Movie – The Martian

Movie – The Martian
Score : 7/10
Year : 2015
Director: Ridley Scott
 Country : USA
Language : English
Duration: 2h24
Writers:  Andy Weir (novel) ; Drew Goddard (screenplay)

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The Martian, set in an unspecified near-future, tells the story of an astronaut marooned on Mars, and his litteral fight for survival on this desolate planet, completely alone. It's adapted from a novel I haven't read, so I cannot comment about the fidelity in adaptation.
 
The Martian in 3D is a visual feast with an amazing field of depth which I'm afraid would be totally lost in basic 2D viewing - especially on a tv screen. This movie is best appreciated in the biggest possible theatre wide screen and in 3D, that is quite evident. 

There are are many cool shots as one expects from Ridley Scott's direction ; on this, he fulfilled his part. 
The Martian terrain offer great cinematography which looks very real and up-to-scale. 

The movie, however, does carry a few too many flaws as well : 
First, the emotional level never soars to, say, last year's excellent Nolan's Interstellar. The Martian always remains on the surface, trying to come out and move you, but it just doesn't. The heat wasn't turned on enough under this pot, so the water doesn't boil, which is a shame because the acting was very good and Matt Damon makes his character very personnable, and, dare I say it, likeable. But, it seems someone in the team was just too afraid to open the gates to more emotions that it had merely started to implement, but not to finish that particular part of the plot. 

Secondly, The female characters didn't have enough meaninful dialogues ; several could've been just anybody : the replacable person syndrom which its far too many women in movies. 

Jessica Chastain is a lovely woman, and although she did get the role of the commander, she didn't have enough screentime - another issue in a male-driven society at large, and in this industry that is Hollywood which doesn't dare often enough to break the dogmas and offer us a more stable balance between the sexes. It's 2015 and stuff like that really should change. 

Thirdly, although not totally adverse to Abba and some disco, the songs in this movie were terrible choices for me. I far prefered the silent moments, or the more subtle instrumental score. Again, this instrumental part was ''just there'' and most of the time didn't stand out as its own character.

Lastly, the movie is quite predictable and one just has to sit and watch to see how we get from point A, to Z, because the intermediate stages themselves weren't predictable. They called for human ingenuity in times of stress and great need : the strengh of this film is its human need to improve and find solutions where none is apparent.

It also stresses the absolute need for knowledge, specifically in science : the american society has been quite polarized in its approach to science VS religion, progress VS conservatism, and the Martian takes a clear position in this cultural clash of the titans.
Everything about its scientific solutions sounds very accurate - altough I haven't checked every single fact given, as I'm not a scientist myself and just a geek who happens to know some science.

The martian made me giggle and even laugh as there are plenty small and bigger jokes, and overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit. 
It's flaws are a tad too annoying to accept from a movie directed by someone called ''Ridley Scott'', from whom one expects greatness after numerous avant-garde films. I fear that parts or all won't stand the test of time and the exhiliration from a 3D projection on a giant screen would be lost in a home setup in 2D. 
Nonetheless, I think it's more than an average movie and has to be viewed - while it lasts, in the theatre.

I'm rather happy that I went to watch it, even though there was a segment I couldn't dare to face myself, involving a bloody wound, and self surgery, which lasted about 3-4 minutes and starts about 15 minutes into the movie. This is the only spoiler I give, to my fellow senstive viewers : I personally find it disturbing, yet realistic and I guess, tells something about the person. Other than that, the movie never becomes graphic, which was good for me.