There’s a particularly powerful moment towards the very end of this film with its main character, Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, where if you were going to share in the emotions of what this person had just been through, and was about to go through, that you may potentially find yourself holding back some of your own…. I felt like the film didn’t necessarily have enough of those moments where you felt yourself REALLY rooting for this guy at all costs.
That being said, it is a film about survival, and many have added it’s like watching MacGyver in space, even if it feels somewhat formulaic at times with its setup for how Watney is stranded on Mars in the beginning of the film. He seems to keep his sanity by recording video blogs, planting potatoes, and moving various pieces of the equipment outside of his life support unit around as needed. Over time, the supporting characters back on earth seem to do enough not to overshadow what’s taking place back on the red planet–Jeff Bridges plays one hell of a dick at times as head of NASA, and Matt Damon’s acting chops really have a chance to shine as his character keeps trekking along in the hopes his NASA pals will ultimately send a crew to rescue him.
And yet, the film didn’t really feel or seem all that memorable when the end credits rolled. It didn’t pack nearly the punch to the gut that Interstellar, with Matthew McConaughey, did last year with the raw emotion, and being kept on the edge of your seat till the bitter end. That may be because that film simply resonated more with my psyche than the next person, but bottom line, I didn’t walk out of the theater today feeling the “WOW” factor I wanted to feel going into viewing this film.
Now, I do realize this is a much more optimistic view of humanity working together to save a fellow human being than Interstellar was, and it’s hard not to appreciate that vision for the future. There are no scenes where Watney is completely flying off the handle mentally. He has one moment inside his Rover vehicle after suffering a major setback in the middle of the story, but it wasn’t some bat-shit crazy “this guy is about to lose it entirely” aura. And perhaps that’s where this film lost me. I would think if you’re stranded that far from home under those insane conditions that you will in fact have a classic manic episode for which your sanity goes bye bye. Not so in this film. Now, maybe the book, by Andy Weir, which I get a failing grade for not having read as of yet, delves more into the psychological side of how Watney copes with being stranded on Mars, but the overall theme of what that does to your mental health is absent in this picture.
Additionally, and it may be major nitpicking on my part here, (partial spoiler) but how would one crew that spent 533 days headed to Mars be able to keep their sanity in check not only making the first trip where Watney was lost, but then potentially be asked to turn around and head back there with roughly the same trip time? How bout a relief crew!! HA. It could have been very interesting to see more of the crew on their ship en route in regards to how being stuck in space for so long was affecting their mental health as well. Even more hilarious was just how easy it seemed for each and every one of them to agree to turn right around to go and rescue Watney when the majority of the crew had families on earth. Call me crazy, but it shouldn’t have looked that simple for these guys to make that sacrifice.
Now, after sounding like like a bit of a Debbie Downer for my view of The Martian, let me focus on what was done really well: Striking visuals, a sometimes very energizing 70s soundtrack, great acting by Damon, and an overall neat “scientific” escape for the just over 2 hours and 20 min running time. It’s not that this film is bad in any way in my book. It’s simply that it didn’t make me kick my brain into overdrive like previous Sci-Fi flicks like Moon, Sunshine, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, and Interstellar did by comparison.
In the end, I’d still recommend going to see this movie on the big screen, but don’t anticipate that you’re going to be blown away like some of the prominent headline reviewers have suggested. Nuff said!
Rating- 2.99 out of 4.00
Leave Us Your Comments.