The Martian (2015)

Genre: Sci-Fi
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Drew Goddard (based on the book by Andy Weir)
Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Kirsten Wiig, Michael Peña, Kata Mara, Sebastian Stan, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Aksel Hennie, Mackenzie Davis, Donald Glover
Summary: "During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive." (IMDB)



I love this movie.

I did. I really did. I think space is awesome, and I get excited whenever a new one comes out. Even if it ends up being a disappointment. (I'm looking at you, Interstellar.)

I read the book about a month ago at the recommendation of my brother, who is about 150% smarter than I can ever hope to be. I had heard all the buzz about the movie coming out, and I really wanted to get in on it before it premiered. Usually I prefer to see the movie before I read the book, because otherwise I find myself spending the entire time comparing the two and it becomes difficult to enjoy the movie on its own. With this one, though, I had it in my head that I should really read the book first, and when the Kindle version went on sale, I grabbed it.

Pictured: A damn good bargain.

I have to admit it, some of the more technical aspects of this book went right over my head. And a lot of Mark's chapters - which take up most of the book - are really, really technical. It was fascinating up to a point, but there were definitely times where I felt like I was missing some of the details.

I think it's the very premise of this book that makes it so compelling, though, regardless of the technical details. It's problem-solving where the stakes are as high as they could possibly be. I loved the format with the daily (or semi-daily) log entries detailing his progress and challenged in being stranded on Mars. It's also great when the novel begins to switch narratives, so we get a break from Mark Watney and get to see the story from the sides of the crew, or the people on Earth. (It's also a nice break from Watney himself, if I'm being honest. I never truly warmed to his voice as the narrator. I was rooting for him, to be sure, but I was never sure if I actually liked him.)

I think this is the movie's biggest triumph over the book. I found myself exhausted by Mark's voice in the book sometimes, especially the constant sarcasm. Matt Damon actually brought a much more nuanced portrayal than I was expecting - not that I think Matt Damon is a bad actor, I actually think he's quite good. But I was having a hard time picturing him as Mark, especially the smartass side of him. He did nail that, though, and he brought a lot of emotion to the front as well. Which makes sense, because I imagine being left for dead on Mars is enough to make anyone emotional, right? In particular, I love the scene in the rover when he first contacts Vincent Kapoor.

The other thing that movie really nails is the human element. With the novel, you don't get that connection or any of the emotion behind it until the chapters with the other characters' perspectives. In bringing these people to life onscreen, they became people. Fully-realized. I feel like in the book they were still mostly sketches - the framework was there, but it wasn't filled in all the way. I don't mean that as a criticism, because the book was a success and I definitely loved it. But character is such an important element to me, and I never felt like these people were fleshed out the way they could have been. Especially Mark - most of the book is from his point of view, but he never felt real to me. And there were parts where he talked about breaking down and crying (especially after first making contact with Earth using Pathfinder) but I just couldn't see it. I couldn't.

In the book, Mark Watney reminds me of that guy we all know who doesn't know when to turn the sarcastic bullshit off. He's funny, but there comes a point where it starts to get tiresome, and that seems at at odds to me with the description of how well-liked he is among the crew. I get how he makes everyone laugh, but if it were me I would start to find him grating after a while, especially in such a small group situated in such close quarters. That's what Matt Damon nails with with role - there's a warmth there now that the book was never quite able to capture. That carries over from the character of Watney to the film itself and the way the story is told; the emotional element is much more present here, and it made me so much more invested in the mission to bring him home.

(I was invested while reading the book, but in a more abstract way. The movie made me invested in Mark himself. That, for me, is what made it more successful.)

 The Martian has come under criticism recently (and rightfully so) for white-washing one character and casting against the race of another. Casting Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park was a mistake, plain and simple. There's no defending it. Ridley Scott, you dropped the ball on that one. (And she didn't even bring anything special to the role in terms of her acting, so that's failure twice over.) Casting Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent was also the wrong choice, but if I'm being perfectly honest, I loved his performance in this role. (I love his performance all the time but that's neither here nor there.) From my understanding, they had cast Irrfan Khan in the role originally, but he had to drop out at the last minute. My question is, could they really not find any other Indian actors to take his place? I guess they wanted someone with a name for the role, but you have enough start power in this cast already; this one character wasn't going to make or break it, not when you have Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Bean in prominent roles (and that's just to name a few). You already have the stars you need to draw in the audience (and I think people would have seen this movie even without them). As a filmmaker, I think it's your responsibility to stay true to the characters you're trying to portray, and if race is specified, that's included too.

Purely from an acting perspective, Chiwetel Ejiofor had my favorite performance in the movie. Soooooo I'm probably a bit of a hypocrite for that. I'm sorry, friends. But he was excellent.

I loved this movie. As I said up top. It has its issues, and I'm glad they're being addressed, but when you get down to it, it's a damn good movie.