During the past couple years, we’ve seen the rise major Hollywood films about outer space. This fall comes The Martian, a cinematic adaptation of the best-selling novel Andy Weir, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Matt Damon. Watch a trailer for the movie and you may come to a similar opinion, I did: another ominous drama in space hopping on the bandwagon trend that will, at best, turn out alright, especially given Ridley Scott’s recent track record. I can frankly say there’s a case of misdirection at play over at 20th Century Fox’s marketing department. The Martian surprisingly eases off the hefty seriousness of Gravity or Interstellar to make room for the fun and charm of Guardians of the Galaxy, and the outcome is one of the best films of the year.
The story premise is straightforward: NASA astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is a member of the Ares 3 mission crew who is left behind on Mars when he’s whisked away by debris while his team is evacuating the planet during a severe storm. Stranded with only limited equipment and supplies, Watney must use his wits and scientific knowledge to survive until help arrives. The rest is all about the amazing journey of survival to get home to good ol’ Earth.
What The Martian lacks in complex plotlines and themes, it makes for with well-acted performances, spot-on thrills and pacing, and a positive outlook. Matt Damon is on top-form here playing a likeable everyman, if every man was a brilliant astronaut botanist and kept his head held high in dire times. Damon brings out the best whether the script calls for playfulness and humor or more dramatic moments. I couldn’t help but root for Watney to overcome every hurdle, pray for nothing else to go wrong around him, and feel the agonizing frustration when trouble rears its ugly head.
There’s even a high-profile cast list covering the film’s supporting characters. Jessica Chastain is the Ares 3 mission commander Melissa Lewis with Kate Mara, Aksel Hennie, and Marvel Cinematic Universe actors Sebastian Stan (Captain America’s Bucky) and Michael Peña (Ant-Man’s fast talking buddy Luis) fill out the rest of the Mars crew. Meanwhile, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, Sean Bean, and Chiwetel Ejiofor act as members of the NASA team back on Earth. Martian’s cast hit their marks, nailing dynamics and relationships between the characters. There’s a strong sense of camaraderie among the Ares 3 team while I felt the well-defined work relationships and struggles between the characters back at NASA. There was not a necessity to employ these actors in those roles, but it all helps to boost the Martian up further.
The cinematography is well-done, sets, props, and wire work are convincing, and the retro disco soundtrack is timeless (not to mention a bit reminiscent of Guardian of the Galaxy). But The Martian’s greatest success lies in the strong feeling of motivation lingering after leaving the theater. Ridley Scott’s direction and Drew Goddard screenplay hit all the right beats in spinning an inspirational story that captures the persistence of the human spirit. There’s two sides to this coin: a tale of one man’s incredible fight for survival and one of people coming together to bring a lost family member of mankind home. Sometimes people pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields because of the money, security, and to make something cool while a lot of fiction takes a jaded, dystopian approach to scientific advances. The Martian celebrates STEM as a brains over brawn way to survive, persevere, and unite people of different backgrounds in peace, to say, continue exploring the Final Frontier. The simplicity of the plot gives the narrative room to clearly convey themes, breathe, and play rather than dragging it down with too much jargon or heavy exposition. The Martian is possibly my favorite film of the year…at least maybe until another space flick named Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives on Christmas.
Should you watch The Martian? Yes.
The Martian opens on October 2 in the United States and Canada and on September 30 in the United Kingdom.