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The Martian Review - Interplanetary Cast Away


I'm not that acquainted with the films of Ridley Scott. In fact the only film (other than The Martian) that I've seen of his is Gladiator. Now don't get me wrong, I like Gladiator as much as the next man (provided that the next man likes Gladiator a lot), its a hugely epic film, with a grand story and excellent action, but it's not exactly fun. Really, it hasn't got much personality at all outside of super manliness because violence.

The Martian is surprisingly different, because The Martian is a lot of fun. From first glance, it may seem like a super serious, super intense Gravity/Interstellar style movie and, whilst it does certainly warrant some comparisons to those films, it's very different in tone. There are constant jokes being cracked throughout the film, mainly by Matt Damon's character Mark Watney, all of which are genuinely funny, giving the film an enjoyable atmosphere (I know there's no atmosphere in space, please don't sue me) rather than an edge-of-your-seat one.

That's not to say the film is without tense moments, because, below the light-hearted surface, you are always worried about the next thing that's going to go wrong (and trust me, things will go wrong) and whether Watney is going to find some exciting way to get through it or not. This works because the film does do an excellent job of making you care about Watney's living status. It doesn't rely on tired mechanics (mainly the "I need to get home because family" mechanic), but instead makes Watney such a likable character that you want to see him survive, purely because you like him so much (and not because you care about how much his family cares about him, despite the fact that you've never met them anyway and were probably only mentioned once in a forced, clumsy line of dialogue)

I'm not going to bother going into much detail on how the film looks. Put simply, it looks amazing. It's directed brilliantly (obviously, it is Ridley Scott after all) and all the special effects are convincing enough to convince you that they aren't just special effects trying to convince you that they're not special effects, rather that you are actually right there, on Mars, even though they are actually just special effects trying to convince you that they aren't special effects. You get me?

I honestly can't think of another film I've enjoyed watching more this year than The Martian. I also can't think of a film this year that I've cared so much about the main character more than The Martian. I also also can't think of a film this year that has looked better than The Martian. In fact, with its excellent visuals, brilliant central character and surprisingly enjoyable tone, The Martian is definitely a front runner for my favourite film of 2015.

The Martian - Overall Score: 8/10

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