 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: The Martian • Year: 2015 • Country: USA, UK • Director: Ridley Scott • Main cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig • Runtime: 144 minutes • Production company: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, TSG Entertainment, Scott Free Productions • TRAILER |
The Martian was probably the biggest science fiction title of the past year 2015. Based on the Andy Weir novel of the same name, The Martian was one of those stories that were floating around the Hollywood studios until it fell into Ridley Scott’s hands, loved it and decided to go for it. It is known by everyone that Mr Scott is already part of movies history because of his futuristic masterpieces. A great visionary he was in the 70s and 80s, he brought us esential pieces like Alien (1979) or Blade Runner (1982), movies that without them the science fiction genre would never be the same. But that doesn’t mean everytime Scott touches the Space or Future themes a new pearl blossoms, we’re far from that.
The Martian is a simple movie. We don’t have a twisted plot or significant scientific discoveries here, it’s only the story of an astronaut (perfectly portraited by Matt Damon) that gets stuck in Mars, how he tries to survive and how his colleagues try to get him back. Still, I think it’s better than other movies with this theme like Cast Away (2000) or the more recent Gravity (2013), also placed in Space.
It is said that most of the science and physics told in the movie The Martian are quite accurate, and all the facts shown in the film could actually happen in real life. Probably people with more knowledge in science and space than me could appreciate the story more. But for me, an average viewer, action movie goer, and not very smart, I found the movie a little bit empty. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think at all it’s a bad movie. As I mentioned before, Matt Damon is superb, he has all the action on his back and his spontaneous acting keeps the movie alive. You totally sympatize with him. And also, the photography is beautiful, it makes you wish it was you who were that Martian, the guy with a whole arid and red planet for himself.
Yes, a good summary could be The Martian is a correct and well done tutorial of how to survive in Mars, in case you get stuck there someday. It’s not boring and keeps your attention from the begining to the end of the whole more than 2 hours of film. But don’t wait for big surprises or mind blowing twists because there are not. You don’t need to buckle up your seatbelts for this one, just relax and enjoy the trip.
The next adventure we will get from Ridley Scott will be Alien: Covenant (2017), the sequel from Prometheus (2012), so he will stay in space but this time doing what he is known for best: to bring the Xenomorph to our nightmares. So we raise our glasses for that!
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/
