Ah the elusive Matt Damon failed to elude my grasp forever!
I asked five people to see this movie and all of them had similar “I despise
Matt Damon” responses to the question. So I had pretty much given up on it at
that point, but I finally found a willing soul a month later. I’m something of
a Ridley Scott aficionado and this film is likely his best in over a decade;
though many of his others have been conceptually interesting at the very least.
This is of course your requisite Gravity/Interstellar Space
and “Science” movie for the year but it falls somewhere in-between on the scale
of absurdity. Interstellar has been praised for being relatively grounded in
actual science, which isn’t surprising given the meticulous detail of one
Christopher Nolan; and Gravity on the other hand has been disparaged for being
totally implausible. I don’t know where actual Scientists stand on the Martian
but for the most part it isn’t strictly a series of improbable events. It seemed believable, though perhaps optimistic
for a variety of reasons.
Yes this film is a happy one believe it or not, happy films
(that aren’t asinine) are all too rare so I’m glad to have been able to see it
while it was still relevant. I don’t
think it is quite as intelligent as Mr. Holmes as far as the expansive “Happy,
Smart” genre goes but it does move the plot along with relative efficiency
without being overly insulting to the audience.
At one point I was sure the film was going to drag as they justified a
potentially confusing decision for 5 minutes and they just immediately moved on
to the next part of the film, to my pleasant surprise.
The movie does however have a shitload of “stock”
characters; actually I think every single character in the film is a stereotype
other than Matt Damon (who’s just a short brown haired guy protagonist of
course). This is something that happens in almost every movie of course, but
for an exclusively excellent film to do it is a little perturbing. The optimism of the film clashes with the
bleak presentation of over a dozen typifications of humanity.
However despite these issues I still felt almost the entire
cast was excellent and they played their roles quite admirably. Matt Damon’s
character (Watney) is played humorously, which takes the edge off the solitude
and loneliness of Mars; it would have been very easy to make a depressing or
tiring character but instead we have an entertaining one. Damon himself plays
the role quite well as he tends to in less serious movies; he is certainly not
as inordinately offensive as he was in Interstellar; and instead of despising him
at the end of the movie you’re just happy you were able to witness his
incredible Botany Powers manifest.
Overall I think this movie is just about dead even with
Sicario for the third best film of the year; haven’t really decided which one I
like more. Sicario is on the outside looking in as far as Oscar nominations go
and the Martian will sail to a Gravity-like dozen or so nominations; but as far
as actual valuations of movies go it’s hard to say. I think it just depends on
your personal preference; a happy elaborate yet simple movie or a brutal,
complicated movie with an at best ambiguous message. As always naught will
touch Mad Max (which may actually be in Oscar contention) come year’s end.
