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

Ridley Scott's 'The Martian' is a return to form for the director, proving once again that he can do blockbuster, that he can do science fiction. With Matt Damon in the lead role as Mark Watney, Damon pushes his boundaries as an actor, before he was pretty much the supporting character, but now, he proves that he can carry the movie.

To sum up; this movie is pretty much like a "Robinson Crusoe" or a 'Cast Away' (2000) in space. Watney, along with other astronauts (Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Kate Mara and Sebastian Stan) travel to Mars and he is left for dead when the others do not know what happened to him.

Obviously, if you've seen the trailer, then you'll know that he is not really dead, we see him stranded in Mars fighting for survival. We see him growing potatoes, making water and trying to contact his crew members and with the rest of the crew on Earth.

This is a beautifully filmed picture, with some ambitious establishing shots proving how big-scale this movie is. Sometimes you cannot tell whether you are looking at green-screen, or if it might actually be filmed in space/Mars. We see Damon's character trying to cope, physically and emotionally just living in an entire planet all by himself with limited-to-none human contact. The movie also does a good job at teaching how to survive on a planet like Mars, obviously, it is harder than it looks, but you get the idea.

There is a lot of surprising comic relief in this movie, mostly from Michael Pena's character, who did the same thing when he was in 'Ant-Man' (2015). I was surprised as to how little screen time Jessica Chastain had throughout this movie, but this is Matt Damon's movie, and spending just over two hours with him is good enough.

I will admit, there were times where I grew a little restless throughout the first two acts of this movie, there are many long stretches and the way it jumps back-and-forth through Matt Damon in space, to the people back at Earth can feel a little choppy.

But by the time we reach the third act of the movie, that's when the movie starts to get really interesting and that's where the tension rises. Director Ridley Scott is good at building up tension and the music by Harry Gregson-Williams complements the really intense moments throughout the movie.

Drew Goddard, who also wrote the movie's screenplay (based off the book by Andy Weir), does a magnificent job at crafting clean dialogue without making some of the jokes feel too forced and out of place at times.

Overall, 'The Martian' is a great movie, proving how great Ridley Scott is as a director and how much of an amazing actor Matt Damon is, he could be seriously considered for an Oscar nomination for his performance. If you are a patient viewer, who didn't mind sitting through films like; 'Cast Away' (2000), '127 Hours' (2010) and 'Life of Pi' (2012), then this will be an unforgettable experience. It's a movie that may not be that entertaining, but it mostly benefits from great acting, and amazing special effects. You will not want to take your eyes off this movie.