Fun but Far From Great

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2016)

This is certainly an entertaining film as a formula movie. It's fun like the earlier "Independence Day" film with Bill Pullman and Will Smith. We put a poor guy in an untenable situation, trapped on a planet when his colleagues are forced to take off and leave him behind. As a scientist, he does miraculous things to stay alive, including creating a greenhouse where he can grow potatoes (that just happen to be on board providing seed). That's OK. That's a plot element. He also has incredible knowledge of all the incredible stuff left behind on Mars. An amazing rover as well as a nuclear device. That's OK too because we can't have a plot without something for this guy to do. Where it falls down is in the reality of NASA (which we are told are a pack of insensitive boobs or nerds). They are going to do this and then they are going to do that. Jeff Daniels plays a stuck-in-the-mud guy who is only concerned about the politics of the job. I love Matt Damon. I've seen nearly everything he has done. He's adequate in this film but certainly not Academy Award material. He expresses almost no emotions other than a couple little under-control tantrums. What about the loneliness, the sameness of every day? Years of eating potatoes. Anyway, it is candy for those who don't want to think very much. It's very impresstive looking and the special effects are awesome. We've become a bit spoiled, I guess. Things by the formula.