Review of The Martian (2015) by Devo-Nc — 21 Nov 2015

Amazing visuals, masterful cinematography, a terrific director at the helm and an amazing cast. It's light-hearted fun for the most part. What's not to like? To me, it was fluff. 1/3 of the film I found entertaining.

If they scrapped everything on earth it would have been much improved because there are far too many characters. It's too busy focussing on space science and rarely on human struggle or emotion beyond humour.

All great stories are dark in some way, The Martian takes avenues in the storytelling that is uninteresting and predictable. Not a single character is linked or emotionally attached to Matt Damon. So how can I care for anyone else? It's not what was on the screen that disappointed me, it's what wasn't there.

I'm very unclear as to why this movie is highly raved. It is suspiciously overrated. At least create a dilemma like what if Matt Damon was left on mars on purpose. Ridley Scott created an overlong overdone movie with a massive budget, a big paycheck and no memorable payoff.

It's a shame because I usually enjoy his films. The Martian is a well put-together movie for what it is, it's just disconnected and boring.