The last few years have been really hard for director Ridley Scott. With many disappointing films (Prometheus & Exodus: God’s & Kings) and some down right awful (The Counselor) it seemed as though this once great legend had lost his magic touch. The Martian, however, is a return to form for the legendary director as he has made his best film since Gladiator.
Based on the novel by Andy Weir, The Martian, stars Matt Damon as astonaut Mark Watney who is part of a survey team exploring the desolate planet of Mars. Disaster soon strikes the team as a massive storm arrives presumably killing Mark and forcing the others to abandon their mission and return home to Earth. Unbeknownst to everyone on Earth, Mark actually lived and now has to figure out how to survive on the Red Planet until the next Mars mission arrives in four years. Once NASA finally discovers that Mark is alive it becomes a race against time to get him home before he runs out of supplies.
Matt Damon is sensational in the movie. Giving one of the best performances of his career, Damon is so likeable that it is impossible to not root for him. What makes him so great is that for the majority of the movie he is on screen by himself, but you never get bored. He will definitely be in the discussion for Best Actor this year.
Along with Matt Damon is a great supporting cast. Jeff Daniels is superb as the Director of NASA. In a role that could have come across as the evil mustache twirling business man, Daniels brings a humanity into his performance where you understand why he makes some of the hard decisions that he does, but at the same time wants his astronaut home just as much as everyone else. Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Pena, and Kristen Wiig also were great in this all-star cast. It was also nice to see Sean Bean in a role where he doesn’t die for once.
At 140 minutes, The Martian flies by. While not filled with much action, the drama throughout carries the story and never gets dull. In the hands of a lesser director the story could have easily lost focus, but every scene in film serves a purpose and never feels like filler. Not once did I feel like the film was too long. The only subplot I could have done without was the romance between Kate Mara and Sebastian Stan’s characters, but it is so minor that it barely distracts from the film.
In what should have been a dark and grim story, screenwriter Drew Goddard (Cabin In The Woods) infuses humor that helps keep the movie light and allows you to become emotionally attached to the characters. The Lord of the Rings reference in the film is one of the funniest scenes I’ve scene in a movie this year.
As we start to head into Oscar season, The Martian is a early contender for a Best Picture nomination.
Rating: 9.2
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