Good - but not great

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2015)

I just watched the Martian after a long wait and i will admit, I had a bit high expectations.
I enjoyed myself, but at the same time, I didn't enjoy myself as much as I did when I watched Interstellar or even Gravity. I know that all three of the movies are very different beasts, but at the same time as the common viewer, I think it's reasonable to compare the movies after viewing in the sense of how the movies affected me and drawed me in.
The Martian for me lacked emotional dept, and deeper characters. I felt no real connection with the main character or the rest of the crew. Don't get me wrong, of cause I rooted for him to get saved and for the crew to make it, but in the sense of really caring about their characters beyond the mere fact that they were human beings that of cause should make it back to earth, I didn't really feel a connection to them. I understand the intent behind making Damon's character use his humor and spirit to distance himself from what must have been horrific emotions, and I can even try to grasp that some of his apparent resilience could be, that he is a professional and a man who was emotionally able to handle more and has had training and so on, (the comparison to a solider in war comes to mind), but at the same time I had a really hard time relating to him and feeling anything for him, because at no point did he really crack, in fact at no point did he show any negative emotion in the manner and intensity that one would expect. Hell, in interstellar I felt more emotionally invested in the main character before he even left earth.
Another thing is that I would have loved to see more of Ridley Scott in the movie - to see his opinion and views or feelings. The only thing I could really see is that he tried to promote that the countries in the world come together and work together in exploring space. But I didn't even get a clear view on if the effort and money we put in spacetravel and exploration is something that he believes is worth it. It seemed that there was a lot of resources put in something that well - what did they really get out of it? I'm not sure I got that..
A blockbuster is the most interesting to me, if it doesn't just show me a remake and retake on already addressed objective things, like "spacetravel" or "getting our hero home".. the movie sometimes gets a little to polished, and classical in the sense that it only shows the surface and the points and opinions everyone has. Who doesn't think he should be rescued? Who doesn't think it's cool he can survive? Who wouldn't go back for him if they could choose (and didn't have to actually feel any of the consequences but just quickly go through them in 1.30min)
Also, there was a certain point mid movie, that I thought drawed on a bit.. I think in a book it would have been interesting to read about, but for me, in a movie, there was a part of the movie before the explosion of his "garden" that fell a little flat.
But, but, I should of cause also say, that I really loved interstellar and how personal the movie felt and was from the director and I really related to the characters, and at no point did I feel detached or felt that the movie fell a little flat. So maybe this review should also be seen in the light, that I am I guess a bit more of a "softie" and I really enjoy movies that are subjective and that go deeper and handle the big questions like what's important in life and ethics and morals and so on. I bet a lot of people would think this a great movie and how cool it is he could survive and how cool and brave he is in general. I just need more to really get engaged..
(Btw, I apologize for some sentences that might be written strangely, English is not my native language, so the sentence construction is probably a little of some places)