The Martian (2015)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: With its existential stories and alternative worlds, sci-fi often deals with some pretty big themes. Drew Goddard and Ridley Scott's 'The Martian,' though doesn't have too much on its mind.
  
  The story simply follows astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) trapped alone on Mars after his crew thought him dead in a storm, and NASA's subsequent plans to save him. There's some vaguely interesting stuff in there about NASA's obsession with public perception, but mostly it's a simple survival story that focuses more on "how," Watney makes it through than "why."
  
  That's gripping for sure, not least because the script is meticulous about the various obstacles he faces (storms, starvation, dehydration etc) and the lengths he has to go to overcome them (from creating an environment to grow food and harvest them with his own shit, to setting up a makeshift communication array). But it only works because of how grounded it all feels, and that's largely down to Arthur Max's production design which all looks suitably practical and cobbled-together.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The final escape does feel remarkably less grounded in reality, and the wisecracking humour in the script does undermine some of the grit at times as well.
  
  VERDICT: Though it's hardly the smartest sci-fi movie, 'The Martian,' is a meticulously crafted and often gripping survival story.

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