Technically Great and a Wonderful Performance by Damon

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2016)

The Martian (2015)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
On a mission to Mars a crew of astronauts get caught in a brutal storm when one member, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is hit with an object and apparently killed. The commander in charge (Jessica Chastain) decide to leave the planet and NASA must announce that Watney has been killed but soon they all discover that he survived. Now Watney must find a way to try and survive on the planet with a lack of food and water.
Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN is an extremely entertaining movie and it's easy to see why it became such a box office hit. The idea of a man being trapped on a different planet and having to decide whether he wants to live or die is such a simple idea and there's no question that Scott knows how to handle drama and tension in space. The film has a very good story to draw you in but I'm not going to lie and say I didn't have any problems with the movie but more on that in a bit.
A lot of credit certainly goes to Scott who handles the material extremely well and most importantly is the fact that he makes you believe that this man is actually trapped on Mars. If the viewer thought they were just looking at a set or just some fake CGI then it would pretty much kill the story. By Scott creating a real environment you have no problem believing that you're seeing a man trapped on a planet with his closest help millions of miles away. On a technical level the film contains some wonderful cinematography, a great and rousing score and of course brilliant sound effects and set designs.
Damon's excellent performance is another very important factor because we need an actor who we're not only going to believe in the part of a brilliant astronaut but we also must be entertained by him and care for him. Damon certainly makes you believe that he's this brilliant mind and there's no question that his one-man-show is something the actor nails. We get a strong group of supporting players including a very good Chastain plus strong work from Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
As I said, I did have some major problems with the film including the fact that it just seems like everything happened way too easily. I understand this is a mainstream movie that couldn't get into great detail because it might confuse or bore the viewer but I just thought the film would have worked even better had it been more realistic. Of course, I'm no space expert so perhaps what happens here is 100% believable. I'd also say that the film is also a tad bit too predictable. Either way, THE MARTIAN is certainly a very good movie.