Science Porn

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2015)

The Martian quickly begins with the crew aborting their mission and abandoning Mark Watney after being hit by a debris during a storm on Mars, presuming he was dead. And for this impression, this introduction seems sort of contrived, but this film happens to be one of those that gets better and better. As we see this lone astronaut stand up and try to grow plants on this lifeless planet. Everything comes to life when it's just scrutinizing the protagonist's survival on Mars and NASA's rescue mission for him with a delightful dose of science and humor. People might be bragging for more atmosphere of oblivion around this environment, but apparently, it's actually not needed. The upbeat tone of the film is a terrific choice. Not everything has to be a tragedy, The Martian aims to make science look fun and it triumphs from top to bottom.
Survival films like this tend to be about self-discovery, life regrets or other personal ordeals, but how this astronaut deals with his own situation is applying his skills; which is botany. So he strategically find ways to grow plants out of potatoes which were stored in their base for food, by collecting soil and fertilizer, even producing water out of chemistry. It's gripping stuff. But the science doesn't stop there; the plot shifts to NASA finding out Watney is still alive and trying to gain contact to rescue him. This rescue plan also consists plenty of scientific strategies; you still won't find any villain in this point, either. Because they're facing the same conflict as the stranded astronaut, which is the probability of failing, even if they carefully planned their ideas. Because every experiment could go wrong, even in something as simple as planting potatoes in a foreign planet.
While much of it is discussing their plans and studies, the movie never becomes boring, mostly because it establishes its own personality; especially with its main character. Maybe if the movie is only about Mark Watney surviving on Mars, it would still be a pretty good film, because this character is given a real down-to-earth charisma and Matt Damon justifies all of it. Even when he is just talking for his log explaining his experiments or just driving a rover, it's already a quite entertaining movie to sit through. But having the full story is just equally as important as the Mars alone, because even outside the planet, the other characters are also given enough humor and witty dialogue to make their scientific explanations entertaining to watch. The supporting cast is filled with excellent talents as well that definitely helped making their every moment quite engrossing as Damon's.
Of course, the movie doesn't lack impressive visuals, and this merit now comes from Ridley Scott's direction. We've come across with some ambitious space movies in the last two years; either it showcases amazing CGI or amazing practical craftsmanship, but here, those technical methods don't matter. It could be just balance. The simple exterior of Mars already looks impressive in detail, even the scenes in space where how it breathtakingly shoots the interior of the spaceship, it creates an exciting scale of adventure with these angles. There's many to be dazzled here visually, even without acting like an ambitious technical magnum opus. The direction also sharply displays their practicalities which makes every detail easy to comprehend from the fast pace. And the chaotic results of their plan can either be depicted with realism or just a thrilling ride.
The Martian's straightforwardness is what made it utterly interesting and supremely entertaining. There is no personal life dilemmas involved in the Mars scenes or any cynical commentary at the NASA side. They're all seeking for the same goal, facing the same problem; they just want the crew to come home. And this doesn't need anything more than their knowledge. Some people might be looking for any sense of humanity in this realm of scientific jargon, and luckily, this movie has plenty of it: isn't Watney's determination of surviving enough? Or his constant sense of humor? How about his loyalty to his crew or everyone's longing of having them return to Earth and reunite with their loved ones; even if the latter is only briefly explained, it's already crystal clear, even without putting up any inspiring monologues or pickup lines. How these characters do their work is already uplifting, anyway. And of course, the soundtrack! Everything else, it's just human beings dealing with nature and time outside their own atmosphere. Their deliberately scrutinized plans are fifty-fifty in this cruel world. It's everything you would ask for in a smart Sci-Fi movie. Its flavor just made it more exciting.