The Martian
Honestly, speculation about The Martian (2015), written by Drew Goddard directed by Ridley Scott, going into it was that it would be a rather bland movie taking too much time into the being lost in space kind of thing we’ve seen before. The deserted fellow who has to ceaselessly struggle to get any kind of contact with the rest of the world. But I was proven wrong after watching it for myself. My thoughts about it being over-hyped were incorrect as I was genuinely riveted by this story that felt real as there seemed to be, at least from a non-scientist or science world guy, legit scientific basis and reasonings.
It was sci-fi as it was fictional, but it wasn’t preposterous, or it didn’t feel that way. It didn’t use any of the cliché “hold on while the vacuum of space sucks heavy shit out until I can close the door.” Or surviving after being subjected to no atmosphere. It didn’t feel like an action hero, it felt like a scientist growing plants and solving equations. Which, wow, yeah THAT sounds boring, but The Martian used the scientific mindset of “this is what I need, and this is what I need to do it” while sprinkling just enough human emotion to really get us to care and feel for these characters. It seemed real. It made everything in normal life as we know it feel useless in trying to help this guy stuck out there.
The Martian rekindled the feeling of working for something larger, that scientific mindset of working and being fulfilled on some level of solving problems and answering questions, knowing full well that it will take an immensely long time or go on forever. It wasn’t a trust in chance, or bravery alone, it was a trust in science, in math, in absolutes, and statistical chance. The approach had a method with just enough fear of its execution.
“This is it, this is how I end. Now you can either except that or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem, then you solve the next one, and then the next. And if you solve enough problems you get to come home.” That’s it. It’s the feeling I experienced when me and my high school friends would find and fix up old bicycles. It’s the feeling when you create something physically after meticulous (or sometimes not so meticulous) planning. I imagine it’s the feeling of working on a car then being able to go drive it on the track with other, like-minded people. It’s fulfilling, and for a movie to capture that while telling a captivating story with relatable, likeable, real characters is honestly stunning. I didn’t even know Ridley Scott directed it until the end credits started rolling through the final scene.
It was interesting talent-wise as we got to see quite a few familiar faces in some roles we don’t know these people for. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Michael Pena, Benedict Wong, all up-coming in popularity in the mainstream were seen as scientists, with a mission to fulfill rather than an action hero, normal guy #2, the comic relief, or a dictator. When I saw Sean Bean I thought for a good 5 minutes on how he was going to die, but it’s not that kind of movie. Anyway, everyone except for Matt Damon played someone we haven’t really seen before. Damon, however, has already been the one we need to bring home quite a few times (see “Saving Private Ryan” and “Interstellar” just to name a few) though he does portray a likeable, quirky, fun guy, someone I imagine him as and who we’ve come to know him as, he still was able to bring something new to the table, setting a distinction of this character from the other’s he portrays.
Sept. 27, 2018