Unexpected Good Fun

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2016)

The Martian was deemed a comedy by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the Golden Globe awards. It is definitely one of the most fun Ridley Scott films to date, even if it doesn't reach the sophistication of his films Alien and Blade Runner. This film is definitely not trying to be a comedy, however - it is a drama with a fun tone to it.
Contributing to this fun tone is an ensemble made up of actors with great comedic chops such as Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, and Michael Pena. Matt Damon recording his log while on Mars also proves to be funny throughout most of the movie. His character is great and shows a wide range of personality - he is a smart-aleck and sarcastic when he is optimistic, and he is rightfully ticked off the next moment. In both of these situations Damon plays it so perfectly to come across as funny in both instances.
His performance does get more dramatic though. As he spends more and more time on Mars he becomes desperate yet optimistic that he will be rescued. It is also unclear whether Damon had to lose weight for part of the performance, as weight loss in the character was noticeable but seemed almost unnatural upon viewing - heavy chance cgi was involved. Either way, Damon's performance in this film proves to show talent on a wide range of the spectrum.
The shots are constructed very well in this film. The editing proves to be interesting as well. A lot of point of view shots are used and are labeled as such - most notably there are shots that represent directly the video log Damon's character is recording, and shots from inside his helmet and over his shoulder are used and labeled along the lines of "suit camera - Watney."
There's also a huge focus on technology - most notably screens - in this film as well. It is how NASA must communicate with Watney - first by satellite images, then by a camera on Mars with Watney, then through what is essentially e-mail. When NASA is communicating with other people on Earth the communication is done through the use of screens as well. It is unclear whether this is simply because technology allows for this way to communicate in our day and age, or if this is a commentary on the way we use technology. Or perhaps this is to compare and contrast to Watney's struggles - he is constantly recording video logs, but those logs are not used for communication.
In the third act of the film it seems very similar to Apollo 13 since the focus is to help an astronaut come home. Since the struggle is to retrieve a lone survivor rather than to figure how to land on Earth safely, it proves to be more interesting and a lot more complex. Looking over the other great films of 2015, this film is amongst them, but not quite towards the top. This was an unexpectedly really fun movie from Ridley Scott.
3.5/4.0