The Martian (2015) Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig. IMDB says: “During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.”
After seeing the first trailer for this film, I knew I wanted to see it. I wasn’t on the fence about anything. I was ready to go in and enjoy the movie. Yeah you’d hear off hand comments, “Oh it looks like Saving Private Ryan on Mars.” Or, “It looks like Cast Away on Mars.” And of course there is the occasional, “Maaaatt Daymon”. Yes it’s easy to categorize this film as “Cast Away on Mars” but frankly, it’s better than that.
The Martian is about Mark Watney (Damon) an astronaut presumed dead after a storm strikes Mars. His team abandons the planet and Watney is left for dead. Only thing is, he’s not dead. Watney has to survive until NASA can figure out how to bring him back. Watney takes us on a rollercoaster of emotion as we live through his successes, failures, and untimely bad luck in what ends up being a real fun film. Yeah, you can say the whole human emotion and triumph of spirit nonsense, but the film is a refreshing and colorful look at the promising and hopeful will of mankind. The film steps into the lighter side of space exploration and doesn’t leave you with a sense of dread or hopelessness.
The film doesn’t confuse you either. The science is prevalent enough and boiled down enough to where it just makes sense. The film doesn’t try to puff its chest out and overcomplicate things or try to come across as pseudo-intellectual. A lot of that has to deal with the solid script from Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) who adapted it from the novel (of the same name) by Andy Weir. The film looks wonderful too. What director Ridley Scott learned on Prometheus, he perfected with The Martian. The intensity of the storm in the beginning of the film is captured as perfectly as the isolation felt by Watney on a brightly colored gorgeous planet. The film could almost act like a tourism video promoting the beautiful landscapes of Mars. Almost.
When the film isn’t focused on Watney’s resuce, it’s back and forth between NASA and the crew who left Watney. Those scenes could have easily lessened the pace or taken away from the story, but the cast is just too good to let that happen. Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean (spoiler: one of the few movies where he DOESN’T die) Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Chiwetel Ejiofor (yes I had to look up the spelling) Benedict Wong, an odd but welcomed performance from Donald Glover, and many others, make up the impressive ensemble cast. Everything adds up to a fantastical fun filled film that shouldn’t be missed in theatres.
Niceties aside, there are one or two little things I took umbrage with. Without spoiling anything, there are a few scenes that I felt we could have done without. Not because of time (the film doesn’t even feel like 2 and a half hours it’s paced so well) but because I felt it didn’t really fit the story. According to some who have read the book, those scenes are longer and delve into other subplots not explored in the film. There were one or two scenes where I just can’t imagine that happening. But, this is a movie in space. Sometimes you just gotta suspend disbelief.
Overall, you should’ve stopped reading this review a while ago and RAN to your local theatre to see this movie. The scope of this film needs to be experienced on the big screen. You can see it in 3D if you want, for me, it didn’t add much to the film. Just make sure you go to the bathroom first. You’re not going to want to miss a second of this one.
FTS SCORE: 85%
The Martian is currently
in theaters nationwide.