The Martian is a new Sci-Fi film directed by Ridley Scott and scripted by Drew Goddard as well as being based off of the book by Andy Weir, the story here sees Mark Watley (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars after a dust storm but his crew (Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Michael Pena and Aksel Hennie) take off and leave for home but Mark is still alive and must now Science/Engineer the Shit out of surviving on the Red Planet while NASA and his crew work to Bring Him Home.
I've been really looking forward to this film primarily because it's a new Science Fiction film and it feels like a fair while since we had one but the last couple (Jupiter Ascending, Gravity and Interstellar amongst others) plus Ridley has dropped the ball a bit with Prometheus and most certainly The Counselor and Exodus Gods and Kings so the chances of him coming back are remote.
But he has come back boys and girls and this film is just terrific and the reasons are numerous:
- The first is Goddard's script which is extremely good and it wastes no time getting its central story underway plus he balances science/engineering/botany with humour and hope but most important of all a beating human heart something that both Gravity and Interstellar both lacked in a big way (those films had the scientific aspects and the visuals but not the human element to make them stand out like this does.)
And this script has really energized Sir Ridley in a way we haven't seen from him probably since Gladiator back in 2000 and his direction here is very good, keeping a very tight rein on the ship even when it threatens to wobble a little bit towards the end due to its lengthy running time (141 minutes) it makes me wish that A) THIS had been his return to Sci-Fi instead of Prometheus and B) That he would assign Goddard ASAP to Paradise Lost his next Alien film.
- The second is the performances, Damon is so good here that he should be getting an Oscar nomination as he anchors this film effortlessly with his performance and he just totally gets the vibe of the character, even thinking about this has made me think yet again about how much I missed Mel Gibson in Mad Max: Fury Road earlier this year as his return to that iconic role would have really given that film the anchor it desperately needed.
But that is then and this is now and Damon is very nicely backed up by Chastain, Mara (making up for her turn in Fantastic Four and getting the better of her sister Rooney who only appeared in Pan this year which was awful), Pena, Stan as well as Jeff Daniels, Mackenzie Davis, Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean and Chiwetel Ejiofor and all of those people are very good also.
- And lastly the visuals and the music are also great whether it's the red wasteland of Mars or the very cool disco soundtrack peppered throughout the film but there's not much more to say other than those so I will leave that here.
And so that was the Martian, I think the best Sci-Fi film of the last 3 years and definitely one of my top films of the year, 4 and a half out of 5.
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