Review of The Martian (2015) by Reagan0 — 11 Oct 2015

Time for the dreaded "mixed review".

I'll say right now - if you love space movies, Mars, science, astrophysics, NASA, or anything related to these things, this movie will become your new favorite. There's not a doubt in my mind. It very sincerely pushes the boundaries of what films have explained of astronomical science. It does what other movies have not in this regard, I'll absolutely give it that.

As for me, science was my worst subject, so a lot of the impressiveness this movie simply must contain goes right over my head.

And yes, I do understand it on the same level I understand a movie like Interstellar, except even more because the physics and the "botany" and such is explained on a very personable level. However, it doesn't work for the same reasons Interstellar might not work. The entire movie is an _estimation_ of how you could go about a Mars rescue. That is why people go to see it.

As a result, there's not much else keeping the movie going except constant scientific explanation. I was definitely expecting something a lot more thrilling going into "The Martian", a movie where you have to **** rescue Matt Damon from Mars' deathly atmosphere from thousands of miles away in space. Maybe I'll stick with some other film in that regard, because this one doesn't cut it at all. The tone of the film is a dead giveaway – Matt Damon will come home safe and that the movie will stretch its own boundaries and possibilities just to make that happen. And I won't give away a big twist in the middle of the movie that makes you doubt it, but in retrospect, even that wasn't good enough to fool me. It was never a matter of "if" Matt Damon was gonna come home, it was a matter of when and how. The how was pretty interesting, the when was incredibly tedious.

Another reason why you might love this movie is that there's lots of character development – IF YOU'RE A SCIENCE GEEK. As for me, I don't get the characters at all. Matt Damon is supposed to be some kind of hardcore, pushing-the-limits scientist. The other scientists have a billion inside jokes with each other that are completely dumb, but it's supposed to be in an "aww, their relationships with each other are so adorable" kind of way. It doesn't work for me at all.

I know and knew many young people who are into science and are in Harvard and UF and other schools studying this stuff right now. I know they will love this movie because it's custom-tailored to someone who thinks about the stuff the movie talks about all the time. It's for the Neil DeGrasse Tyson generation. It is not for anyone else, as far as I can tell. I did not really enjoy it. There are movies like it already in existence that are better at what they do in every area but the science.

One more thing: If you think the People's Republic of China's government would actually share a secret with the United States to save one person, you clearly don't know Chinese history. That's probably the most disappointing deus ex machina in film history Reagan0 out.