Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara, Donald Glover, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig, Michael Pena, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mackenzie Davis
After being left for dead on Mars, botanist Mark Watney (Damon) has to try and survive while NASA find a way to bring him home.
Wow. Wow. Oh my goodness WOW. If it wasn’t for Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming out in December The Martian would be nailed on as my favorite film of the year. I was absorbed from start to finish and completely enthralled by the story unfolding before my eyes. It surprised me as well, because I haven’t actually enjoyed a Ridley Scott film since Gladiator. And yet here I was on the edge of my seat for a large part of the film.
Although it has a running time of two hours and twenty minutes I didn’t feel it dragged at all. Damon was amiable as the stranded astronaut, and there was a large injection of humor into the film. The drama at NASA was handled well too, and although Daniels plays the antagonist he’s not a bad guy, only trying to do what he thinks is right for the organisation.
I really liked the soundtrack as well. It would have been easy to give the film a soundtrack of classical music, and while I like classical I think having pop music was a better choice as it grounds the film. Having classical music may have given it a pretentious air. It’s difficult for me to do anything than lavish praise on the film. I loved the drama of Watney trying to survive on the planet, I really liked how the people at NASA wrestled with difficult decisions, and the space scenes were phenomenal. People will compare this to Interstellar and they’re both great films, but I think The Martian is more focused. Fantastic, brilliant, definitely a must-see.
