REVIEW: THE MARTIAN

As the autumn / fall season begins, Hollywood movie studios would usually showcase quality films as the year end approaches. This will allow the films to be fresh in the minds of multiple voters when the movie awards season happens in spring the following year. Most movie studios will invest in big budget productions with established actors and crew members. I managed to watch such a film.

The film is titled The Martian. The filmed is helmed by, in my opinion, one of the greatest directors in show business Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Blade Runner). The film boasts a star-studded cast with Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Bourne film series) leading an ensemble which consists of Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Aksel Hennie, Donald Glover, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The Martian is written by Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, World War Z) which he adapted from a novel of the same name by Andy Weir. Veteran Simon Kinberg and Scott serves as producers.

Will Ridley Scott’s latest film be just as great as his previous works? Do read on…

 

The crew of Ares III played by actors (L-R): Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara, and Aksel Hannie

 

SYNOPSIS:
During a manned mission to the planet Mars, six NASA astronauts encounter a severe storm which puts their mission in jeopardy. Led by mission commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), she decides to evacuate the planet due to the intensity of the storm being life threatening. During the evacuation, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) was struck by the storm and separated from the crew. The remaining five astronauts reluctantly leave the planet while presuming Watney is lost and dead. Watney miraculously is still alive but all communication equipment have been damaged. Anticipating that he will have to stay for a few more years till the next mission to Mars, he devises a plan to survive while trying to find ways to establish communication with NASA on planet Earth.

Matt Damon as astronaut Mark Watney

SCRIPT:
Brilliant and well-structured. For a science-fiction film which utilizes real and actual facts, the challenge of writing a good script depends on how interesting the story can appeal to all walks of life in the general public. Most science-fiction films rarely accomplish in crafting interesting stories but this film managed to be appealing AND interesting. Personally, I am a fan of space exploration and NASA as whole so the subject material was familiar to me. From time to time during the movie, I placed myself as a non-fan of space and found the script just as interesting. One would expect that this film would indulge in heavy use of scientific jargon and dialogue but the script does not impose too much of it on the audience. When it seems that too much scientific explanations were about to be conveyed, the script switches back to subjects more understandable. I find this writing style to be brilliant when it comes to making such subject material appealing to the mass audience. Another brilliance of the film’s writing is how it interjects a little bit of good quality humour here and there to lighten the mood. I love how the script started strongly and I was engaged 10 minutes into the film. I instantly felt how it would be if I was stranded on Mars just like the Watney character. Each role in the film has good characterization outline and were well-defined. Although one would expect some form of backstory for each character, it was just touched upon lightly and was just enough for the audience to relate to the characters. There were so many positive underlying themes which can be educational for the mass audience. I will touch on these themes later in the review.

The beautiful Jessica Chastain as Ares III Mission Commander Melissa Lewis

ACTING:
Great performances from all the actors. Most films with an ensemble cast of well-known established actors can be difficult when it comes to finding a good balance. From the lead roles to the supporting ones, each actor gave good performances in establishing their characters as their own. Matt Damon did very well in playing the lead. High praises should also be given to Jessica Chastain and Jeff Daniels. No matter how big or small the role is, each actor gave importance to their role making strong contributions to the film.

Mark Watney (Matt Damon) doing some thinking.

FILMING:
Director Ridley Scott is well-known from making big-budget epic films. He is more famous for doing science-fiction films but for the past few decades, he has ventured to other genres. Movie fans have longed for Scott to return to making science-fiction film as many feel that this is his strength. I feel this film has indeed strengthened Scott’s repertoire in the science-fiction genre. Scott’s directing style is quite unique and can usually be distinguished from other directors. However for this film, he took a more laid back approach as he focuses more on making scientific factual believable for the audience. The film is obviously dependent of visual effects to wow the audience but Scott managed to make the movie less dependent of it and instead more dependent of human elements of the film. When it comes to the visual effects on screen, there were stunning and top notch. Together with the production design and set decoration, the visual effects complemented the film by making it believable for the present time or the not too distant future. The cinematography is beautiful to admire. The editing was also quite good. There was enough balance between action and drama.

Director Ridley Scott on the set with Matt Damon.

PACING:
Started very strong. Progressed a little slow but picked up pace towards the middle of the film. The pace gets gradually exciting towards the end. The third act of the film is intense and has a good climactic end.

Setting up a close-up of Matt Damon.

DOWNSIDE:
Can be a little too scientific for some and might bore the audience with some heavy dialogue.

UPSIDE:
As I mentioned earlier in the review, there are many positive underlying themes within the movie which I liked. There are themes focusing on survival, teamwork, courage, ingenuity, and many more. There are thousands of films out there with such themes but for this film, I could actually feel it.

Exterior shots were filmed in Wadi Rum, Jordan

I wanna go home.

OVERALL: 
The Martian is one of Ridley Scott’s best film in the science-fiction genre and maybe in all the genres he has directed. The film will please the scientific and space exploration geeks alike. The film will also please those who are not so much into science and space exploration. This is the strength of the film. Recommended to watch.

 

RATING:
9.0 out of 10.0