Films > Film Reviews

The Martian

12/10/15

A slowly dissolving title logo, artfully set against shots of a planet and it’s untamed vistas filling your vision.

The isolation of being inside a (beautifully designed) space suit.

The brutality of a hostile alien environment. 

A tense, excruciating, body shock sequence of squirming abdominal mutilation. You could be forgiven for thinking you were watching an older Riley Scott movie for the first ten minutes of The Martian, a ‘science faction’ story of how one stranded astronaut, played by Matt Damon, gets out of the sticky situation of being left on Mars all on his own. Trouble is, once Matt’s space buddies do leave him behind, you never really get the feeling that he is totally alone, and all the promise that Mr. Scott might be making another important movie go right down the human waste disposal chute. 

Maybe the storytelling decision to keep cutting the narrative back to Earth is what keeps me from ever feeling any loneliness or danger. We see Matt learning how to survive, nicely intercut with scenes of the science dudes on earth helping him to learn how to survive. And whilst these do introduce some of the better characters in the movie - Jeff Daniels’ head of NASA being my particular favorite, some are reduced to flat, comic relief delivery systems, such as the horribly under-used Donald Glover. A criticism leveled at the movie is that the science might be a bit dodgy. I, for one. didn't mind in the slightest. It's sciencey enough to keep me believing, and convincing enough to drive the narrative forward. However I will take issue with the length of time it took for someone to come up with the idea of turning around the space ship that was already out there. There's lots of plot points made about re-using existing materials, and Matt Damon of Mars ‘macgyvering’ his way out of situations, but NASA missing the biggest piece if kit they had at their disposal did not sit well with the space nerd in me. By the time we head towards the climax of the movie, I'm hoping Ridley’s going to pull something out of his space pack. Something that draws on that tension, disorientation, and isolation that we saw in those first few minutes. What we get is Space Pirate Damon and the Thunderbirds pulling off a zero G version of that weird dancing thing with the ribbons that they do at the Olympics, whilst the World watches and cheers along.There’s a nice level of humor throughout the movie, and the use of the 70s disco tunes keep a smile on your face, but clearly a creative decision was made to distance the movie from previous ones dealing with similar subjects, like Duncan Jones’ Moon, or Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. If you want to learn how to grow potatoes in your own freeze dried poop, then that's fine. What you won't learn from The Martian is what it truly means to be stranded alone on an alien planet millions of miles from Earth.