Review of The Martian (2015) by Jonathan B — 17 Apr 2016

After a few duds, Ridley Scott is right back on form with this brilliant hard science fiction movie. There's no ray guns or aliens but there is plenty of conceivable, well thought out scientific ideas as Mat Damon struggles to stay alive on the Red Planet after his crew mates are forced to leave him behind following an accident.

Damon gives one of his best performances as the straight talking botanist who is forced to utilise his skills and knowledge to the full when faced with ridiculous odds of survival. The story is told effectively and simply and, to be honest, there are few elements that are surprising.

What elevates this film beyond the normal survival against the odds tale is the conviction of Damon and the likability of his character. He comes over as a normal guy who just worked hard to get where his is and believes utterly in what he is doing.

In fact, the rest of the cast are equally well suited to their respective roles. In particular, I liked Jeff Daniels as the business-like and slightly spiky head of NASA, Teddy Sanders. Naturally in such a film, there are plenty of effects but these are never overwhelming and the attention is always on the human story.

I can't recommend this terrific film highly enough and it is definitely one of the best films I've seen in an awfully long time.