Sir Ridley Scott. He reminds me of a sibling. You love them to bits but on occasions, can be a right pain the arse. But the man knows his sci-fi. That is what I adore him for. If Hollywood had a Mount Rushmore of cinema sci-fi pioneers, I'd put him up there along with George Lucas, James Cameron and Stanley Kubrick. Along with a massive spaceship on the top. Maybe just throw in a couple of lightsabers for decoration too. Perfect. What isn't perfect is the consistency of Scott's films is the last 15 years. From winning an Oscar for the best swords and sandles film ever made Gladiator and creating the highly underrated American Gangster, to making films that deserve to be used as medical aiding equipment for people with sleeping disorders, The Counsellor and Exodus: Gods and Kings. When the latter was released just before Christmas last year, I thought it'd be a return to form for Sir Ridley. An epic biblical tale showing off the wonders of the latest CGI effects, a talented cast and a chance to show off his talents as a visual director. As usual he executed the widescreen shots beautifully and the film was an eye pleasing spectacle. However the two fundamental foundations of any film was enough to turn the sea red on its own. The writing and the acting. Both were hopeless. Minus Christian Bale, he was acceptable I guess. But I can't take Sigourney Weaver running around in a Egyptian costume seriously. If you want to watch the Moses story, The Prince of Egypt will do just fine. Childhood memories. That might have been the first time I went to a cinema. Wow. That aside, I was still pumped for The Martian. Ridley Scott going back to his roots with the sci-fi genre, an epic engrossing trailer, Matt Damon as an astronaut. What's not to get excited about?! And did the film live up to the big grandeur billing? Oh yeah, this film is f-in awesome.
The Martian is based of the novel by Andy Weir that tells the story of a crew lead by Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) who land on the surface on Mars and one of the crew Mark Watney (Damon) gets left behind. Biggest oh sh*t moment for a human imaginable. As Mars isn't exactly just down the road, he has to survive on the red planet and use his scientific knowledge on how to growth food and create water on a planet where nothing grows whilst NASA attempt a rescue mission to get him back. Many people were grumbling and speculating that the film would be Interstellar part 2. Forget it. The Martian is completely unique on its own, blending together the best parts of Apollo 13 and Cast Away to create this amazing piece of work. I mentioned before that Ridley Scott knows his visuals and they are incredible in this film. Mars looks beautiful and all the shots are well crafted. It doesn't feel like you're looking at a film set with a gigantic green screen. Matt Damon's performance as this isolated astronaut was terrific, his best work in a long time. He brought so much hope and charisma to the character. You are with him the entire time because he's always trying to make light of the traumatic situation and even when certain events occur that could easily break a persons determination, the drive to survive powers through. Possible contender for an Oscar might not be such a crazy punt. What tends to happen with these sci-fi rescue films is the dialogue and acting on Earth does take away the thrill of the film. Not here though. Jeff Daniels plays the head of NASA and Chiwetel Ejiofor is the head of the Mars missions. They were both superb. They managed to keep the audience engage and the back and forth conflicts between the two characters on the rescue plan is riveting. I think what surprised me most and caught me off guard was the excellent screenplay. It was really funny and the explanations behind the science was relatable and not ridiculously complex to the point of your brain going into a meltdown. In a strange way it reminded me of a "based on a true story" film even though it is complete fantasy. I think the film benefited by not going down the cliche"there's a bad guy asshole and we need to stop him" because there just wasn't any need for Hollywoodised storylines. Refreshing. Sean Bean makes an appearance and there was a quality Lord of the Rings joke thrown in a scene as a meeting was taking place and I tried to cover my laugh because I don't think the rest of the audience are as sad as me. Even the 3D is worth the money and I'm not a big fan of it!
At the grand old age of 77, Sir Ridley Scott has created yet another sci-fi masterpiece that showcases his talents as a visual director, a top notch cast that took the material seriously whilst not making the film melodramatic and boring and a screenplay which is written to perfection. It is on a level with Mad Max as my favourite film of the year so far. Top marks for The Martian.
10/10
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