The Movie Guy

If there are no original story ideas and new stories evolve from combining old storylines, Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” is the perfect example- its story of abandoned astronaut/botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) trying to survive on the surface of Mars while NASA attempts to save him through a daring space mission is really just a major mash-up of two Tom Hanks films: “Cast Away” and “Apollo 13.” The most impressive thing about “The Martian” is that Scott and Damon almost make you forget the familiar material through good directing and likable acting. It’s fantastical finale, however, test the limits of your credulity.
The film centers on Watney and his fellow Ares 3 crew of astronauts as they conduct a fact-finding mission on Mars. While collecting soil samples on the surface, a violent storm breaks out. As the storm intensifies, the crew agrees to abort the mission and leave Mars for their safety. As the crew makes their way toward the ship through the storm, Watney is separated from the group after being hit by flying debris. The crew leaves Mars believing Watney has died. After the storm subsides, we find Watney is wounded but very much alive.
Returning to base camp, Watney medically treats his wounds and begins to assess his situation. While his initial communication via computer to contact NASA doesn’t yield immediate results, he knows any rescue after response could take years. Upon inspecting his provisions, Watney realizes he must find a way to grow food for long-term sustenance and find a way to manufacture water to grow any crops (namely potatoes, the only viable food source he’s managed to find). Since Watney’s a botanist, his use of science to accomplish these goals and the construction of the materials he has to work with plausibly plays out- it’s done in the same methodical way as Tom Hanks’ character in “Cast Away.” While Hanks worked in silence to create fire and shelter after being marooned on an island, Damon has the luxury of being able to verbally express his thoughts through Watney’s recording of his experiments and trials. The ingenuity used to survive is still interesting enough to watch regardless of an actor’s speech or silence.
After Watney’s transmission is received, NASA springs into action. As with “Apollo 13,” the inner workings on mission control and the scientists banding together to stage a rescue mission are entertaining. The parallels between “The Martian” and “Apollo 13” also take shape: “Martian’s” scientists trying to fashion a spacecraft that they can quickly dispatch to Mars bring to mind the “Apollo” scientists’ plan to use existing raw materials within 13’s capsule to covert CO2 into oxygen; “Martian’s” Ares 3 flight director (Sean Bean) serves as a hybrid of “Apollo 13’s” mission control director (Ed Harris) and grounded navigator (Gary Sinise) in his use of knowledge and backdoor channels to achieve a successful rescue.
“Martian’s” supporting cast features a slew of notable actors. While the actors playing the important figures at NASA (Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig) are competent, their lack of character depth recalls the big name celebrities huddling en masse in the Irwin Allen disaster movies of the ‘70s. Faring better are the actors in the Ares 3 crew, headed by Jessica Chastain. The intermittent and brief scenes between Watney and the Ares 3 crew really make up the added dimension of character depth lacking in other areas of “The Martian;” Damon, Chastain and the other actors give that sense of camaraderie and ease in a shared history together.
Despite “The Martian’s” familiarity, I didn’t mind the story until its finale. While status quo may be satisfactory, sensationalism stupefies me. Bouncing untethered through space on a spacecraft’s exterior or puncturing your spacesuit to provide propulsion aren’t believable answers for me, even in the extreme. When everything has to work exactly right or a man living on ketchup and potatoes for over a year gets hurt, I get dubious.
Even with its faults, Ridley Scott’s direction is visually appealing and Matt Damon gives the role of Watney the right amount of humor and emotion to be a believably ingenious everyman. Regardless of its story’s obvious Hanky panky, enough works right in “The Martian.”