There are a wide array of interesting and unique motion pictures nominated for this years 88th Academy Awards – from big budget epics to small time period pieces. One that follows the former is the Ridley Scott space saga The Martian.
Drew Goddard adapts Andy Weir’s book of the same name, while Scott adds a more human touch to his resume of interstellar films (following others such as Alien and Prometheus). The Martian follows a team of astronauts exploring the surface of Mars, and when a gargantuan storm arises, they must flee the surface. In the resulting chaos, commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) loses botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) when flying debris from their base strikes him. They promptly launch, making the tough decision to leave the man (who they think is dead) behind on the red planet.
As the team, which includes pilot Rick Martinez (Michael Peña), system operator Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara), Dr. Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan) and navigator Alex Vogel (Aksel Hennie), makes their way home while feeling guilty for leaving a member of their crew behind; NASA begins damage control after the costly fiasco.
NASA director Theodore Sanders (Jeff Daniels) has the difficult task of announcing the death of Watney and answering the media’s queries. . . the only problem is that the botanist is not dead. He awakens covered in sand, the sole human on Mars.
Eventually, satellite planner Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis) realizes that large items that were part of the base on Mars have been moved – leading them to discover that Watney is still alive. What ensues is the largest rescue mission in human history.
Meanwhile, on Mars, Watney must use his brains to figure out how to survive the hostile environment while making sure that his food (that was not meant for a prolonged stay) last years while the scientists on Earth devise a plan to rescue the stranded soul.
Mission director Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) ingeniously develops a way to talk with the lonesome Martian (though Watney deserves as much of the credit for the work he does setting up the communications on the planet). As you can imagine, there are numerous hurdles to jump (with scientists needing to design, test and figure out exactly how they are going to find the funds for this monumental task).
Thankfully, mission director Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean) will stop at nothing, including disobeying orders, to bring Watney home. For those Lord of the Rings fanatics, there is a clever inside joke where a group of NASA members come together for a secret meeting in order to discuss a manoeuver that will possibly aid the astronaut – naming it Project Elrond. Sean Bean’s character then explains that it is a reference to a clandestine gathering in the Tolkien classic where a group discusses how they will destroy the One Ring (Sean Bean played Boromir – one of the attendees of that meeting in The Fellowship of the Ring).
Overall, The Martian is a solid film that keeps a smooth pace. Damon does an excellent job as the lonesome, yet very busy astronaut who is fighting for his life at every turn. Goddard’s script gives Damon and the rest of the cast a nice mixture of drama as well as a surprising amount of comedy (some standout moments are when Watney is left with only disco music – which he hates; when he reacts to NASA’s plan which leads to Kapoor and Park discussing whether his written tone of “are you f***ing kidding me” conveys excitement or being ticked off, and his explanation of why he is a pirate). Of equal importance is the setting, which truly evokes the feeling that we are on the dusty and deadly red planet along with the botanist.
The rest of the cast does an admirable job as well (though it would have been nice to see some more depth of character for the likes of Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Donald Glover and numerous others). Despite this, Bean still stands out. Jeff Daniels does a superb job adding realistic dryness and sarcasm to the NASA director. Though I could mention others, in the end, this is clearly Damon’s show.
Also, the music was a little underwhelming – it would have been nice to have a grander score for this style of movie. My final little gripe is about the ending. Though most of the film was engaging and felt somewhat plausible, the finale did not. It was absurdly silly and a story such of this should have never concluded in this fashion.
The Martian, despite a flew flaws, is a worthy nomination for Best Picture. It demonstrates that a big budget popcorn flick can strive for more by integrating superb acting, a solid script, as well as a nice concoction of comedy and drama – perfectly encapsulating the age old battle of man versus nature. And you won’t need to catch a ride on the Spudnik to enjoy this Ridley Scott offering.