The Martian Review

Sci-fi fans have been graced with a gem here.  The Martian is probably the best film in the genre since Interstellar and many fans would argue it's better. But save the comparisons. This is a whole other film. 

The Martian, starring Matt Damon as astronaut Mark Watney, is an adaptation of Andy Weir's best selling novel of the same name. Drew Goddard wrote the screenplay and Ridney Scott directed the film that tells the story of the Ares III mission gone wrong as Watney is left behind on Mars and is forced to "science the shit out of this" in order to survive. 

The film is gorgeously shot, the environments look believable and tangible as if they truly took the production to Mars. Ridley Scott's wide shots are brave, capturing the alien terrain and environment in realistic images to the point of subconscious acceptance that this is Mars and Watney is stranded with a wide array of real NASA technology. 

Matt Damon's Watney is the brightest spot in this film, often with only himself to work with in his scenes. His humour is consistent and the comedic timing (with a hand from good directing) is effective. Whenever you leave him for the Hermes or Earth you miss him. I'd say the film could have benefited from a little more Watney. Study his character more and how the year and a half alone on Mars changed him (and what scraps of himself remained the same).

The Hermes crew has good chemistry, Michael Pena's Martinez stealing the spotlight with humour. Aksel Hennie's Alex Vogel does not seem to be as German as he should be as it is easy to forget he isn't just another American astronaut, with little to no accent and perfect English unlike his literary counterpart. The rest of the crew is fine, but Jessica Chastain just doesn't pop like she usually does in supporting roles. 

The Earth NASA team is a good cast, Jeff Daniels' Teddy Sanders is cold but honest and Chiwetel Ejiofor's Vincent Kapoor is the link that holds the group together as a balanced force between opposing viewpoints. Sean Bean's Mitch Henderson just isn't angry and passionate enough to convince me that he wants his Ares program to save Watney at least until the end. Kristen Wiig's Annie Montrose was lost at times, far too timid and quiet to stand out like the character should have. Donald Glover's Rich Purnell was the quirky character the Earth-side cast needed, but there is less development than I would have liked, he is interesting and so different from the others. 

The real math and science is present throughout The Martian, but in a diluted form, often opting to show rather than tell in some cases. This may work in favour of drawing I'm a wider audience. It did not describe Watney's every thought, experiment or move. Certain processes that would have taken several Sol were covered in a matter of seconds such as his travel tests, recovery of Pathfinder and journey to the Ares IV site. 

In some cases the conveyance of time was jarring. The film would jump ahead dozens of Sol with little consideration to the events that would have transpired during such a duration of time. Some instances benefit from this such as the potato farming, but we miss out on Watney's travels and a lot of interesting character development. 

Moviegoers will be thrilled with this science fiction adventure film. It's got enough to make you laugh and cry. But you'll laugh more. The visual effects are top notch as we've come to expect from Ridley Scott. 

For fans of the stellar Andy Weir novel, it is a very close adaptation. There are a couple changes, namely the Pathfinder communication complication, the Schiaparelli Crater incident and the exact events of the climatic rescue mission. Some of these omissions and changes bothered me, especially the rescue, but none of them were significant enough for me to dislike the film. In the interest of time, screenwriter Drew Goddard and director Ridley Scott clearly felt that Watney had endured enough and deserved to catch a few breaks. 

The Martian is a really good movie with an entertaining cast and a compelling story. As a fan of the book there are things I wish they had stuck to, but purely from a viewing experience it was a thrilling ride. I cannot recommend it enough

Notch one up for science fiction.