Courageously gimmick-free and measured look at deep-space exploration

Rating: 8/10 (7 October 2015)

Given the ambition of the "Star Trek" universe and other film and TV space genres, sci-fi fans may well need pinching from time to time if they are to recall correctly that no human being has yet been further than 401,000 km from the Earth, while Mars lies out there at a minimum distance of 55 MILLION km. Thus - in real life - even unmanned missions to our external neighbour continue to push our species to the limits of its abilities. The fact that that might be a shame, given humankind's basic drive to explore, and the way that our species really might unify to swing behind such an effort are clearly among the aims of this film, whose mainly-supportive portrayal of the space agencies and what they stand for is nevertheless (one feels rightly) an eclectic mix of the awe-inspiring and the Heath Robinson. This is a film that clearly qualifies as sci-fi in some way, but is nevertheless no "Mission to Mars" or "Red Planet". Rather this is a space-mission story told straight, relying a lot on technological details, and (mostly) accurately encapsulating some of the real-life difficulties that operating manned missions at the limits of our range might really bring; and even slowing the pace at many points to strengthen our awareness of those distances, and the loneliness and apparent helplessness they denote. Ridley Scott's love of detail comes into its own in such a context, while Matt Damon handles the starring role well enough, injecting the sceptical and humorous notes we have come to expect from real-life astronauts, as well as the toughness and resourcefulness. The Mars his character has reached is as staggeringly impressive and beautiful as it is utterly hostile, yet still - in some way at least, as "The Martian" makes clear - "out there waiting for us", should we prove up to the challenge of near-limitless flexibility and adaptability.