The Martian (2015) - Film Review
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean & Chiwetel Ejiofor
Screenplay: Drew Goddard
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Certificate: 12
Adapted
from a 2011 novel of the same name, The Martian is
one of 2015's bigger film releases. It's also something of a make or
break moment for director Ridley Scott. The once highly regarded
director has seen a string of recent underwhelming releases, with
films such as Robin Hood,
The Counselor and
Exodus: Gods & Kings
all being poorly received, and even though I generally liked
Prometheus,
that too disappointed a lot of people. So can The
Martian restore our faith in
Ridley Scott and be up there with his classics?
In
2035, the crew of a NASA mission to Mars are forced to evacuate when
a fast-approaching dust storm puts them under threat. But during the
evacuation, astronaut and botanist Mark Watney is lost in the storm,
and when the remaining crew are unable to find him or his life signs,
he is presumed dead. But once the crew have evacuated, Watney awakens
injured but still alive from the storm. He's left abandoned and alone
on Mars, the only chance of rescue being four years away. If he's to
survive that long, it's up to him to find a way to grow and maintain
enough food, produce water and regain contact with NASA back on
Earth.
From
start to finish, The Martian captivates you with its
beautiful imagery, use of rich colours and landscapes. It's the type
of film that's simply made for the big screen, and if you're watching
a high enough definition of it, I swear you'd be able to see each
separate grain of sand on the Martian surface. The Martian is
a visual marvel thanks to Ridley Scott, who's definitely got a decent
screenplay and better material to work with than some of his more
recent films. That shot of Watney sat observing the Martian
landscape, with the way it's framed, its lighting and beautiful red
colour hue, easily make it a contender for one of the best film shots
I've seen from any film this year. (Spoiler Warning!) One of
the last sequences of the film, where Watney attempts to rejoin his
crew on the Hermes ship, also wins my award for one of the
most genuinely tense sequences I've seen this year. The way it's shot
and put together, as well as the rather haphazard way Watney attempts
to get to the ship, gives it some real stakes, commands your
attention and keeps you constantly wondering whether or not he'll
make it.
Something
I really admire about The Martian is the way it
respects and stays committed to the science in its science-fiction. A
lot of sci-fi can (understandably) exaggerate or suspend certain
scientific truths for entertainment value, and while I don't usually
have a problem with that, to see The Martian gives us
some hard science is a nice change of pace. Watney doesn't discover
intelligent life on Mars, and Earth doesn't get enslaved by aliens,
but instead we get a fairly realistic picture of what space travel in
the near-future may look like. Watney has to rely on science to
survive his four years on Mars – he has to find a way of growing
food with only Martian soil, or find a way of taking the components
of rocket fuel to make water. It's the science, not purely the
emotion or spectacle that drives the plot in The Martian.
There may be a lot of technobabble to be found, but you don't
necessarily have to be a full-blown astrophysicist to enjoy the film. I'm certainly not one of them, but was still able to enjoy it.
About 95% of the time, its science is pretty accurate too and it
doesn't have to stretch too much in order to work. Although one thing
that I wasn't particularly convinced by was how well the American and
Chinese space agencies worked so well and efficiently together. As
nice as it would be to believe that it could happen, my optimistic
nature doesn't stretch quite that far.
Balanced
with the commitment to science is a sense of real heart and humanity.
It can sometimes be difficult to make science and emotional depth and
heart mesh together, but The Martian pulls
it off. This is quite a change in tone from some of Ridley Scott's
other films too. Take for example, his 1979 classic (and one of my
personal favourite films) Alien:
a nihilistic nightmare where nearly every character died; as opposed
to The Martian which
puts its main character through some extreme hardships but isn't
afraid to show an occasional sense of humour, and where barely anyone
dies. There are time where it can honestly start getting
inspirational, and who knows, it may even be able to spark some
people's interest in space travel. We're presented with an impossible
situation, but rather than spending time watching every character
lose their minds over it, they're methodical and work it out with
rational thought, innovation and teamwork. This feels like yet
another refreshing change of pace, and calls for unity in times of
hardship and when facing the biggest of challenges.
To
strengthen that sense of teamwork and unity even further, The
Martian features a sturdy
roster of performances from all the cast, with Matt Damon as the
undeniable standout. He has by far the toughest job out of every
actor here, as it's pretty much up to him to carry two hours of film
on his own back, and if Watney wasn't a character that you could root
for, or want to see returned safely to Earth, then The
Martian would fall to
pieces. But thanks to Matt Damon's performance and the dialogue that
screenwriter Drew Goddard creates for him, you DO want to see him
succeed and make a safe return. Also, is it my imagination or do
nearly all of the characters Matt Damon plays need rescuing in some
way? With Saving Private Ryan,
Interstellar and
now The Martian,
either the characters he plays are clumsy, or someone really doesn't
like them. The characters working back on Earth at NASA are also in
the hands of some great acting talent, with Jeff Daniels' and Sean
Bean's characters being the most memorable. There's something about
their characters' relationship and mutual dislike of the other that
really works, and helps distinguish them from everyone else.
If
I have any serious problems with The Martian,
it's an occasional lack of character depth. Don't get me wrong, the
performances are all on point, the actors are all more than capable,
and you do get a couple of moments that are more character than plot
driven, but just not quite enough of them I feel. It's this lack of
depth to the characters that can sometimes prolong the 2hrs+ runtime,
and while the film's not exactly a hideous length, it can sometimes
feel longer than it ideally should. The strict focus on Watney's
survival and mounting a mission to rescue him, denies us much time
getting to know him as a person. I don't remember seeing any scenes
that dealt with questions like whether or not he has a family or
friends waiting for him, and if there were, what does being away for
four years do to that relationship? I'm not asking to know every
single thing about Watney, but even though the strength of Matt
Damon's performance made me want to see the character succeed, I
couldn't quite connect with Watney as a person. Getting to know
Watney and a couple of other characters in The Martian a
bit better would really push this film up to 'classic' status.
But
even though I wouldn't quite call it a 'classic', The Martian
is still a cracking bit of
sci-fi. Its commitment to its science, to the extent that it's
actually what drives the main plot, makes it a must-watch for fans of
sci-fi, while its sense of humanity and plenty of scenes that are
downright inspiring to watch make it accessible to everyone else too.
Add to that the fact that visually its utterly stunning thanks to
Ridley Scott, and you not only have a great return to form for the
director, but just a great film altogether.
The Martian
8/10