Review of The Martian (2015) by Quincytheodore — 01 Oct 2015

A powerful, inspiring and possibly full of future awards story of Saving Matt Damon, in space!

There's one common message on this year's cinematic experience: if you find yourself at hostile sci-fi world, see Charlize Theron (Furiosa) or Matt Damon for a lovely road trip. The Martian is an uplifting castaway tale on Mars. Brilliantly executed and acted, it's a triumphant story of a man surviving on his wit and sheer positive determination on live.

The saying "he might as well be on the moon" doesn't apply to Mark Watney (Matt Damon) as he's stranded on a world much farther. After a critical failure on space mission leaves him alone on Mars, he must overcome multitude of problems to keep himself and the hope of rescue alive.

For a desolated story, The Martian is incredibly inspiring. Much of it charm depends entirely on Matt's performance, his effort keeps the movie light and humorous even though tougher times linger just steps or miles away. It probably wouldn't have worked with lesser actor, not just with the dialogues but physical transformation. He brings strangely infectious joy instead of constant wallowing. The positive and identifiable attitude of his character will translate well to audience.

This is not only a solo mission since there's also perspectives of people working on our planet. The assembly of cast is very good. From Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Jeff Daniels and many others, these personalities are highly memorable. They make the arduous and lengthy process of space travel into an engaging spectacle. While not everyone has contact with the solitary astronaut, they convincingly unite on the larger-than-life endeavor.

Visual is amazing. This is not the beast Gravity was, but when it gets going, it's utterly beautiful and also bizarrely captivating since Mars is a barren soil. At times it appears that Matt Damon walks across red desert which is so strange but still give the feeling that it probably exist somewhere. The amount of details on science is amazing, it feels like an inviting project or a trip audience could take with these characters. The bits of pop culture reference from comics or movies are icing of the frosty cake.

The Martian is what a movie should strive to be, an amazingly told story of men against their predicament. It's incredibly inspiring, highly enjoyable and simply unworldly.