Patrick Belin Reviews "The Martian" (Ridley Scott, 2015)

“THE MARTIAN,” WITH SPOILERS INCLUDED 
(**½ (two and a half stars) by Patrick Belin

Above: Matt Damon is Mark Watney.  Photo ©20^TH Century Fox

“The Martian” is an enjoyable ride—so much so that at the end of the film, I expected automatic machine support bars lift up, just as they would after a roller coaster car pulls into the platform at Outer Space Land, or whatever it’s called at Disneyland these days.  Yet despite the laughs and moments of excitement sprinkled throughout “The Martian,” there is no denying that it is a two-and-a-half hour stretch of a film that leaves much to be desired.

My biggest problem with “The Martian” is that despite being the story of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars, it does not feel like a science fiction film.  This is partly because director Ridley Scott (who also helmed three other futuristic sagas—(“Alien,” “Blade Runner,” and “Prometheus”) doesn’t appear to be interpreting sci-fi in the traditional sense, and instead tries to present the possibility of travel to Mars in a more realistic frame.  

Other films have done similar things (e.g., Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar”) while managing to preserve a sense of distant wonder, of witnessing something that is impossible, but not quite.  “The Martian,” right or wrong, moves away from that tenor and into the hyperreal.  It even appears to advocate for a particular vision of global politicking with a subplot about the Chinese space program supplying technology to help bring Watney home.  Perhaps this vision of international collaboration was meant to be idealistic; perhaps the executives behind “The Martian” just wanted to sell more movie tickets in the burgeoning Chinese cinema market.  Either way, I wasn’t very amused, because the latter possibility is certainly more believable than the former.

There are two major plot points in “The Martian” that I found to be highly problematic.  First, there is the ridiculousness of NASA keeping Watney’s comrades in the dark about the fact that their colleague has been stranded on the Red Planet; and second, it is simply unbelievable that the head of China’s space agency would so casually disclose state secrets, to the United States no less.  In real life, the technocrat behind that decision would have been swiftly caught and efficiently replaced (and “The Martian” is supposed to be set in the “real” world, isn’t it?).  Following those two eye-roll exercises, I refused to engage with the story of the film seriously and accepted that, dear me, this roller coaster voyage was indeed going to be a long ride.

Ultimately, “The Martian” is just another example of the recent Hollywood trend (in the post-“Batman Begins” era) of over-producing blockbusters, of making movies whose marketing ambition exceeds the depth of their scripts—by a Martian mile.  Worse still, there is very little new to see in “The Martian,” and little reason to return for another viewing.  Perhaps the title “Saving Private Martian” would have been more appropriate.  However fun the film was as an amusement ride, like Dr. Watney, the whole time I really just wanted to go home.

Seen at The Bagdad Theatre, 11 October, 7pm showtime.