The Martian

The Martian, 2015

Directed by Ridley Scott, 141 minutes

Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kirsten Wiig, Kate Mara, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Review by Katherine Scheetz

Scott pulls us to a parallel world where missions to Mars are on regular rotation and televised space travel still binds people together. It is nostalgically reminiscent of the go-go-boots and gravity-defying-hair Space Race Era with the added sophistication of a lens flared Sci-Fi that can deny the laws of physics for a nod to the aesthetic.  The final touch to this well-crafted story is the uncensored frankness of the script fed to us like good ole’ American apple pie.

The action begins on the Mars landing site with astronauts Watney (Damon), Lewis (Chastain), Johannsen (Mara), Martinez (Peña), Beck and Vogel throwing cheesy quips around through headsets before being caught off guard by an unsuspectingly powerful sand storm. In the mayhem of an impromptu “abort mission” Watney is hit by debris and presumed dead. The remaining crew, led by Captain Lewis, makes the impossible call through gritted teeth and back to earth they go. Leaving Watney alone.

Thanks to the directorial power of the webcam, audiences watch through Watney’s eyes as the abandoned botanist “science[s] the shit out of” starvation, suffocation, solidarity and disco. Approximately ¾ of the way through the movie you realize that duct tape really can fix everything.

Complication after complication, Damon’s performance as Watney is rhythmic, hiccupped only occasionally by a rightly placed “Fuck you, Mars.” It carries you, like Captain Lewis’ disco music, through his upbeat decision day after day to not die.

Away from those growing their own food on an inhospitable planet, we catch back up with Watney’s crew, en route for home, where we get a brief glimpse at their on-earth lives. Peña’s character in the crew functions as a similar bonding agent as his role in the brotherhood of Fury (2014), resolute in the mission, no matter the cost. Chastain is unblinking and unsentimental as Captain to the team of scientific masterminds. She talks straight through any bull in the inevitable “do we or don’t we” rescue mission mutiny to bring back Watney.

On earth, a wide-eyed, astrodymanic Donald Glover (Community) slips in and out of the film, garnishing the analytical and problem solving dialogue with coffee-driven-supergenious-geek ideas. Without Glover, J.R.R. Tolkien’s appearance in the film just wouldn’t have been the same (insert Sean Bean quote here). Jeff Daniels as a crusty, yet determined NASA director leads an innovative team on the home front, where Kristen Wiig surprises as PR Annie Montrose, dealing solemnly and rationally with the media gig of a lifetime. Chiwetel Ejiofor is seamless as Mars Mission director Vincent Kapoor, more chameleon than actor as he reacts to the problems set before him.

To pull any of these performances out among the others is an injustice to the remaining team members because what this film did is bring everyone’s best to the forefront. And not just the actors, but across all departments: cinematography, costuming, writing, editorial, directorial and so on. There simply was no lull, no action that was extraneous and no link that was weak.

              Helpless in Scott’s irresistible snare, we chuckle at Watney’s humanity, fist pump his triumphs and white knuckle through his struggles. And Damon, through it all, remains our annoyingly proactive liaison to colonizing the red planet. It is perhaps on this that we can call the largest flaw of the film; It’s just plain not realistic that Watney could be that good and still be human. But then, as the title suggest, he’s not human: he’s The Martian. 

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