Castaway in space? That one line essentially sums up the plot of this sci-fi drama that heralds a return to form for director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, The Duellists, etc).
Not long after playing an astronaut stranded on an inhospitable planet in the bloated Interstellar, Matt Damon returns as an astronaut stranded in space on an inhospitable planet. In this case, the planet is Mars.
Damon plays Mark Watney, a botanist with the Ares III research station on Mars. But when a fierce and unprecedented storm hits the planet the mission is abandoned and the crew evacuates. But during the evacuation, Watney is struck by flying debris and presumed killed. The crew leave the planet and begin the long journey home to Earth, leaving Watney’s body behind. But Watney survived. Now he faces the struggle to survive on a planet where nothing grows. He only has enough supplies to last approximately 868 days. It will take at least four years for NAS to get another rocket ready to make the journey to Mars, assuming that he is even able to communicate with them.
In his own words, in order to survive he will have to science the shit out of the planet. Like McGyver in space he soon figures out solutions to the myriad problems he encounters, drawing upon his own ingenuity and resourcefulness. He finds a way to fertilise and grow potatoes. And he repairs the destroyed communications equipment, enabling him to contact NASA which has already announced his death. The Martian is very much a psychological study of the effects of loneliness and isolation as, like Tom Hanks in Castaway or Sam Rockwell in Moon, he is often the sole character on screen. He is resourceful and optimistic despite his circumstances.
Meanwhile back on Earth, NASA engineers and scientists try to figure out a way to rescue Watney. NASA director Sanders (played by Jeff Daniels) has to make some tough decisions, taking into account the public relations issues as well as dealing with the bureaucracy of NASA and trying to keep the congressional dollars flowing into the space program. When they learn that Watney is alive, the crew of the Ares, under the command of Lewis (Jessica Chastain), decide to go against NASA’s instructions and try to mount a desperate rescue mission.
There have been several films set on the forbidding setting of Mars, including 1964’s Robinson Crusoe On Mars, the disappointing Red Planet and John Carpenter’s Mission To Mars, but The Martian is easily the best of the bunch. The Martian has been adapted from the best selling 2011 novel written by Andy Weir, a former computer programmer who first put the book online. The novel was dense with its treatment of scientific concepts, and while screenwriter Drew Goddard (World War Z) has remained faithful to the source material, he has made the details more cinematic and visceral.
This is easily Scott’s best film in years, especially given the visually stylish and prolific filmmaker’s recent output that included his disappointing Alien sequel Prometheus, which divided audiences; the drug centric thriller The Counselor was just awful and mainly memorable for that scene involving Cameron Diaz and the windscreen of a car; and the overly bloated Biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings was just boring. Scott scales back the usual pyrotechnics and manages to inject plenty of suspense and humanity into this story of survival in space, as we are never certain if Watney will be rescued.
And it helps that the immensely likeable Damon is the main star, as he has a self effacing sense of humour, intelligence, and an everyman quality that audiences can identify with. The tense drama is laced with plenty of gallows humour, especially as Watney is forced to listen to 70s disco music, which also gives the film a great soundtrack that will also appeal to audiences.
The Martian is an intelligent piece of science fiction that is pacier and much more entertaining and accessible than Interstellar. And, like those other stories of survival in space such as Gravity and Apollo 13, it is grounded in a reality that audiences can relate to without a deep understanding of science and technology. NASA has even had input into the script to ensure the veracity of the science and technology and the jargon. Everything that Watney does in order to survive is feasible.
A solid ensemble cast has been assembled to flesh out the peripheral characters. Chastain starred opposite Damon in Interstellar although they never shared any scenes, and here she does what she can with a small role. She imbues Lewis with a sense of intelligence and gravitas, but also manages to convey the guilt she feels for having left Watney behind on Mars. Sebastian Stan, Michael Pena and Kate Mara costar as her fellow crewmates. Jeff Daniels is very good as Sanders, the head of NASA, while Kristen Wiig essentially plays it straight as the head of NASA’s PR machine; Sean Bean is good as the frustrated Flight Director who is responsible for the safety of the astronauts, while Chiwetel Ejiofor brings gravitas to his role as Kapoor, the mission controller; and Donald Grover (from TV series Community) brings a touch of welcome humour to his role as a computer programmer.
Visually the film is quite impressive, with Darius Wolski’s superb cinematography capturing the harsh landscape of Mars and making it an important character in the drama. The harsh and eerie desert of Jordan doubled for the alien surface of Mars here. There is some impressive use of 3D during the film which gives a sense of the scope of space, and immerses you in the location, but it is not overdone.
The Martian is now available on DVD, Blu-ray and on-demand.
Greg King
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
