The Story. Get a free science course in Ridley Scott’s non-alien sci-fi drama thriller The Martian, in which astronout Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left behind on planet Mars after being mistakenly assumed dead by his team mates (Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Michael Pena, Aksel Hennie, and headed by Jessica Chastain) after being struck by a rod during a sand storm. Luckily, with a background as a botanist, Watney is amazingly able to cultivate food under the inhospitable climate of Mars and eventually reach communication with earth. Establishing comm is one thing, saving him is another as the trip to the red planet can take four years to traverse.
The Breakdown. I haven’t read the book by Andy Weir that became its source but now I most def looking forward to it as it will give me the opportunity to slowly absorb the science speak (in the movie courtesy of screenwriter Drew Goddard, who wrote the brilliant revamp of Daredevil on Netflix) and then slowly translating it to plain English (or Indonesian). As much I admire the stunning visuals (lensed by Dariusz Wolski), the solid performances, the ingenious survivalism, and Chastain’s classy visage, I find it hard to engage emotionally to The Martian as it all seems very technical (not helping is the underwhelming score by Harry Gregson-Williams). I was engrossed, for sure, with the proceedings, entertained by some of the scenes involving Damon and disco music, but I never felt tense, thrilled, nor excited, perhaps only the final scene accomplish just that (though perhaps its too reminiscent of the rope grabbing scene in the simpler and tenser survival saga Gravity). The Martian is a good movie, very expertly made (it’s Ridley Scott for Christ sake), in fact it’s far warmer than that other sci-fi pic, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, which Damon (in a similar role) and Chastain also starred in, that left me cold despite Matt McCounaghey’s sensitive performance. (And I love that The Martian, along with Gravity and Interstellar, marks the third Hollywood entry into non-alien space adventure.)
For a sci-fi pic, The Martian is very talky, alternating between Damon solitary conversation in Mars; NASA’s closed door rescue preparation populated by Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig (Kristen Wiig!!), Donald Glover, (a weary looking) Sean Bean, Mackenzie Davis (from Halt & Catching Fire), and Benedict Wong; then to the crew aboard the now supposedly Earth-bound ship captained by the stern Chastain. One thing for sure, it’s amazing that Scott was able to amassed all of these known actors into one movie. Interesting side note, the movie also involves Chinese space team, which I don’t know if it’s part of the book or it’s another Hollywood further effort to include China as it now has become a big cinemagoing market. Just wondering...
Another Sidenote: There has been some controversy surrounding The Martian (not to mention Damon's own problem with racial insensitivity in his HBO-produced Project Greenlight) involving the casting of non-Asian characters: in the book the character played by Davis was Korean-American and Ejiofor’s is supposed to be Indian (well, the name is Vincent Kapoor), and I say... maybe there were Asian actors auditioned but ultimately feel the two actors casted were the better choice (?), who knows, but who are we to complain about other people’s “office rule”, right? I don’t remember hearing any dissenting voice when our highly successfull Indonesian movie, The Raid, were directed by a foreigner (a Welshman to be exact). Anyway, just sayin’...
The Bottom Line. The Martian is an engrossing and cerebral one man adventure (with peripheral multicharacters) that might teach you a thing or two about science. Love the idea of growing potatoes with dried human waste, but somehow I just can’t experience the deep emotional experience of actually eating it...
2,5 stars
The Breakdown. I haven’t read the book by Andy Weir that became its source but now I most def looking forward to it as it will give me the opportunity to slowly absorb the science speak (in the movie courtesy of screenwriter Drew Goddard, who wrote the brilliant revamp of Daredevil on Netflix) and then slowly translating it to plain English (or Indonesian). As much I admire the stunning visuals (lensed by Dariusz Wolski), the solid performances, the ingenious survivalism, and Chastain’s classy visage, I find it hard to engage emotionally to The Martian as it all seems very technical (not helping is the underwhelming score by Harry Gregson-Williams). I was engrossed, for sure, with the proceedings, entertained by some of the scenes involving Damon and disco music, but I never felt tense, thrilled, nor excited, perhaps only the final scene accomplish just that (though perhaps its too reminiscent of the rope grabbing scene in the simpler and tenser survival saga Gravity). The Martian is a good movie, very expertly made (it’s Ridley Scott for Christ sake), in fact it’s far warmer than that other sci-fi pic, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, which Damon (in a similar role) and Chastain also starred in, that left me cold despite Matt McCounaghey’s sensitive performance. (And I love that The Martian, along with Gravity and Interstellar, marks the third Hollywood entry into non-alien space adventure.)
For a sci-fi pic, The Martian is very talky, alternating between Damon solitary conversation in Mars; NASA’s closed door rescue preparation populated by Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig (Kristen Wiig!!), Donald Glover, (a weary looking) Sean Bean, Mackenzie Davis (from Halt & Catching Fire), and Benedict Wong; then to the crew aboard the now supposedly Earth-bound ship captained by the stern Chastain. One thing for sure, it’s amazing that Scott was able to amassed all of these known actors into one movie. Interesting side note, the movie also involves Chinese space team, which I don’t know if it’s part of the book or it’s another Hollywood further effort to include China as it now has become a big cinemagoing market. Just wondering...
Another Sidenote: There has been some controversy surrounding The Martian (not to mention Damon's own problem with racial insensitivity in his HBO-produced Project Greenlight) involving the casting of non-Asian characters: in the book the character played by Davis was Korean-American and Ejiofor’s is supposed to be Indian (well, the name is Vincent Kapoor), and I say... maybe there were Asian actors auditioned but ultimately feel the two actors casted were the better choice (?), who knows, but who are we to complain about other people’s “office rule”, right? I don’t remember hearing any dissenting voice when our highly successfull Indonesian movie, The Raid, were directed by a foreigner (a Welshman to be exact). Anyway, just sayin’...
The Bottom Line. The Martian is an engrossing and cerebral one man adventure (with peripheral multicharacters) that might teach you a thing or two about science. Love the idea of growing potatoes with dried human waste, but somehow I just can’t experience the deep emotional experience of actually eating it...
2,5 stars