While The Martian is not an edge-of-the-seat thriller like Gravity, it is gripping nonetheless and strikes an enjoyable balance between entertainment and science. Because intelligence can be a superpower.
Advertisement
I call “The Martian” “real-fi” rather than “sci-fi”, because it’s so down-to-earth in its realism, both on this blue planet and the distant red one. Weir’s novel is primarily narrated via Mark’s logs with occasional flashes over to the action back on Earth.
THE ARES III crew members are Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan and Askel Hennie.
And lastly, we have the folks at on the ground.
Earlier this week, NASA found water on Mars. Jeff Daniels, as the Administrator of NASA – a decisive leader, where other movies would’ve made him a careerist worm – is the only person who even dares to ask.
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Michael Peña, Sean Bean and Donald Glover (A.K.A. rapper Childish Gambino) join the stellar cast in a film that also gets the look of space travel right. “It’s the one big buy of the movie, that because of the atmosphere, or lack thereof, Mars would never have a storm that big”.
This beautifully shot Ridley Scott sci-fi has laughs, but with its too plucky hero lacks dramatic charge, says Michael Joyce. Opening in theaters nationwide on Friday, “The Martian” stars Matt Damon as Mark Watney, an astronaut who is separated from his crew during a mission on Mars and presumed dead after his fellow astronauts evacuate the planet.
The aspect of this movie that caught me most by surprise is how genuinely amusing it was; it could honestly pass off as a comedy.
This isn’t Ridley Scott’s first trip to space but the director of “Alien” and “Prometheus” takes a different kind of journey in “The Martian“. Things on the ground are a little more mixed.
Matt Damon, perfectly cast as astronaut Mark Watney in “The Martian“, makes us care not just about his wisecracks but also about his science. We also encourage all commenters to keep major spoilers from the film to a minimum, if possible. Why is this a unique character in a movie with 30 characters? “So we stopped the run immediately and recalled the stamps”.
Fortunately, Mark is a botanist who figures out how to create a greenhouse and generate enough water to feed his crop of potatoes. In many ways, it’s a geek fantasy scenario where the entire world rallies together to solve a problem and NASA has infinite funding, but it’s hard not to get caught up in the film’s cheerleading regardless. This is really the best version of this possible story.
Advertisement
Complaints of overstuffing aside, The Martian deserves recognition for managing to identify and strike the ideal tone to differentiate itself from other space-based films.
