Australian Odeon
★★★★☆
The depiction of both space and science are on a roll in American cinema, with Gravity and Interstellar both proving to be enormous box office success while grappling with the science behind space travel as realistically as possible. The most recent addition to this growing trend is Ridley Scott's The Martian, based on the novel of the sam name by Andy Weir. The film opens halfway through a manned mission to Mars, when an approaching dust storm forces the astronauts to make an emergency departure during which Watney is separated from the crew and presumed dead. Waking up injured and abandoned, Watney must figure out how to make contact with NASA and survive long enough to be rescued.
Ridley Scott is one of the most inconsistent great directors working today, lurching from masterpieces (Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator) to baffling failures (Hannibal, Prometheus, The Counsellor). The Martian falls more towards the masterpiece end of the scale, with Scott managing to keep the pacing tight, meaning the almost two and a half hour film never feels like its dragging. A huge part of that is owed to Matt Damon, who delivers a career best performance as Mark Watney, ably balancing humour and pathos to create a believable portrait of a man stranded on a desolate planet, aware of the apparent hopelessness of his situation yet unwilling to simply give in to despair. Jessica Chastain is very impressive as Commander Lewis, as is Jeff Daniels as NASA director Teddy Sanders. A combination of CGI and Jordanian locations bring the Martian landscape startlingly to life and production design is spot on, but one of the films greatest strengths and biggest surprises is the humour, with Damon proving himself a deft hand with comic timing, with a running joke about disco being both delightful and influential on the films' soundtrack. It goes to show how good Scott's direction can be when a landscape shot of the rover driving across the Martian landscape to the music of ABBA works so well.
The film does have minor flaws, largely the plethora of Earth-bound characters which mean that a lot of fantastic actors, such as Donald Glover, Sean Bean and Kristen Wiig, are stranded in (but make the most of) underdeveloped roles. But this is a minor complaint for what is ultimately a moving story of survival. The film is part of an encouraging trend where scientists are three dimensional human beings, rather than the socially inept charisma vacuums Hollywood often presumes them to be. In fact, science itself could be considered the hero of the film, as Watney depends on his knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology to survive, or as Watney puts it "I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this".
The Martian represents a phenomenal cinematic achievement for all involved, and is without a doubt one of the best films of 2015.