Review: THE MARTIAN Is Ridley Scott's Best Film in 10 Years
It seems like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Ridley Scott movie that I’ve actually loved. As I look back at his filmography, the last movie of his that I was truly impressed with was Kingdom of Heaven back in 2005. All the films in between have been good, but they haven’t been anything special. I’m happy to say that with The Martian, Scott finally wowed me again! Everything I had seen from the film up until this point looked great, but only when you actually see it do you get a sense of how truly awesome this movie is.
The Martian is a sci-fi suspense thriller set in the near future, and it begins with a group of astronauts on Mars studying the planet. Everything goes wrong when a giant storm hits and they are forced to evacuate before their shuttle is destroyed by the storm. While they are trying to get the hell off the planet, Matt Damon’s character is hit with debris and lost in the madness of the storm. Fearing that he’s dead, the commander of the crew makes the decision to leave without him for the safety of the rest of the team. Little do they know, he’s still alive. From there on out the film focuses on Damon doing everything he can to survive on Mars until NASA can send a team to rescue him.
What I liked about this film was that it was a simple story that was character focused, but at the same time it also had huge epic settings on Mars, NASA, and a giant freakin’ spacecraft. Underneath all of that beautiful imagery, there was a story about a man that I came to care about. You really want to see this poor guy survive against all the odds. I enjoy these kinds of movies as I find them inspirational. They capture the determination and awesomeness of the human spirit. The movie also celebrates the power of space exploration and science.
It may not be very action-packed, but it’s still an exhilarating movie that manages to keep you on the edge of your seat. Throughout the whole film, you don’t know if Damon’s character is going to actually get off Mars and go home or not. The guy ends up going through one crazy thing after another. The red planet was not very kind to him.
Damon is incredible in the role of Mark Watney, and he gives one of his best performances. Damon is pretty fantastic in everything that he is a part of, but this is definitely up there for him because he has to carry the bulk of the movie on his own shoulders. Not as much as Tom Hanks had to carry in Cast Away, but enough to make this a great achievement in Damon’s career.
The also features an incredible ensemble cast including Jessica Chastain as Melissa Lewis, Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose, Jeff Daniels as Teddy Sanders, Michael Pena as Rick Martinez, Sean Bean as Mitch Henderson, Kate Mara as Beth Johanssen, Sebastian Stan as Chris Beck, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor, and Donald Glover as Rich Purnel. Everyone is fantastic in their respective roles, which are all small, but each is given an opportunity to shine.
I think The Martian is one of this year's must-see movies, and I’m not the only one! If you don’t trust me, trust the 92% rating that it currently holds on Rotten Tomatoes. Scott directed the shit out of this movie and gave us something that is full of heart, drama, humor, and imagination.