The Martian is the story of Mark Watney (Matt Damon) the botanist on a mission to Mars. When the team aborts their mission due to a freak storm, Mark is injured and presumed dead by his crew who leave him behind. Mark miraculously survives and is stranded on Mars with only what the crew left behind to aid him in surviving long enough to await a rescue that may never come.
Okay. I’ll start by saying this I’ve had a bad couple of days, I was meant to see this film long before now but though various circumstances I’ve miss showings, had to travel over 380 miles in 3 days and last night I nearly didn’t see the film due to a combination of headache, lack of sleep and hunger. One pizza, a few aspirin and a quick power nap later, I felt ready to go to the cinema and I’m glad I did because I watched the whole film start to finish with a big smile on my face.
This film is honestly one of the most beautiful looking, well written, well-acted suspense filled and surprisingly funny films that I’ve seen in a long time. Damon gives what is probably his best performance since Good Will Hunting. Watney is a man put in the worst scenario conceivable and though out he never gives up hope he has his doubts at times but he never resizing himself to his fate as he says “you encounter problems, you solve one then you solve the next”. Watney tackles every problem he encounters with his creative intellect resourcefulness and charming humor.
The supporting cast is also amazing Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Michael Peña, Kate Mara and Chiwetel Ejiofor all deliver great performances. Chiwetel Ejiofor in particular does a great job somehow developing a fantastic connection with Damon despite only communicating with him though written text.
Unlike most films that have scenes in space intercut with scenes on earth, the earth scenes don’t leave you counting the seconds waiting to return to Mars. The scenes on Mars are more interesting due to the amazing set production and Damon’s performance but the scenes on Earth are also entertaining getting to see the process of launching the rescue mission. This build up leads to one of the most nerve wreaking climaxes I’ve seen I’m film, that doesn’t disappoint.
The special effects are top class and Mars looks as real as any landscape portrayed on film and space looks just as good with great zero gravity effects. The film is also surprisingly accurate in its science with only a few embellishments of facts (which aren’t so much wrong as they take a few liberties with the science).
I really can’t recommend this film enough, if you’re a lover of Sci-Fi, this is a must see. Honestly, I had no real problems with this film beyond a few nitpicks so in rating it I have to give it 9.5/10 (it loses 0.5 for including ABBA in its soundtrack, there is a reason for it and it set up a good joke and is used to highlight how bad they are, but the film still made me listen to ABBA).