The telling difference in this production is the script, which has been adapted by Drew Goddard from a book by Andy Weir: While keeping several narrative balls in the air (have we gotten to the Earthbound space capsule commanded by Jessica Chastain? Or the young astrodynamics prodigy played by Donald Glover?), Goddard injects an impressive amount of sophisticated humor into otherwise dry recitals of factoids and “Hey, I’ve got an idea!” self-interruptions. But the filmmaker brings his signature sense of detail, spectacle and startling beauty to a production that switches easily and evocatively from ochre and sienna sandscapes - suggestive of a grand, intergalactic Monument Valley - to techno-sleek command centers. The fact that “The Martian” has been directed by Scott - the man who made the future look so un-bright in “ Blade Runner” and “ Alien” - comes as something of a shock, considering its sunnily wholesome tone. Meanwhile, back on Earth, a NASA team composed of Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jeff Daniels - at his deadpan best as the agency’s somewhat cynical director - scramble desperately to bring Watney home before his food, potable water and PR potential run out.
Helpfully explaining each problem, its life-and-death stakes, and how he will solve it, Watney then goes about the drudgery and hard work that defines day-to-day survival. Once Watney discovers that he’s been left for dead, he doesn’t succumb to despair but flies into action, recording his plight on a video log that serves as audience surrogate. Kristen Wiig and Chiwetel Ejiofor star as members of a NASA team tasked with bringing home astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) after a sandstorm leaves him stranded on Mars. As Mark Watney, a botanist who gets separated from his space station team during an epic sandstorm, Damon embodies just the right measure of confidence and self-deprecatory vulnerability to make his character a slightly goofy Everyman - even as he’s expertly MacGyvering his way from one outlandish work-around to the next. What could have been a disposable genre exercise or fashionably po-faced downer instead is a fun, rousing, thoroughly entertaining kick in the pants.Īnd Damon - recent real-life gaffes notwithstanding - is just the guy to deliver it. Refreshingly irreverent but unapologetically worshipful when it comes to honoring real-life science, this bracing riff on exploration, gumption and ingenuity shows what Big Movies can do when they resist taking themselves too seriously. Imagine George Clooney’s wisecracking character from “ Gravity” fetching up on Mars, only to be the subject of an “ Apollo 13”-style rescue mission, and you get a sense of what part of fictional outer space “The Martian” occupies. What’s being marketed as a sober, straightforward sci-fi drama (the words “Bring him home” superimposed on an unsmiling Matt Damon inside a space helmet) is instead a smart, exhilarating, often disarmingly funny return to classic adventures of yore. It turns out that “The Martian” doesn’t need extra help. What’s a little marketing tie-in and victory lap between friends? After all, more than a few truthers insist the moon landing was dreamed up on a Hollywood soundstage.
The conspiracy-minded among us could be forgiven their suspicions when NASA announced evidence of liquid water on the surface of Mars just days before the opening of “ The Martian.” In addition to being an old-school sci-fi thriller, Ridley Scott’s tale of a plucky astronaut stranded on the Red Planet also happens to be a big wet kiss aimed straight at the researchers and technological whiz kids at the federal space agency. He must survive and find a way to contact Earth. Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is stranded during a mission to Mars.
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