Movie Review: The Martian
What’s a Geek invades the cinemas with the latest offering from 20th Century Fox – The Martian; starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain and directed by Ridley Scott.
The TL;DR of this post is that ‘The Martian’ fills any gaps left by movies like ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Gravity’ with a more clearer, happier ending. Sean Bean doesn’t die in this flick too.
GOOD POINTS
- The movie works just OK with 3D. Nothing spellbinding or breath-taking. Still seeing it in 3D is an added treat.
- Matt Damon transforms in all shapes and sizes here in the film. A word of warning, you’ll be seeing Damon’s skinny ass (or at least his butt double) so don’t be shocked. Still with the main thrust of the narrative coming from his role as botanist/ astronaut and space pirate Mark Watney it’s pretty intersting to watch him do his own version of “Cast Away”.
- We’re just happy geeks that they cast a lot of actors and actresses who have ties to Marvel movies (Fox and Disney alike). We’ve got Bucky himself, Sebastian Stan as one of the astronauts; Kate Mara (Invisible Girl from the Fantastic Four), Jessica Chastain was once linked to the role of Captain Marvel/ Ms. Marvel and finally we also have Chewetel Ejiofor who has been cast recently as Baron Mordo for the film ‘Doctor Strange’ opposite Benedict Cumberbatch.
- The musical scoring was great but the disco music they used all throughout the movie was even more fantastic. I mean come on, where in this galaxy will you see a movie that staved off using Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” until the moments started rolling, as if to say Mark Watney really did survive.
- The amount of humor here is amazing for a Ridley Scott film. Seriously. Watney using maritime laws to claim territories in Mars or that part about him calling himself “Captain Blondebeard” had me in stitches.
- The visuals were great and awe-inspiring. That is all.
BAD POINTS
- A couple of small plot holes here and there as well as some scenes from the trailer missing in the final cut of the movie.
- Some scenes didn’t really require 3D conversion / stereoscopic 3D to look great. It’s the same problem they had with another Ridley Scott movie, ‘Exodus’.
- I’m mad that they never really developed the romance between Bucky and Sue Storm. It was a kiss and then *boom* epilogue rolls over and they have a baby. Wait what?!
VERDICT:
8.5/10
“We highly recommend ‘The Martian’ as its a fresh take on an outworldly old genre. People have yet to realize how much money it is to rescue Matt Damon over and over and over again. Regardless, its an enjoyable flick that casual moviegoers as well as serious film buffs need to see; well that’s after they catch Heneral Luna first.”
THE MARTIAN opens September 30 from 20th Century Fox
