"The Martian" - Movie Review

Well, just finished watching the film 'The Martian' directed by Ridley Scott (Aliens, Blade Runner, Prometheus...etc) and starring Matt Damon. What can I say other than I'm disappointed. For those that don't know I am a bit of a Mars enthusiast. I enjoy learning about space, the planets, the moons, and everything in between.  Mars in particular holds my interest for several reasons. One being it once had large bodies of water and ice. It was a warmer planet at one time. However today the planet is cold, possibly lifeless in terms of bacteria, thin atmosphere, and it's magnetosphere entirely absent. But at one point millions or billions of years ago it looked something like a primitive Earth, but something went wrong and scientist are still trying to figure it out.

So I know a little something about Mars I guess you can say. I can ramble on about it but I don't want to waste my typing energy on the subject just yet. Lets get back to the subject on hand; The Martian. The Martian is a movie about an NASA astronaut who is left behind during a sandstorm on Mars and assumed dead by the rest of the crew. So they leave the planet and head home. And let me say I am first and foremost annoyed at movie commercials that basically play the whole movie in a span of 1 minute. I already from the commercials know how the movie starts, how the protagonist deals with the situation, and that he makes it home. So really, what is the point of watching the movie for I've done seen the bulk of it in the trailer? I was hoping that it would still be enjoyable regardless. That really wasn't the case. I had hoped the film would borrow some key aspects of the movie 'Castaway' starring Tom Hanks. The plot for both movies are quite similar with some differences.  One key difference is Castaway takes its time and makes you feel what Tom Hanks character is feeling. And you get a very strong authentic feeling of being isolated. That aspect is missing in the Martian. The movie feels 'rushed'. And you really don't get the sense that he is alone on a hostile planet. You did somewhat in the trailers, but not in the movie itself. This could have been easily solved by not pointing the camera at Damon when he is giving his recorded status updates. Instead it would have been far better to see everything from Marks (Matt Damon) perspective. And we didn't need to see what all was going on with NASA or even at all. The whole movie should have been from Matt Damon's perspective.
Something else that hurt the feeling of isolation is the re-establishment of contact with NASA and the character Mark less than mid-way in the movie. Writing wise or drama wise, the re-establishing of contact in the movie hurt the movie in the long run. The main character, Mark, should have remained isolated in the movie to almost the very end leaving us, the viewer, guessing what would happen just as Mark was guessing himself creating a higher sense of empathy and relateability. Castway does this beautifully. This movie does not. And while I'm thinking about it, I found the science lacking in this yarn.

The big claim to fame for the movie is it's supposed science. Oh boy. I am no scientist or engineer or any type of great thinker known to man, but just a little basic research and you start to see how this film is flawed in several different ways scientifically (and from a writers standpoint).

First off, I like the fact that Matt Damon was trying to burn hydrogen to make water for his crops. That was neat. It seems plausible. I like the fact that there was a small explosion with his first attempt as a highly oxygenated environment is highly flammable and combustible (explosive). You can tell he puts thought into everything he does. Over mid-way in the movie part of his habitat explodes blowing the hatch and killing his crops. So question is, why didn't he foresee this? Why didn't NASA foresee this? Because at this point they were asking for constant updates as contact had been re-established. So they would have had to realize what was happening. And what was happening? Well the potato plants were creating excess oxygen in my opinion which led to the explosion. There is a certain mixture on our planet that makes up breathable air. A combination of co2 and Oxygen and few other elements. Too much or too little and we either can't breathe or we become 'high' on oxygen. Anyway, NASA should have known what could happen and told him to offset his Oxygen with more co2 (or at least in theory anyway). Seems like it could have been avoided.

Another pet peeve is the communication capabilities. It takes roughly 20 minutes (give or take) to send a message to Mars. And 20 minutes (give or take) to send a message to Earth. So roughly 40 minutes or more to have a two way conversation between somebody or even a rover from Mars to Earth. That is a bit of a delay. All through the movie you get the sense that messages between NASA on Earth and Mark who is on Mars is instantaneous. Although this movie seems to take place roughly 20 years in the future I still don't see technology growing to the point where we can send messages across planets faster than light. One day it may be possible, maybe within a 100 years. But the need for the technology isn't there yet. And it will probably be created by the private sector rather than a agency like NASA who operates on a shoe string budget.

All and all is the Martian a good movie? Its decent. After you watch it, you certainly aren't going to rush out and buy the DVD. The movie had the potential to be a timeless classic. But it suffers from lack luster writing, storytelling, drama, and not-so-believable science that can be 'googled' by any layman with access to a computer. If you want to watch what this movie could have been, I recommend you check out Castaway and the Apollo 13. Both movies oddly enough star Tom Hanks and have enough storytelling and tension to last a lifetime. I'm not sure what is wrong with Ridley Scott. His last movie Prometheus was ripe with terrible writing and poorly written plot that left many fans wondering 'What the hell have you been smoking?!?". Apparently, though this movie is nowhere near as poorly presented as Prometheus, it does leave any true fans of drama or science fiction a little disappointed in the end. Its worth watching, I suppose. Maybe.