By Brendan McGoldrick
Entertainment Editor
On paper, it’s difficult to think of any survival story that can be engaging. It’s the only genre of story where the ending is known before even being exposed to the plot. “Against all odds, the protagonist is able to overcome all obstacles and make it back to their family, showing the true power of human determination.” A more cliché archetype for a story would be hard to come by.
It is, in this respect, hard to think of how Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” a movie based on Andy Weir’s book by the same name, that is based on the survival archetype to a T can be more than entertaining on a base level, and while it does occasionally peek through as a movie with predictable events and simple ambitions, it’s a pretty stellar ride definitely worth taking.
Following the events of astronaut Mark Watney in a not-too-distant-future where he is on a team of astronauts conducting exploration and experiments on Mars, Watney is very quickly found stranded on the planet and presumed dead after a vicious storm separates Watney from his crew and forces them to leave Mars or lose their only way of escape off the planet.
After a gory scene of Watney treating his injuries, it’s up to him to survive as long as he can on an unforgiving world until his companions at NASA can find a way to save him before it’s too late.
It’s funny to think how Ridley Scott was able to make a story that’s as flat as that be engaging, but the superb use of visuals as well as not taking itself too seriously helps enjoyment in the movie to stay alive despite the cold and barren plot.
The film is also occasionally dips in to an area tonally that’s a bit light considering the mortal danger that our protagonist finds himself in, and the pressure setting in on his friends back home,, but the movie never completely crashes its believability by keeping these clear “motivation” segments as short, welcome changes of pace from the highly tense action and drama that’s spiced throughout.
It also helps the believability of the movie that Matt Damon is astronomical in the role of Watney, managing to portray the mindset of a man who’s staying determined to survive without another body around for hundreds of days on a lifeless planet.
Believability is also boosted by the superb directing by Scott, who uses practical-seeming visual effects and design to give the film based in the near future an out-of-this-world sense of awe of space as portrayed in the movie.
The Martian is a satisfying voyage to watch that will leave viewers’ star bound expectations for Ridley Scott’s newest space story happy with the end result. (4/5 turkeys)
On one final note, the trailers for the movie should be avoided for those who plan to see it, as it gives away a major plot thread that is spun for around 2/3 of the movie, and leaves some of the more tense moments towards the middle of the movie a bit moot.
