This year’s space blockbuster The Martian features a team of NASA astronauts collecting soil samples on Mars. When a fierce windstorm separates Mark Watney (Matt Damon) from his team, they presume him to be dead and launch off, abandoning their Mars-base for a return journey back to Earth. The head of NASA (Jeff Daniels) reports the loss of the astronaut to the world, and meanwhile Mark has awoken to find himself in solitude on an uninhabitable planet. Oddly enough, the film comes out the same week as NASA suggests they have discovered liquid water on Mars; however, Mark must have missed the memo as he attempts to occupy the planet for 4 years with only a few months’ supply of food and water while he awaits a rescue mission. The film intertwines with Mark and a NASA team; (Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig and Jessica Chastain) who attempt communicate with him and develop a plan for his return.
For a while it sort of feels like a sequel to 2013’s Gravity, however here the threat is much less immediate and more predicament problem-solving. Mark manages to produce food by combining his own human waste (yep!) with Mars soil and left over potatoes from the mission, while improvising different ways of creating water and communicating with NASA. The Martian’s true strengths lie in its ability to try and science its protagonist back to Earth with the peculiar methods NASA comes up with.
Matt Damon carries the film for sure. Unlike Gravity or Interstellar it is less emotion-driven and more humour based which is a refreshing approach for the ‘rescue mission’ type of movie. Mark has a video recorder set up which allows him to address the audience one on one as we watch him create his habitat while he quips lines like; “I am the greatest botanist on this planet.” Sometimes though, the one-liners are a little too scripted and it feels like Mark knows he’s a character in a movie: “In your face, Neil Armstrong!”
The most bizarre character in the film is played by Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino aka Troy from Community) who apparently had enough time to cameo in a blockbuster film about Mars but had to blow off the Canberra gig at Academy due to exhaustion. Donald seems to be channelling his Community co-star Abed Nadir, by adapting his personality flinches and peculiar quick-time speech as NASA astronomer Rich Purnell.
I came into the movie with a preconceived notion that it was to be one of the films of the year, and I left only relatively disappointed. I think there’s just a bit too much science talk and not enough tension for a space blockbuster. It’s about 20 minutes too long, the pronoun game is played way too often and as good as the actors playing the supporting roles are, their characters are a little distracting and some are kind of unnecessary to the one-man show. I also highly doubt the Chinese would co-operate so eagerly with the Americans on this one.
It’s a solid return to form by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Blade Runner) who’s last three movies were Prometheus, The Counsellor and Exodus: of Gods and Kings.
I give The Martian 3 ½ shit-grown potatoes out of 5.
Review By.
Rylan Dawson
