The Martian

The Martian, the latest film from accomplished director Ridley Scott is a film best described as a satisfying meal. It's not an over the top emotional rollercoaster it could have been nor is it a sci-fi film that is absent of heart. It's a smart, engaging, and entertaining film and because of that I give The Martian four buckets of Killer Korn.














Based on the bestselling novel by Andy Weir, it appears Ridley Scott has another sci-fi hit on his hands. The Martian is the kind of movie that satisfies on every level. The storytelling is well done and not dumbed down at all. It starts off fast and gives the impression that it could burn itself out. With Ridley at the helm however, the film finds a nice steady pace and what could have been an "I'm fucked" scenario turns out to be just the opposite. For someone stranded on a planet after being considered dead and millions of miles from Earth, The Martian took the approach to find the humor of the moment and embrace the science. In a world where people are more and more turning away from science, The Martian explains how science can save your life.

Matt Damon stars as the botanist/martian Mark Watney and the casting is brilliant because Matt plays Mark with a cool, dry, almost detached of emotion performance. I would assume much like any scientist who is confronted with a difficult situation, they don't fall to their knees and wonder why them and instead they try to solve the problem. Matt Damon does that better than anyone in the business today. Starring alongside Matt is Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Wong, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. This is an amazingly talented cast and there isn't a weak performance from anyone. There is a practical realism to this movie that is wonderfully detailed due to the politics of trying to get Mark Watney home and trying to keep him alive until he can be rescued. The push to get him strains both the people that are working to back to earth and the equipment. Corners are cut and mishaps happen because space is unpredictable and both wondrous and brutal from one second to the next.

Aesthetically The Martian is a beautiful movie to look at which is usually the case with a Ridley Scott production. It's been that way since Alien blew our minds back in 1979 and that doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon. The landscape of Mars may look like every other landscape that's supposed to be Mars but when shot by cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, whose last four films were all Ridley Scott projects, the vistas of Mars look beautifully majestic. The score by Harry Gregson-Williams is beautifully rendered. I think it's Harry's for all electronic score and it was a perfect marriage. It didn't overpower the film and it didn't take you out of the experience. I really enjoyed The Martian and while it's not perfect you have to love the fact that they aimed for the stars and landed on Mars. I'll see you at the theater.