades, I come away positive on the film. Not great, has too many flaws for that, but a decent sci fi flick.