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The Martian – Movie Review

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20 October 2015

By Alex Khalil

Matt Damon stars in ‘The Martian’ in his latest role, as botanist Mark Watney.

Stranded on Mars after a storm hit his team’s base, and being hit by debris in the evacuation, Mark wakes up to an antenna lodged in his stomach, and it keeps getting better from there. The people back on Earth face a similar crisis as the corporate head of NASA, Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels), deals with the public, and has to help Mark get off Mars using all sorts of really clever tricks (including the Mars Rover).

Weirdly, it’s quite a funny film (disco music included in that statement). Matt Damon delivers a believable performance, and there is a focus on the monologues that he does as he keeps track of his progress by himself. From growing potatoes from his own waste, or turning the Mars rover into a cross-Solar System version of Snapchat…or more importantly blowing a hole in his suit’s glove to ‘go Iron Man’ at the end of the film.

The cast is very well put together, with supporting acts from Sebastian Stan and Sean Bean. While both very good roles, they could have been done differently, as there are a few loose ends here and there. Plus, the film could have ended about 15 minutes earlier than it did, without them needing to go back to Earth for an epilogue (which overall felt rather forced).

Overall, a very good film. Matt delivers a very good performance along with a string of supporting roles.

It also features a really good soundtrack, reminiscent of what Guardians of the Galaxy did, by using older songs and a orchestral chorus for the big moments.

 

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