Ridley Scott needs to be less Down-to-Earth

Rating: 5/10 (17 October 2015)

The Martian. With this solemn title, director Ridley Scott invites aspiring audiences to conjure a wholly alien experience. One where the sweeping, arid and hostile vistas that have populated his recent not-so-stellar efforts meet a sense of the unknown – a precipice of discovery. Though, for a contemporary viewer, the word Martian itself carries a distinct connotation; our own near-future sights are set on this very prospect and so we perceive it as 'within reach'. The second act of the film and some shaky humour both contribute to the film's downfall on this very basis.
So, solitude. That should be the order of the day – given the singular title and bleak outlook established early on. Astronaut, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is a crew member of the Ares III mission to Mars, tasked with establishing a temporary base and collecting samples for study. Almost immediately, a divisive play of plot circumstance sees a deadly storm brew – forcing an evacuation during which Watney is struck by debris and left for dead. Damon is joined by a strong, if typically specialised, supporting cast helmed most notably by his Commanding Officer Lewis (Jessica Chastain) in space and Houston (various) back on Earth . They do just that - offer support – which when paired with Damon's relentless and abrasive optimism, results in vacuous tension and no sense of danger.
Soon after waking to a metal rod impaling his stomach and his own congealed blood forming the only seal between him and the barren atmosphere, a gripping scene ensues – Watney being forced to operate on himself with a hastily scrounged set of unpleasant, clanging prongs. Damon shines here. Savour it. He is soon settling in as a cocky, quipping jack-of-all-trades; imbued with a skillset plucked from the A-Team. It is at this point, the prelude to the (exceedingly prolonged) 'middle' act; that the film begins to reveal its true intention. This is, of course, to enact a fictional re- telling of Apollo 13 – with less uncertainty.
That's the problem – the comparisons. As much as I hate to belittle contemporary cinema and these genres in particular, if 'superhero' films aren't our generation's 'Western', then space thriller/dramas – are. With the distant Moon (2004), more recent Gravity (2012) and to some extent Interstellar (2014) all setting the bar high in terms of lone-castaway character study and visual spectacle; we've come to expect certain things in space. If a character is alone in adversity, we hope to explore their deteriorating psyche in an insightful and illuminating arc of events or introspective. It is in these moments spent alone together with these characters that we come to care, empathise and root for them. Mark Watney, fifty million miles from Earth, hardly ever seems to be truly secluded.
The script shies from the psychological attrition that the performance may have benefited from, by adapting a sickly sweet narrative of optimism and collective arrogance that undermines the emotional depth of the situation. Lacking threat or struggle, any adversity is trivialised. Rather than buck a predictable trend by flipping the usual chromatic dread with light hearted humour, the plot engenders apathy by giving no indication that any misfortune is worth fretting over. Post that initial scene-setting rush, you can never again suspend your disbelief for long enough to imagine harm befalling one of the characters. Detached from fear, Damon's struggle is both inconceivable and insincere.