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

Having not read the original novel, I cannot judge the faithfulness of the film adaptation to the source material. However, independent of the specified context, 'The Martian' is a spectacular exploration of the admittedly generic but nevertheless magical realm of human perseverance, determination, impartial compassion as well as the fight to exist. Gripping, suspenseful and often surprisingly comical, its character study of Mark Watney is a subterfuge to inspire us, and tell the uplifting story of the will of the human spirit in the face of extreme adversity. The film is oddly light-hearted (for a film that had a person deserted on a planet for years), however, this made for a kind of hunger for a greater range of emotion from our protagonist; one could argue that the uniqueness of the protagonist lies in his ability to withstand the harshest of conditions - yet, this makes for an overall less powerful tale of how bad the conditions really were - how bad things were before they got better. The cinematography of the film often paved the way for many beautiful scenes, but it is trivially easy to take a beautiful shot of outer space, or a planet. The difficult parts of the job lie with mise en scene - the shadows, the frame composition, and the colour palette of the frame. There were few shots that stood out in any of those criteria. In this sense, The Martian lacked a distinct style of its own, which Ridley Scott is often so apt at (refer to 1979's 'Alien'). Furthermore, lightheartedness took the place of gripping, gritty atmosphere, which makes for a less tonally diverse film. The soundtrack is often melodically repetitive and generic, but generally ticks the boxes.

These flaws, however, are small relative to the cinematic experience that this polished blockbuster delivers. Scott continues to deliver, even at the seemingly frail age of 77. I applaud the film as one of the best of 2015 thus far, and highly recommend it to anyone who has not had the pleasure of seeing it.