The Martian

This review may contain spoilers!

After watching this I can't help but feel that Gravity and interstellar have both been made quite redundant as examples of 'good' space films. I would give The Martian a 9.5/10.

Do you know how hard it is to make a film that runs for 140 minutes or upwards feel well paced? It's an exceptional feat and The Martian pulls it off admirably. I've always thought survival scenario films have had a tendency to drag but this is engaging throughout. In fact half of this film is led with one sole lead acting on their own in what is just a well written and interesting plot. It's funny, it contains a lot of information that's interesting and it has some of the best dialogue and scenes that I've seen this year. The special effects take you quite literally out of this world, with Ridley Scott masterfully creating space and alien landscapes that are the best they've looked potentially ever. The cinematography really compliments these stunning visuals and captures the fantastic views as well as the predicaments of Damon's leading role. The soundtrack for this film is quirky and has an interesting role to play in the film; but it is the score that's the real triumph here.

Jessica Chastain, who played Melissa Lewis, is such a commanding presence in this film; she just falls into this role and becomes it incredibly naturally. Jeff Daniels, who played Teddy Sanders, was a character that I felt like was masterfully written and performed; he did good deeds but also made hard calls that painted him as an antagonist when in actual fact he felt like one of the most realistic characters of the film. Michael Pena, who played Rick Martinez, is fantastic at bringing a strong comedic presence to a dramatic film; I liked the sincerity he brought to his role it made him feel really human. Chiwetel Ejifor, who played Vincent Kapoor, was quite witty in this film and had a lot of energy; however I liked that he still felt like a government official as he was constantly working within the restrictions of what was legal. Donald Glover, who played Rich Purnell, is going to be the person who will completely throw my critique of too many characters right out the window; Glover enters the film and completely rejuvenates it and brings great amount of energy and comedy to it.

However I have to give credit to Matt Damon, who played Mark Watney, and gave the best performance of the film. In fact this entire film centres on Damon's performance as half the film is Damon monologuing scenes solo. Throughout we're presented with such a fantastic display of realistic emotion, reaction and humour. Damon can show struggle and tension, when the HAB is destroyed it is one of the hardest parts of the film and when he learns that his crew doesn't know he's alive you feel his rage. I think it's incredible that Damon progresses his role so well that it feels only natural when he's crying as he hears the voice of his crew-mates again.

My only real critique for this film was that the cast of characters was far too extensive, you'd get scenes that snapped back to Earth only to have a room crammed with people that became a bit hard to follow.

Kristen Wiig, who played Annie Montrose, didn't really do anything in this film; she acted as a PR person but was never the person who had a presence in media scenes. Sean Bean, who played Mitch Henderson, took far too long to have a presence in this film; for most of his performance he just felt tired and he certainly brought no energy to the film. Kate Mara, who played Beth Johanssen, didn't have much screen presence; her comedic moments didn't really land. Sebastian Stan, who played Chris Beck, was an exceptionally forgettable character in this film; you have next to no background on him so you don't much care about him. Aksel Hennie, who played Alex Vogel, seemed like an outside figure of the crew but his character was diversely changed in the second half of the film; I don't enjoy seeing a character rewritten for plot purposes as happened here. Mackenzie Davis, who played Mindy Park, became this figure who was a bit too much of a caricature figure for the sake of this film; she could have been quite a good role with some more grounded dialogue.