Scott's Best Since Alien

Rating: 9/10 (9 October 2015)

Ridley Scott has made some of the most enduring classics of all time in his 40-year career (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner). On the other hand, he has also managed to totally wet the bed in many of his productions, especially in recent years (The Counselor, Robin Hood). This big-hit-or-big-miss track record keeps him surprisingly vital for a 77-year-old man, with his successes often directly relating to their source material. With his most recent, The Martian, an adaptation of a hugely popular novel, he uses that original story to create a beautiful and spirited stranded-planet adventure that rivals anything Scott has done in decades. The survival tale of a NASA astronaut accidentally stranded on Mars begs comparison to recent space disaster films Gravity and Interstellar. While Martian is comparable to those movies high-points in visuals and sheer thrills, it surpasses both in sheer personality. Even though much of Scott's galactic epic focuses on hard science, botany theories, and public relations problems, it far exceeds its inherent dryness with a lively and sharply funny script, and a wonderfully believable turn by Damon. His brainy and silly performance is backed by a deep sense of fear and awe, as he reconciles and even revels in his newfound heroism while never forgetting its colossal danger. This epic tale is told surprisingly economically, never reaching too far past its focal points and keeping us completely engaged. Martian's parable of ingenuity and the will to survive is a smart and fully entertaining science fiction outing that reminds us what great big movies can be: funny, uplifting, transporting, and exhilarating.