Review of Martian (2015) by Alice S — 11 May 2016

I was so not into the 1 1/2 chapters of the book that I slogged my way through, so of course, I fully expected the Hollywood powers-that-be to transform this novel (in terms of scientific accuracy) yet utterly juvenile (in terms of literary skill) self-published book into a big screen Cinderella wagon hitched to Matt Damon's star.

It's pretty good. The hokey exposition of Mark Watney talking to himself is tempered by Damon's self-deprecating tone. The action sequences are suspenseful and devastating, and Watney's agricultural, geographical, and semiotic ingenuity is ingenious. Damon gives an emotional turn, especially when he performs surgery on himself and right before the final launch when he finally lets himself cry and feel the last-ditch enormity of the moment. The middle of the movie with all the other countries' SNASAs plotting with or against the US is a little convoluted, but on the whole, the movie is nicely light and triumphant for being about a man stranded on the Red Planet.