THE MARTIAN - Review

Hey everyone! It's now October, so you know what that means... AWARDS SEASON IS FINALLY UPON US! Well, it's been here for the last couple weeks or so, but with The Martian and a few other big movies coming out this week, it finally feels like we're getting in the swing of things. Since there are a lot of films coming out, there's going to be a lot more double feature reviews and maybe some that are missing. I wanted to write a review for Sicario, as it's easily one of my favorites this year. Absolutely worth seeing, it's a tremendous thriller and one of Benicio Del Toro's best roles. 

I've got a lot on my plate in the next few weeks, so I might condense some of my reviews and do more shorter ones than fewer long ones. We'll see how it works out. 

Anyway, I whipped this one up for you pretty quickly while I had some downtime. I know a lot of people are really into this movie, and I was too. 

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The Martian


Sci-fi, 2015
2 hours, 21 minutes
Screenplay by Drew Goddard
Directed by Ridley Scott
Based on the novel The Martian by Andy Weir
Rated PG-13 for "some strong images, injury images, and brief nudity"

Starring
Matt Damon
Jeff Daniels
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Jessica Chastain
Michael Peña
Benedict Wong
Kate Mara
Sean Bean
Sebastian Stan
Aksel Hennie
Kristen Wiig

"...Fuck..."

The past three years have brought us three high-concept, huge budget space movies. Gravity was the first, brought to us in 2013. Last year brought us Interstellar, and now, The Martian. All three films were critically acclaimed Oscar bait, using A-list stars and directors to create epic and intimate films about the dangers of outer space. However, Gravity disregarded actual gravity (and you can disregard my old review of that one), Interstellar was a pretentious and somewhat boring waste of time. The Martian, on the other hand, is a finely tuned story that succeeds on every level. 

The crew of the Ares III is on Mars. Their mission is compromised after 19 days by a dust storm. The entire crew manages to escape safely with the exception of Mark Watney (Matt Damon) who is swept away by a piece of debris and shrouded by the sandstorm. He awakes the next day and must "science the shit" out of what he has in order to survive and make contact with NASA to tell them he is alive and well. Back on Earth, NASA struggles to find a way to safely secure Watney's return. 

It's a fairly simple premise that provides tremendous conflict. Thankfully, screenwriter Drew Goddard managed to make it simple. The story has a huge amount of science involved, which is, to my knowledge, accurate. Better yet, the complexities are explained in the simplest ways possible. For example, Watney needs to grow food. He explains it in detail to his video logs, but it is complemented by tightly edited visuals that help the audience understand what he's doing. The complex science is made simple enough using tightly written dialogue which is never overly expositional because it is all relevant to Watney's survival. Everything, no matter how uninteresting, is do or die. The showing is much more effective than the telling. 

The Martian does a great job of balancing multiple storylines. Between Watney's trials on Mars, NASA's struggle to get him home, and the Ares III's desire to rescue their friend, the story is tightly written. Watney may disappear for a small chunk of time in the second act, but everything going on in every region of the story is riveting, and surprisingly, the lighthearted yet gripping tone is consistent. Watney, in particular, has a sense of humor about his situation. When he is down to meager rations of potatoes, he crushes up an Ambien and dips the potato in it, telling the video log, "I ran out of ketchup seven days ago." The humor remains consistent throughout, but it's not overbearing. Just enough to keep up spirits. The only issue of having so many stories is that there are moments, especially in the middle, when it drags. Just a hair. 

Like any Ridley Scott film, the visuals are spectacular. Instead of using CG landscapes, Scott opted to shoot in the deserts of Jordan, utilizing striking orange backdrops. For the most part, the sets, like the rover Watney drives, looks as real as it can be. But across the two hours and twenty minutes, everything is tightly edited and shot, and there's a lot of scientific ground to cover in this movie. The production design may not stand the test of time unlike Alien and Blade Runner, Scott's other sci-fi masterpieces, but it's a realistic and strong approach. 

The cast is enormous, but Matt Damon is definitely the star of the show. He's got a great sense of humor, but in his darkest moments, he brings the fear of certain demise with him. One moment in particular comes to mind, when Watney is counting his remaining rations after an accident destroys his crops. He uses a tarp and duct tape to create a seal so he can survive inside, and when the dust storm whips up, he is at the whim of, well, a tarp and some duct tape to hold. It's a powerful and subtle moment that keeps the audience white-knuckling their armrests. I mean, Matt Damon may be the protagonist, but let's be real: the real heroes of the film are tarps and duct tape. I'm not even kidding. Whenever those come out in any capacity, he goes from being a joking optimist to a serious scientist. 

Ridley Scott has certainly outdone himself. Two of his older sci-fi films, Alien and Blade Runner, have become cultural icons over time. Although The Martian is more science than fiction, it is an inspiring movie that will not be forgotten over time. 

Oh, and it has the single best use of "fuck" in a movie that I have ever seen. You'll know it when it happens. 

9.5/10