The Martian (2015)

 

Genre: Sci-Fi/ Adventure

Time: 2h 31mins

Director: Ridley Scott

Quick Summary: An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.

I wonder if it became a habit for him to talk to himself after returning back to earth

First things first, this was way too long. This could have been a one hour forty minutes, or even two hours and be brilliant but I think because this is too long it lost me in the last quarter. I can sit through films longer than this perfectly fine since they usually need to be, this didn't. It felt like they were given a runtime and needed to pad out things to get to it, so things kept conventently going wrong. 

Mostly, I wasn't bored and did actually find this entertaining. Watching his journey of survival was pretty good, I do wish we got to see more of the survival aspect of this, like if the hub was damaged more and he had to repair it because there wasn't really any sense of suspense, aside from when the potatoes blew up. Or even more of his shenanigans as he messed around on mars would have been nice. But no, it chose to focus more on the people on earth trying to save him and all the drama around that.

I still have no idea where they filmed this to make it look mars like, but it is stunning. I loved all the shots and scenes to do with the planet. Mostly when he was traveling around are the scenes I loved the most because it was just so calm and quiet, and was something else than people bitching at each other on earth. I also did like that we got to see the science behind him growing the potatoes and watching them grow over time as well the science aspect of this was really well done. It felt modern, but not cheesy or over the top. Realistically this is what I imagine space missions would look like, and how all the tech would be.

Aside from my complaints about the story, everyone acted really well. I genuinely can't fault anyone for that. Matt Damon brought a lot of humour to his role, as I can imagine if they used someone who comes across as more blunt and dry wouldn't have worked as well. This needed an upbeat personality with a lot of charm and this guy had it. I do wish we got to watch him mostly and see everything as he did, not going back and forward between the group of people debating to get him to earth and then those people bitching at each other. 

Overly long, but worth a watch. It's a good story, has some pacing issues and the constant need for something to go wrong. Still very much enjoyable. 

8/10

"Mark Watney: I don't want to come off as arrogant here, but I'm the greatest botanist on this planet."

"Mark Watney: In the face of overwhelming odds, I'm left with only one option. I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this."

"Mark Watney: Hi, I'm Mark Watney and I'm still alive... obviously."