The Martian is the latest film from director Ridley Scott, based on the best selling book by author Andy Weir which sees astronaut Matt Damon left for dead on the fourth planet from the Sun after a brutal storm forces the rest of his crew to make an early exit from their Mars expedition. With limited food and resources Damon’s character Mark Watney must find a way to communicate with Earth and stretch his resources for the best case scenario of four years before he can be rescued.
Watching The Martian, its hard not to compare it to Interstellar with the whole last "Mann" on the planet thing and even though I'm a big fan of Interstellar, The Martian just reminds you of what Interstellar sorely lacked: humour. I mean Interstelllar is great with all the crying and existential wondering, but it really could have used more "I'm going to have to science the shit out of this" and less sobbing. It’s good humoured and well paced throughout whilst using science and maths in fun and creative as Damon runs around Mars.
Much like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Matt Damon has the unenviable job of carrying most of the film by being the only guy on a desolate planet so as a result there's a lot of pontificating to a GoPro camera but if anyone can pull that off its Matt Damon. And he does it with charm and good humour throughout, there’s just something incredibly funny about him talking to a camera about how he’s going to need to ration food whilst continually eating peanuts and jelly beans.
Being a Ridley Scott Sci-Fi there are a few things that you can guarantee: the alien-landscape is shot beautifully, the spaceship design work is sleek and the spacesuits always look cool. Another strength of Scott’s is his ability to handle large ensemble casts because for a film about one man stranded on Mars, the supporting cast is great with a combination of Oscar nominated and comedic actors. This combination means that we get some great banter between characters that’s very natural but also very funny.
Now some critics are saying that this is Ridley Scott's best film in years and a return to form, and for me, I think that's incredibly harsh on Ridley Scott. His direction, skill and attention to detail has never faltered. Prometheus and Exodus look amazing, it's just that they have incredibly weak scripts. And keep in mind, even if the script is weak, Scott still always gets great performances out of his casts, hell, he even almost made Orlando Bloom appear interesting for once in Kingdom of Heaven. Almost.
Overall, The Martian has got a lot going for it and as enjoyable as it is you’ll eventually pick up on the narrative pattern within the film. It’s basically “Science yay! Maths yay! F*ck you Mars!! Science yay! Maths yay! F*ck you Mars” and repeat. Of course that’s not a negative in this case.
The Martian gets Four and a Half out Five Stars (I took half a star because the film really needed more Donald Glover - I think I have a man-crush)
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