'The Martian' stars Matt Damon (The Bourne Trilogy), Jessica Chastain (Interstellar), Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber), Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave). 'The Martian' is directed by the powerhouse known as Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator) and written by the relatively unknown Drew Goddard (World War Z).
For a while Scott had fallen off of the map by directing some mediocre films, films such as 2014's 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' and 2013's 'The Counselor', both of which made us question,"Does Ridley Scott have the IT factor anymore?" Well, 'The Martian' proves to us that Scott is here and here to stay, because while Matt Damon does science the shit out of a lot of things in 'The Martian', Scott directs the shit out of this whole movie. Take that Hollywood! Goddard's masterful writing brings this film gravitas, well timed comedic relief, and so much depth to it's impressive cast of characters. The combination of Goddard and Scott has convinced us that these events actually took place, and that this film is based on a true story, although it isn't. Periodically I became so invested into the film for such a long time that I forgot that these events haven't happened, but the film made me believe the world they lived in.
Matt Damon's brilliant performance as Mark Watney also has a hand in bringing this film to the level that it came to be. Each second that Damon is on screen he captures the scene and reels us into this planet full of rock and dirt that surrounds him. Whenever the film left Damon's performance to go and develop more of the story back on Earth it felt organic because the tension was still there, the stakes were still there. This is all due to the moving, believable, and exciting performances by this film's large cast of Hollywood's brightest stars. From Jeff Daniels who is usually known for his comedic roles, takes the film by storm as the director of NASA, down to the rising stardom of Michael Pena ('Ant-Man') and Sebastian Stan ('Captain America: The Winter Soldier'). I could talk about the cast for paragraph's on end but there is one flaw to this cast and that is the beautifully talented Jessica Chastain.
She just didn't fit this movie. Her performance felt forced and it almost took me out of the film right from the get go. The fact that she appeared in last year's space drama 'Interstellar' isn't why it didn't feel right, she just felt out of place and wasn't in the right role. The only other minor flaw this movie had was one scene, I obviously don't want to delve into spoilers but the script all of a sudden became dumbed down and predictable. This only lasted for a total of maybe two whole minutes, but this moment was so deep into the film that everything leading up to that point was brilliant, and it felt oddly out of place. Besides these two gripes that I can get over in a heartbeat this film simply put, one of the best films of 2015.
Led by incredible stars in front of and behind the camera 'The Martian' is one of 2015's greatest offers. It excels in every department of what makes a film great and how a film should be made. A film with a great script, great character actors, beautiful visuals, not an overabundance of CGI, a surprising amount of tension relieving comedy that doesn't feel forced. 'The Martian' is an organic film going experience that should be viewed by any movie goer simply for the fact that 'The Martian' is a mission to Mars that we may never witness in our reality.
'The Martian' gets a 9.5/10