The Martian Review

Rating: 9/10 (6 November 2015)

"Help is only 140 million miles away"
As a film buff, when you see Ridley Scott has made another film set in space, you find yourself wondering "Wow, could this be as good as Alien?" or will this be a flop like Prometheus? Well, I was sat on the fence regarding the outcome of this particular movie, but was always intrigued and none the less excited to see this, especially when there is such a fantastic cast. However, there is always going to be the debate and pre conceptions about any movie with such "out there" subjects as this. Challenging Religion, can man survive else where?, are there alternative life forms out there? blah blah But, to divulge and debate subjects like this, we would run out of room to review this particular film.
Based on the best selling Novel by Andy Weir ("The Martian") which has been expertly adapted by Drew Goddard and directed by Ridley Scott to turn a fictional story to seem like, dare I say it, A seemingly True Story. A Botanist/Astronaut named Mark Watney is on a scientific mission on Mars with a team of astronauts, to make discoveries, and find information regarding the possibility of potential life and travel to this neighbouring planet. However, due to a drastic change in the weather the team are forced to leave earlier than expected, but in a mist of the storm an areal antenna is flung towards a dazed Mark, and sends him into the dark, and his crew are forced to make the decision of leaving Mark behind as he is assumed dead, due to the amount of oxygen in his tank. (Already this movie will spark great interest, and debate as in a few decades from now there is likely to be missions to Mars, as America has just discovered there is Water on Mars). Mark is in fact not dead, and finds himself stranded 140 million miles away from home, running low on Oxygen, and has to head back to base camp, where to add insult to injury he has the sudden realisation he will have to find a way to survive for four years as that is when the next excavation of Mars is due.
Immediately the film sets it self up for a "Cast away" like storyline, where one mans drive to survive will create his way home. However, gladly The Martian is not like this and is entirely different due to a relaxed and informal relationship with a video diary Matt Damon is able to inform the audience of all the complex experiments he is undertaking to survive. For example, Mark finds Potatoes the crew had been saving for thanks giving, and creates a Potato farm in the base, due to being a Botanist... Furthermore, by bringing in contact to home through a drone that was left on Mars in the 70's this "Cast Away" like storyline is made to be different, as he is still narrating and keeping the audience up to date, but Mark is in fact addressing the nation and his potential "past" self.
When first watching the movie, I was sceptical as to how this would keep the attention and follow a narrative arch throughout, as we all would immediately expect him to survive and then go home.. 'Standard' Hollywood story, I mean lets face it, it is Matt Damon after all and we want Matt to get home safe (Because he always finds away home, look at Saving Private Ryan, it just seems to always cost the American Government money. Although we are promised happy endings within major Hollywood epics, this still engages you throughout and certainly doesn't disappoint. Ridley Scott has masterfully encapsulated the vast scale of the planet, making the audience really feel the lonesome nature of life so far from home, due to some fantastic cinematic moments of "scale" that really drive this home. As an audience member, I really enjoyed these particular moments, because unlike most of these "space" films as of late, we are constantly focusing more on the mise-en-scene and how many special affects can be thrown at us. But what Ridley has done (along side special effects don't get me wrong) he has really used and the dialogue the dialogue from the story and allowed Matts character to explain literally everything the character is feeling, and really emphasising how human this "Martian" is. Furthermore, you are welcomed in to the mind, perspective and reality of what is happening in this characters head, day by day, ALONE.
Unlike other Sci fi films, this ironically enough doesn't seem to be so "sci fi" and becomes more about a mans drive to survive, with a fantastic solo performance from Matt you really want this man to succeed, and believe his struggle. One of the defining and real thought provoking aspects of this film was the notion of being 'first'. It was surreal to imagine that his character was literally experiencing, touching, walking, seeing etc everything for the first time as a man but also as man kind. To think that every grain of sand etc the character is walking on has been untouched by man. You can obviously look at the underlining capitalist debate, and Americanization of this film, looking at how one nation will spend millions to voyage back and save one man, but will not invest that money in abolishing poverty globally etc, but thats when people need to remember this is a fictional story, and should be enjoyed entirely for this reason. the notion of being the first