Review of The Martian (2015) by Theapplegnome — 02 Oct 2015

The non-space opera, non-action and non-emotional enduring version of Interstellar. But that stands out as an original, highly entertaining and beautifully directed sci-fi-adventure of science.

The year was 2013, and ’Gravity’ broke all expectations. Both the critics and the audience adored the space-drama. It opened an almost closed subgenre; the more realistic and scientifically accurate side of sci-fi. It smashed the box-office numbers and it’s going to be the movie that changed the space-genre. 2014 delivered an ambitious and mind-but also a heart breaking-sci-fi adventure of the relationship between a father and his daughter. Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ couldn’t match ‘Gravity’ and its box-office numbers, but it managed to bring big directors to the genre. 2015 is no exception and one of the most influential directors in the genre of space/horror is back; with ‘The Martian’ – the third installment in this realistic-science(-fiction) adventure that Gravity managed to put on the map.

‘The Martian’ stars Matt Damon as the leading role, and he subsidize with emotion and surprisingly much humor to the film. The direction by Ridley Scott is without any doubt excellent with the extraordinary cinematography and realistic views on Mars. The science-aspect is just as present and it keeps giving the movie realism in a not very distant future. We follow Mark Watney’s struggle to survive on the hostile red planet, and he’s very self-entertained, funny and extremely optimistic. Just his presence is exciting and the movie therefor never felt boring. He struggles with these almost impossible tasks, we see him develop through his ups and downs on his journey back to the blue planet. There’re much human traces like humor, attachment and morality, and it really is about one character, left alone by himself. So uniquely done!

It’s not a movie that’s action-packed nor high-paced; it’s a well preformed and well written art of work and that really is entertaining. It’s one aspect that might result in lost of interest by some individuals, but there are some incredibly great wow-and-high-paced moments where you really want to be there, and experience it by yourself! The 3D is better than the average movie, but doesn’t add anything extraordinary to the experience. But something that totally did is the soundtrack; so fitting and baffling to the specific character and moment! But the dialogs might drag the movie down a bit; they can feel forced to the audience from time to time when it comes to facts, etc.

The plot is not one-dimensional (but sometimes a bit predictable); it covers many characters at different locations (even planets). We have strong leading actors and well visualized characters. One minor concern is that it might have too many smaller roles, they absorb some of the excitement and focus of the movie. It loose some of the magic, especially in the third act. The main characters could also have had a greater attachment, there’s no strong chemistry between them. But these are just minor aspects that could have been even greater, and it really is good movie, even though the ending might be a bit too rushed and could have covered more of the climax.

’The Martian’ might not be flawless but it got a strong and funny lead from Matt Damon, and very rememberable moments that you should love to experience by yourself. It really is a realistic sci-fi flick full of humor, adventure, optimism and hope. It’s the 2015-Interstellar.