A Tad Disappointing

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2019)

3 October 2015. This is a survival story about a stranded astronaut on Mars starring Matt Damon. Surprisingly this movie doesn't seem like one that Ridley Scott directed. It has much more of a popular, mainstream undertone to it much like what Clint Eastwood accomplished with his Space Cowboys (2000). Two minor weaknesses seem to occur in the movie where like Alfonso Cauron's Gravity (2013) the opening scene appears too theatrically cute instead of a more serio-comically compelling and authentic sharp realism like that directed by Stanley Kubrick as with his 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Gravity at least transforms into a more serious dramatic and intimate performance unlike The Martian which seems to retain more of a space opera format and hoping the use of hard technology throughout would somehow make this movie superlative. The mainstream, popularity flourish that Ridley Scott incorporates into this movie permeates most of the dialogue and performances that takes away from the visceral immediacy of the moment. A smaller problem occurs with Ridley Scott's use of oral narrative between Watney and others as the text messages are being typed to simply inform audience of what is being said. I imagine that by the time a real Mar's mission is underway a redundant system of both visual and audio communication will be common place. Even today with the Dragon Program, it's possible to provide text and oral computer communication simultaneously. A computer synthesized voice instead of the actor's speaking their own lines would have had much more of a sensory impact. At the very least a computer program could have been downloaded to Watney's base station to allow for this oral/text transmission.
In the end what Ridley Scott seems to have accomplished is a photographically gorgeous setting and set design that, however, still can't be sufficiently enhanced into perfect reality with today's 3-D imaging technology. Other more powerful, visually dramatic and appealing, and intense performances having space as its primary subject matter include:
Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). Tom Hank's Apollo 13 (1995). Robert Zemeckis' Contact (1997). Maria Lidon's Stranded (2001). Duncan Jones' Moon (2009). Defying Gravity (2009 television series). Gonzalo Lopez-Gallegos' Apollo 18 (2011). Alfonso Cauron's Gravity (2013) Christopher Nolan's Interstellar (2014).
What would have been spectacular would have been whether or not Ridley Scott could have followed in the approach of William Eubank's Love (2011) about an abandoned astronaut aboard the International Space Station or William Eubank had an opportunity to try to direct The Martian.