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| Mashable |
The Martian is the first movie Ridley Scott fans can get behind since 2012's Prometheus (or 2007's American Gangster if you're on the "I hate Prometheus" bandwagon). The movie stars Matt Damon as Frank Watney, a NASA botanist left behind on Mars after seemingly killed during a storm. Much to Earth's surprise, Watney is revealed to have survived. He deduces he must keep himself alive for nearly four years before being rescued during NASA's next mission but realizes he only has enough supplies for one.
When NASA discovers Watney isn't dead after all, a team of officials (comprised of Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, and Kristen Wiig) work to solve the problem of bringing him home. In the meantime, they're forced to deal with the press, the team that left Watney behind, and the ticking clock counting down the days until Watney runs out of resources.
The film is reliant on the talents of Damon, who carries the movie without effort. The writing is smart and calls upon Damon to rattle-off complex space/science stuff in layman's terms that I couldn't begin to explain. And as sort of a thank you to viewers for following along, the character says sarcastic quips which are legitimately funny due to Damon's wry style of delivery. In the many days (or, in the movie, "sols") where Damon is on Mars alone for extended periods, it helps keep the movie afloat.
Unfortunately, the film is not reliant enough on the talents of other cast members. It takes nearly to the halfway point before we see Watney's original crew return to the screen, even though Kate Mara, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Pena compose that team. Storywise, it made sense for their temporary absence, and the story was sure to bring them back in fully by the end. However, seeing so much time go by without proven talents like those of Jessica Chastain during the movie's more redundant parts was a hindrance on being able to fully love this movie. For several minutes at a time, The Martian is simply Matt Damon talking to a camera about how he plans to stay alive on Mars. This is where I found the film to be uneventful, and even with the comedy, utilizing the talents of the rest of the cast would have kept the film afloat even better.
What The Martian did well was realize one character probably couldn't carry the entire movie given the story it wanted to tell. What it didn't do too well was balance the stories of Watney, the NASA team, and the space crew as well as it could have. By the end, everything come together wonderfully. It was an emotionally satisfying ending that utilized time and characters flawlessly. However, the road to get to that point was drawn by filmmakers who didn't execute the story the best they could. With a better balance of these three separate stories, The Martian would have reached the heights to make it the perfect film it could have been. Watching the movie was like putting together a puzzle - all the right pieces were there, and you knew it, but sometimes the wrong piece ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. When it's complete, though, that's when you can look past the faults and recognize the accomplishment.
The good news is that after a few lackluster efforts, The Martian satisfies those anxiously waiting for both Scott and Damon to prove they've still got what it takes to be highly regarded Hollywood names. It's also incredibly pleasing to the ears and eyes with its music, effects, cinematography, imagery, and truly impeccable casting. While a better balance of characters and interrelated stories could have made The Martian more effectively paced and completely spectacular, it was missing that element. Instead, we'll have to settle for pretty spectacular, and to be honest, I'm not too upset about that.
Rating: 4/5
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