The Martian
Don't Go! Plenty of science, not enough fiction.
Astronaut survival after Martian isolation.
It is inevitable that humans will eventually go to Mars. We get bored. We are also pretty decent at messing up our spectacular earthly surroundings, so we'll eventually need somewhere else to go and further our race with more selfies, Starbucks franchises and craft breweries. There are already some Dutch people planning to set up a privately-funded colony there by 2026. Without needing a giant leap in imagination, The Martian takes us on a small cinematic step towards what might happen when this all goes down.
Space-enthusiast director Ridley Scott (Alien, Promethus) takes us along with a team of astronauts conducting a jolly mission on Mars - collecting dirt, cracking wise and whatnot. A huge storm means they need to abort and head home, but one of their lot, botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon; The Bourne Identity; Elysium), gets left behind. With restricted rations and resources; and a wait of up to 4 years before the next mission reaches the planet, The Martian is about Watney's fight to survive, and NASA's attempts to rescue him. It is Apollo 13 multiplied by Castaway (minus the square root of Tom Hanks).
Space-enthusiast director Ridley Scott (Alien, Promethus) takes us along with a team of astronauts conducting a jolly mission on Mars - collecting dirt, cracking wise and whatnot. A huge storm means they need to abort and head home, but one of their lot, botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon; The Bourne Identity; Elysium), gets left behind. With restricted rations and resources; and a wait of up to 4 years before the next mission reaches the planet, The Martian is about Watney's fight to survive, and NASA's attempts to rescue him. It is Apollo 13 multiplied by Castaway (minus the square root of Tom Hanks).
It is a big movie. At a cost of $109 million and featuring a bonkers cast that includes Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Kirsten Wiig (Bridesmaids), Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber), Michael Peña (End of Watch), Kate Mara (Fantastic Four), Sean Bean (Lord of The Rings), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) and Donald Glover (Magic Mike XXL), the high quality of the production is obvious. The cinematography of Mars (largely filmed in Jordan) makes it as a spacious, dusty red beauty and the CGI of interplanetary travel is dramatically effected. It is a patient film over its 140 minutes, which avoids sensationalism and attempts to be hugely realistic. (NASA was heavily involved in its development, and their announcement that they had discovered evidence of water on Mars 4 days before the film's release was apparently not a coincidence).
While these component parts make it a good film, for it to become great, there has to be drama, heart, fear and jeopardy. Sadly, on each of these fronts the film falls slightly short. Rather than Mark Watney being the main protagonist, it is the science of the film that takes centre stage. It's a massive geek-out for physicists and biologists, but for the humanists among us, The Martian is - like a bottle of champagne left overnight - still tasty and clearly well-made, but just a little flat. It watches more like freaky pre-emptive documentary of something that is yet to happen, rather than an entertaining piece of pure, exciting fiction.
While these component parts make it a good film, for it to become great, there has to be drama, heart, fear and jeopardy. Sadly, on each of these fronts the film falls slightly short. Rather than Mark Watney being the main protagonist, it is the science of the film that takes centre stage. It's a massive geek-out for physicists and biologists, but for the humanists among us, The Martian is - like a bottle of champagne left overnight - still tasty and clearly well-made, but just a little flat. It watches more like freaky pre-emptive documentary of something that is yet to happen, rather than an entertaining piece of pure, exciting fiction.
Despite some raw and moving moments during his performance, when Damon is given the space and time to give us a deep and insightful character - a man competing with and beating the odds - he annoyingly plays Watney as a bit of a smug douchebag. There is only a dim sense of the turmoil that you would expect a man abandoned on an empty planet 225 million kilometers from Earth. Instead, we get more of a bright and breezy reality TV show character who, during his video recordings (which no-one else will see) and in the face of likely death makes cheesy quips like, "I'm going to science the shit out of this". It's all a bit too Hollywood, and anchors the believability of the entire film, despite the relative believability of the scenario. Making the character emotionally strong is a totally legitimate approach, but in a film that generally fails to develop an interesting emotional connection with the audience, much more was needed.
So, don't go. It'll make for a lovely family movie on the box at Christmas 2016 given its moderate amount of peril, and yee-ha American optimism. But it is not quite worth making the trip to the cinema for.
So, don't go. It'll make for a lovely family movie on the box at Christmas 2016 given its moderate amount of peril, and yee-ha American optimism. But it is not quite worth making the trip to the cinema for.
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