Review - The Martian

So mediocre that it is not even worth a watch.

Enjoying ourselves, are we?

Matt Damon is lost once again - and that too, consecutively twice in outer space.  Only this time, he is playing God, Jesus or perhaps an Oracle. He knows in advance that he is not only going to be saved, but is going to be the centre of coverage for the prime time news in no less than three continents. He is clearly having the best time in Ridley Scott's average affair with the Red Planet, which is unfortunate as he is the one who gave is brilliant films like Alien. Based on the best selling book by Andy Weir, the film pretends to be the celebrating the spirit of science or the power of do-it-yourself; but in the sheer jollification, Scott has completely forgotten that -

1. The film is a science-fiction thriller and survival drama. 2. Did I say that it is a thriller? 3. Thrillers have thrills. The Martian has none. 4. Survival dramas have their leads which show some stress at least, our hero behaves as if he is on a vacation millions of miles away from Earth. 

For the plot, we have a one - *God* Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is on his space mission to the Mars. As he leaves his space pod for whatever reasons, a disastrous storm  hits, which pretty much beats the shit out of the crew. The crew, leaded by Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain - sounds like Interstellar reunion!) decides to leave him, and as expected he is stranded, all alone on the Red Planet. He has limited supply of food, power resources and other stuff, which simply means that he has a few "sols" to live. But dear audience, no need to fret - our protagonist is chilling, relaxing on the red soil, without a shred of anxiety, busy on producing crops (with his poop), reinstating power and listening to disco on Lewis's iPod. Too much fun.

Sarcasm aside, the basic problem with the film is that it is way too optimistic in its approach. Scott, undoubtedly wanted to make a film which doesn't scares the audience with dangers of outer space and perhaps, he wanted to show that if you know your science right, nothing is impossible. But he overdid his theme, by virtue of it, the film went flat, devoid of any dangers and suspense. Mark Watney most of the time remained calm, or even joyful during his entire stay on the Mars. Either he knew that he was going to be saved, or he was high on drugs. The film even goes cringe worthy near the end, people cheering when Watney is being saved - which is broadcasted live in Japan,  UK and the US.  You read it right. 

Matt Damon is playing the "cool" guy, pseudo Einstein who pretty much fixes and invents anything and everything from the scratch. He cracks jokes and is overly cheerful. Damon did it well, so well that his character was irritating. Maybe Scott wanted him to play his role like that only. Everyone else in the film is behaving as if the situation is a big crisis. But it is never a crisis, at least from our protagonist's point of view.

Even technically, the film is mediocre. Mars appears to be the Death Valley shot in red filters. The vast, deserted landscape of Mars doesn't look outlandish or from any other planet than the Earth. Music by Harry Gregson-Williams is completely disappointing, without any memorable theme or a single composition which underlines the respective scene. Visual effects are fine, nothing worth praising or criticising. The final climax is reminsicent of Gravity (those tethers) and there is hardly anything new that this film offers. 

You can skip The Martian, there is nothing worth watching in this mediocre science lesson and a quick "How-To-Do-It-Yourself" crash course. Yes, you may learn a thing or two about Mars, but you are better off browsing NASA website or even Wikipedia. Paying a hefty 3-D ticket sum for science lessons, and too for a big fat bore isn't a good idea. See it, if you really want to, while skipping your channels during a mundane weekend.

2.5/5