Review of Martian (2015) by R.r W — 04 Mar 2016

Spectacular sets and the beautiful scenery make it nigh impossible to believe beyond obvious science that no filming on Mars had taken place at all. And those stunning backdrops of the red planet stretch far into the distance beyond a top performance by leading man Matt Damon, as astronaut and botanist Mark Watney, who provides us with light and perfectly-timed comedic moments that balance brilliantly against the moments of seriousness we see in his situation of being stranded alone on the desolate planet as he seeks a way to contact the people of Earth (made of an excellent supportive cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean and Kristen Wiig, who delivers a great performance in a more serious role than we would be used to seeing her take on), who all believe him to be dead, as well as do the rest of his team floating further away from him into space, led by Jessica Chastain (who, again amidst the same cast as Damon, brings another great performance in the genre so soon after previous year's Interstellar) whilst surviving on limited supplies.

Throughout, the pace is flawless and filled with many memorable scenes up until the final shot, making the time in which you are seated feeling nowhere close to the 2 hours 14 minutes the film is listed to be, further making every shot worth every minute of your time, right up to a climax that left me with goosebumps, and an ending that left me wanting to watch it for the first time all over again, if not simply to see even more.

The end result is definitive proof that Ridley Scott is still a master of science-fiction, even over three decades after releasing his classics Alien and Blade Runner, which helped make the genre so popular today.

If you have waited after films such as Mission to Mars or Red Planet for a good Mars movie, you won't find one more perfect than this.