Now that I’ve seen The Martian, I’ve doubled the number of Oscar nominated Best Pictures for 2015 I’ve seen. I’ve gone from one to…two.
Woo…hoo?
Directed by the legendary Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien) and based on the hit novel of the same name by Andy Weir, the movie concerns the travails of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon, charismatic and pleasant as the protagonist) who is part of a group of American astronauts (included in the mix are familiar faces such as Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, and Michael Pena) who have landed on and are exploring Mars.
When a sudden storm hits, Watney is slammed by a radar dish and flung away. Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), the commander of the mission, tries to find Watney but the storm is so severe it threatens to knock the crew’s evac ship over. The remaining astronauts are forced to give up on Watney (whom by this point they believe is dead) and blast off back to their mothership and, from there, head back to Earth.
After the storm is over, we find that Watney has somehow survived. (Aside: While the movie tries to be “scientifically accurate”, this scene presented one of my biggest movie pet peeves: A character being knocked “unconscious” and awakening much later to no ill effect. In Watney’s case, he awakens after the storm is over. Had he been unconscious that long, he would probably be suffering severe head trauma).
Watney’s suit was punctured and it fritzed-out his life-readings which explains why the others thought him dead. Alive but alone, Watney realizes he will need to survive another four years before another ship reaches Mars. The big problem? He has supplies to last only a few more months.
The premise of The Martian is intriguing as well as unique and I can most certainly see why movie studios and book readers ate up Andrew Weir’s concept. The idea of a lone man trying to survive against all odds on an inhospitable planet while using real world (or at least plausible) science is an easy concoction to take down.
And as I watched the film I was most certainly entertained.
…but…
Ok, I don’t want to sound like a killjoy here and I would hastily add that I recommend the film and would give it a very solid three stars out of four…
…But…
As the movie played out I was bothered by the almost aggressive “niceness” it presents in all the characters. Every one of them, even Jeff Daniels’ Teddy Sanders, head of NASA, who engages in actions that draw him closest to being an almost-but-never-close to being labeled a “bad guy”, are so resolutely nice and pleasant and are all working so damn hard to get their man back and its rare any word is crossed and…
….argghh!…
I truly don’t want to get into specifics as I don’t want to give away the movie’s plot but it felt to me everyone was just too damn nice and too damn caring to the point where they didn’t “feel” like real people (It didn’t help that some familiar faces, such as Kristen Wiig, pop up and ultimately don’t do all that much). Never once did the film present us with a genuine, heated argument about the incredible logistics needed to be overcome to save Watney. Even the movie’s climax, which involved (while I don’t want to get into SPOILERS, I’ll have to here) a mutiny, was treated and resolved as if nothing big.
Bear in mind, the movie not only deals with Watney’s personal survival but the potential agony of those on Earth who alternately want so very badly to save the man but also must realize this involves a great deal of money, a lack of time (he only has to much), and the politics and personal risk involved in both failure and success…all to ultimately save ONE person.
While it is a great human interest story and the movie presented Watney’s point of view well, I can’t help but think it whiffed on presenting what could have been a more complex and emotional story regarding the agony of making the decisions which may, or may not, save this one stranded man.
Considering the film clocks in at 2:20 and it didn’t feel like it was padded in any significant way, I guess what I’m suggesting is that this story could have benefited from a longer run time. Perhaps it would have worked better as a cable mini-series?
Despite my criticisms, I stand by what I said above. The Martian is an entertaining, if somewhat incomplete, work that is easy to recommend.