| My rating | IMDb | Rotten Tomatoes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critics | Audience | Critics | Audience | |
| 8/10 | 81/100 | 8.3/10 | 93% | 93% |
After seeing the trailer, I was afraid The Martian would be really similar to last year’s Interstellar, with Matt Damon on space and Jessica Chastain involved in the rescue mission. The movies, however, couldn’t be more different.
In this one, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left in Mars after a failed mission during which his crew presumed he was dead. However, since they left in a hurry, all NASA’s equipment and infrastructure were also left behind, so Mark had a place to stay and all the technology he needed to be creative and come up with solutions to survive. He records a video journal describing all his ideas, in case someone sees it. His main concern is food but, luckily enough, he is a botanist and knows how to make potatoes grow with the resources he has.
Back on Earth, NASA, lead by Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels), is trying to deal with the situation and come up with a plan to bring Mark back.
Like Cast Away, this is a one-man show for most part of the film. While Tom Hanks’ Chuck Noland had “Wilson”, Mark Watney has a camera, so he talks to the audience nearly the whole film. So we witness him coming up with plans and solutions to his problems, as well as complaining (a lot) about Melissa Lewis’ (Jessica Chastain) taste in music (she left her computer there and he went through her playlist).
However, differently than what happens in Cast Away, we don’t see Mark Watney sad, expect for two moments. He doesn’t talk about his life on Earth and only mentions his parents towards the end. We don’t know his taste, except that he doesn’t like disco music. We don’t know what he misses the most or how he copes with loneliness or even how he didn’t go mad. I know I’m asking too much realism from a movie with a premise that a person is surviving in Mars, but I just think it would make it more interesting to know more about Mark.
The cast is good, but Matt Damon really stands out and is a great choice for this role, showing his comic side even in a situation where you wouldn’t expect it. On another topic, as I’m a fan of music from the 70’s, I really enjoy the soundtrack!
All in all, The Martian is a good movie with a great message about never giving up, even when the problems seem unsolvable.
