We’ve had some terrific movies set in space but many of those had you leaving with a pessimistic view about the prospect of space voyages. The Martian couldn’t have been released at a better time in history, mainly due to the fact that the first manned mission to Mars isn’t something that you would find in the pages of Asimov or star Arnold Schwarzenegger running havoc on the planet, but is actually happening within the next two decades. We also have the technology to show an accurate account of what might happen during those voyages. The Martian is one of those. It is a return to form of one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors, Ridley Scott, who once made a film with the tagline ‘In Space no one can hear you scream’. He returns with an equally evocative tagline- ‘Help is only 140 million miles away’.
From the first 15 minutes itself you can find yourself seeing visual similarities to Prometheus and by the end you realize with a great script, Scott can do no wrong. Matt Damon delivers the performance of a lifetime as a botanist and spoiler alert, a space pirate, who finds himself stranded on Mars after an evacuation mission gone wrong. This is his triumphs over the Red planet and how he ‘sciences the shit out of it’ to make for one of the most brilliant performances you’ll see all year. The cast is phenomenal with the likes of Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Sebastian Stan and Donald Glover. Go watch this with as many people as you can. Movies like this are a rare celebration of life.
Overall Rating 5/5
We’ve had some terrific movies set in space but many of those had you leaving with a pessimistic view about the prospect of space voyages. The Martian couldn’t have been released at a better time in history, mainly due to the fact that the first manned mission to Mars isn’t something that you would find in the pages of Asimov or star Arnold Schwarzenegger running havoc on the planet, but is actually happening within the next two decades. We also have the technology to show an accurate account of what might happen during those voyages. The Martian is one of those. It is a return to form of one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors, Ridley Scott, who once made a film with the tagline ‘In Space no one can hear you scream’. He returns with an equally evocative tagline- ‘Help is only 140 million miles away’.
From the first 15 minutes itself you can find yourself seeing visual similarities to Prometheus and by the end you realize with a great script, Scott can do no wrong. Matt Damon delivers the performance of a lifetime as a botanist and spoiler alert, a space pirate, who finds himself stranded on Mars after an evacuation mission gone wrong. This is his triumphs over the Red planet and how he ‘sciences the shit out of it’ to make for one of the most brilliant performances you’ll see all year. The cast is phenomenal with the likes of Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Sebastian Stan and Donald Glover. Go watch this with as many people as you can. Movies like this are a rare celebration of life.
Overall Rating 5/5