In the past few years, film fans have been lucky enough to experience a boom in science-fiction cinema grounded in science.
While everybody can love a space epic that paints as much fantasy as fact, there’s something special about a film that tackles an incredible premise within the restraints of our current scientific knowledge without making audacious leaps of faith.
Gravity showed us the horrors of space. Interstellar gave us a glimpse into the spiritual wonders of relativity.
The Martian, Ridley Scott’s newest film, is the latest member of this steadily growing club, tells a story of the human potential provided by science.
Set in a near future, The Martian follows Mark Watney (Matt Damon), a member of one of the first manned missions to Mars. After a storm forces a mission abort, Watney is left alone on the alien surface. While help is impossibly remote, Watney is left to his own devices to survive as NASA scrambles together a rescue mission. What follows is two hours of science porn, casting both planets with impossible tasks that require equally impossible solutions.
Above all, The Martian, as well as Andy Weir’s book upon which it’s based, aims to tell the most realistic version of this story possible. Each piece of technology in the plot has a distinct practicality in its design, every insane maneuver just believable enough to work. But much like science itself, this leaves the plot of The Martian without much room for personality. We join these characters mid-mission, only seeing cursory glances at who they are beyond a job title. With a massive ensemble cast, the plot has no time for detailed character development. This leaves the script to fill in the personality gap.
While The Martian could easily have been adapted to film as a dry ‘what-if” scenario, Drew Goddard’s script smartly interjects moments of attitude and humor wherever possible. Watney is a foul-mouthed smart-ass, always ready to monologue with a piece of dry wit. Damon’s performance is what keeps the film relatable, and his natural charisma keeps the tension honest.
Hollywood often loves to exploit science into reductive convenience for the story, to combine every area of expertise into one character that has the solution to every problem. In reality, the skill set comes from a collaborative effort. The Martian represents this with a massive ensemble cast, loaded with top-end talent. Combined, they form a fascinating unit to attempt the impossible. Individually they feel hollow, their only moments of humanity an odd quip or joke. A few actors achieve a memorable performance out of their limited screen time (Donald Glover as a reclusive astrophysicist, Chiwetel Ejiofor as mission director Vincent Kapoor), but most get lost in the bigger stakes.
The Martian is a deeply engaging film about watching a convoluted plan come together, seeing the challenges on the road ahead, and pushing through in the face of overwhelming odds. Scott directs the picture with the same cold eye that made Blade Runner and Alien immediate classics in their day. At some point in the future, we can imagine a generation in the stars looking back on The Martian as a love letter to human ability. It’s inspiring, harrowing and, above all, optimistic – a utopian snapshot of a scientifically infatuated future that almost seems plausible.
‘The Martian’ is an engaging work of grounded science fiction
Christopher Berg
October 2, 2015
More to Discover