So last week I lied to you and didn’t do one, I’M SORRY! But here we go, I’m not missing this week!
The Martian (2015) Dir. Ridley Scott Writ. Drew Goddard Stars: Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor Rated PG-13 144 mins. Science Fiction, Drama, Comedy IMDB: 8.1
Some of you may have seen this as my #1 movie of 2015 in my End Of The Year roundup. I still feel like it is one of the best movies I’ve seen in my whole life. I saw this movie at the movie theatre thinking “Oh this will be a fun space movie” because, if there is one thing to know about me, I LOVE SPACE!!!
It ended up being so full of humor and humanity and emotion and I cannot express how incredibly much I loved this movie. It wasn’t just a fun space movie, it was by far the BEST space movie that’s ever been made.
The Martian tells the story of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) who is a member of the Ares III Mars exploration mission. When an emergency evacuation forces them to abandon their mission on the surface of Mars, Watney is injured, presumed dead, and left behind. Back on earth, NASA tells the world that he was killed… only it turns out he’s actually alive. It’s up to Watney to survive, find a way to contact NASA, and try and work out how to live until they can rescue him. All the while, NASA works tirelessly to make the hard decisions and to find innovations to try and get their boy home alive.
This movie has a real all-star cast. You have so many characters that are either main characters or recurring enough to be important and they have a solid casting for each single part. I saw them mention on the blu-ray extras that they got basically their first choice on everybody and while it seems like a very eclectic cast, the way it all works proves that somebody knows how to cast a film. I would’ve never expected Kristen Wiig but now I can’t imagine anybody else playing Annie Montrose. Same with Chiwetel Ejiofor for Vincent Kapoor. Also it’s always fun to see a movie where Sean Bean lives to see another day. There was even a TV show favorite of mine on this movie! Mackenzie Davis, who plays Mindy Park on The Martian, plays Cameron on Halt and Catch Fire which is one of the best shows on TV in my opinion.
Matt Damon is amazing in this movie. I honestly haven’t seen that many Matt Damon movies even though he’s been in so many big ones and I knew he’s a popular actor but in this one, he really shows it. I was rooting for him to win an Oscar for this performance, really. Jessica Chastain as Commander Lewis is amazing. I love her in most things I’ve seen her in, but she’s such a wonderful, powerful actor in this film. To play such a soft spoken character she manages to convey an commanding sense of power with every line. Honestly every one of the astronauts (Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara, Michael Peña, and Aksel Hennie) are all just amazing.
Also I love how in the face of such an incredibly horrific event this movie is still so lively and humorous. There are moments of intense emotion that are so touching in part because of how light so much of the rest of the film remains. The humor and the drama is all only made even better by the SCIENCE!
I love space and I love science and one of the most amazing parts of this movie is that it is able to remain fairly scientifically accurate. Obviously, it not being 2029 and us not having the capabilities to get to Mar like they do, there are definitely parts that are not scientifically accurate for now, but almost everything in this film is still scientifically plausible at least. There is so much of this film that relies on actual NASA ideas and ‘dreams’ and I love that so incredibly much. Speaking of emotions, there’s even a part of it that is like a montage of NASA and CNSA having scientific success together that is so beautiful and happy just in the concept of humans working together and using space science in multi-cultural cooperation all to save the life of one person that will honestly almost bring a tear to my eye.
This movie is, surprisingly, one of the more beautiful and fun and moving films I’ve ever seen, and honest to God, it is one I will look at 50 years in the future and think, “Now THAT was a damn good movie.”
My Rating: 9/10
Chelsea Loves Movies 