Ridley Scott has done it again. As we all know a manned mission to Mars is approaching rapidly. Needless to say this film, based on the cult book ‘The Martian’ by Andy Weir (who can be found here on the 2015 Comi-Con panel talking about his book and the movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2bkJQah_dE) is visually beautiful, heartfelt, and bizarrely realistic.
Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is a fantastic character, cunningly optimistic, and witty (certainly half tempted to dub him Witty Watney, but let’s not) Hand picked to study the terrain of Mars as a botanist Watney is not really equipped for the circumstances that he would be left in. However with a cool head, solutions to all sorts of space travel related issues are calculated. As you make your way through the movie expect to offer up a gasp or shed a tear, as the predicaments are played out in a fashion that seem so realistic, they could happen.
The rest of the cast plays their roles distinctively, as being astronauts and people of science, especially when in space, offers up a certain rigidity and calculated cynicism that you wouldn’t normal portray on the surface of Earth. I would definitely stress to any newcomers wanting to see the film to watch it in 3D as Ridley Scott and James Cameron appear to be the only directors who have nailed how to use 3D correctly, It simply elevates the spectacle to a sensation of being present in Watneys story, as opposed to just being a spectator.
My rating for the film would be a solid 4.5/5, very little is left to the imagination however pacing is odd, though it is perfectly reasonable given the time frames we are looking at in this story. Approach the movie with an open mind and an open heart. It’s definitely one for the space nuts and I believe one of the best book to cinema adaptations in recent history. Sean Bean lives.
For more on The Martian from the science perspective follow this link to IFLScience where they discuss what it got right and wrong http://www.iflscience.com/space/how-accurate-martian-9-things-movie-got-right-and-wrong
SadBoy Reviews 