Boring and Beautiful

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2017)

The Martian captured the fears and dangers of every space adventure while keeping the tone light-hearted and humorous. At times almost too funny, the drama could never be fully embraced by the audience but still acknowledged in the worst moments. The Martian also managed to involve the crew's personal lives without pulling emotion away from Watney. The bureaucratic conversations were at times stale but mostly understandably necessary. Matt Damon carried his scenes beautifully with his support staff of disco music and potatoes, enough so that I, at times, missed him and his sarcastic self- deprecation in other scenes that were easily forgettable. Wiig's character, though, was unnecessary and superficial, spending her time making blatantly obvious statements rather than doing any actual work to appease the public or bring Watney home. She was almost pathetic when compared to other, much stronger, female characters. There was also the bit with Glover's character that was dragged on way longer than it needed to be. Getting to the point faster wouldn't have taken away any of the story in this case. Also, that part of the story line seemed completely unrealistic in terms of the extent Glover's character had to explain his idea for it to make sense to the others in the room and the stealth that had to occur for it to happen. Sometimes, it was like the filmmakers felt obligated to make a space movie longer than two hours because most are. In the end, the story was almost too predictable and a bit more surprise would've been appreciated but the action scenes were enough to tide me over in terms of dramatic content. However, it was a space movie that effectively used math and science without oversimplifying or having to drone on and on to explain. Also, it was a gorgeous movie. The Mars depicted in this movie was not the most scientifically accurate, considering the sandstorm that occurred in the beginning, but it was an awfully pretty sight. Most space movies are easily given good notes for their cinematography because it's difficult to go wrong with twinkling stars and sweeping shots of floating spaceships but The Martian deserves special kudos for its work.