Review of Martian (2015) by Ola G — 24 Dec 2016

In 2035, the crew of the Ares III manned mission to Mars is exploring Acidalia Planitia on Martian solar day (sol) 18 of their 31-sol expedition. An unexpectedly strong dust storm threatens to topple their Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), forcing them to hastily leave the planet. During the evacuation, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is struck by debris and lost in the storm; the last telemetry from his suit indicates no signs of life. With Watney believed dead, and the storm worsening by the second, mission commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) orders the remaining crew to take off and return to their orbiting vessel Hermes without him. Watney awakens after the storm to a low oxygen warning, in pain, and makes his way to the "Hab" (hypocoristic for "habitat"), the crew's base of operations. He removes a piece of antenna from his suit's biomonitor-which caused the erroneous life-sign readings-which has lodged in his torso, forcing him to perform self-surgery. He begins a video diary and realizes that his only chance of rescue is the arrival of the Ares IV crew at the Schiaparelli crater, 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) away, in four years. Calculating that he has enough food to last only 300 sols (roughly 309 days), Watney, a botanist, improvises a farm inside the Hab utilizing Martian soil fertilized with human waste, water produced by extracting hydrogen from leftover rocket fuel, and potatoes saved for a Thanksgiving meal. He begins to modify the only functional rover to make long journeys across Mars to reach the rescue spot. Eventually he finds a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney's safe return...

The Martian received positive reviews, with critics commending the visual effects, musical score, scientific accuracy, writing, dialogue and the film's likeability, largely due to Matt Damon's performance. Variety reported, "Critics are calling the film a funny, thrilling ride, and a return to form for [Ridley] Scott after The Counselor and Exodus: Gods and Kings fell flat." According to Robert Zubrin, commenting in The Guardian, "[the film] is the first genuine Mars movie. It is the first movie that attempts to be realistic and that is actually about human beings grappling with the problems of exploring Mars, as opposed to various movies set on Mars that are essentially either shoot 'em ups or horror films. It does not engage in fantasy: no monsters, no magic, no Nazis. However, there are a number of technical mistakes." Writing for the New York Post, Lou Lumenick considered the film to be Scott's and Damon's best and thought that it is a "straightforward and thrilling survival-and-rescue adventure, without the metaphysical and emotional trappings of Interstellar." Manohla Dargis, of The New York Times, stated that the film, "involves a dual journey into outer and inner space, a trip that takes you into that immensity called the universe and deep into the equally vast landscape of a single consciousness. For this accidental castaway, space is the place where he's physically marooned, but also where his mind is set free", from a film director, whose "great, persistent theme is what it means to be human". Negative reviews focused on the lack of character depth or atmosphere. Jaime N. Christley, writing in Slant Magazine, commented, "It goes in for the idea of texture, tics, and human behavior, but there's no conviction, and no real push for eccentricity. ... It hardly seems interested in its characters or in any depiction of their work, settling instead for types of characters and kinds of scenes, correctly placed among the pendulum swings of Watney's dramatic journey." In The Village Voice, Stephanie Zacharek stated that the actors "are treated as accessories", and that the director is "workmanlike in his approach to science, which always trumps magic in The Martian - that's the point. But if we can't feel a sense of wonder at the magnitude and mystery of space, why even bother?" In Cinemixtape, J. Olson commented: "Ridley Scott and company have concocted the most colossally mediocre sci-fi movie of the decade, all in pursuit of empty backslapping and a grade school level celebration of science. Not only is The Martian not in the same class as Scott's two masterpieces - Alien and Blade Runner - it's not even on the same continent.".

"The Martian" is a visually and effect wise nice sci-fi adventure about survival and exploration of deep space. It has a standard castaway plot, but what could´ve have been more dramatic and emotional ends up as a predictable and pretentious flag waving space story with a Matt Damon on autopilot and a too thin characterisation in general. Everything feels so convenient, politically correct and from A-Z in how everything develops to Watney´s advantage despite some bumps in the road. Ridley Scott used to own this genre, but has become so formulaic and boring in his direction and chosen projects these days. There´s no sparks at all from the magic Scott used to present in films like "Alien" and "Blade Runner". The issue here is as well Damon who has a certain range as an actor, but never comes beyond a specific point that would take him further as an actor. "The Martian" is just a disappointment on many levels in my opinion and Scott fails to handle a range of serious psychological issues and scientific aspects about space which would´ve given us a better film most likely. Or it just simply has a shitty novel as the foundation...