The Martian (2015)

[Blankments]

The Martian is a fairly enjoyable blockbuster. Taking cues from Apollo 13 but applying it to a fictional story hasn't been done before, and ultimately, the traditional structure works for the film. Matt Damon is excellent as Mark Watney, and his performance grounds the movie in a truly excellent way. Sadly, Ridley Scott's direction is not nearly as inspired as Damon's performance, being a throwback picture in the sense that little evolution of filmmaking style has affected Scott. Outside of a montage set to David Bowie's "Starman," the film is content with looking and sounding average, despite potential to be more. The Martian is fun, disposable entertainment, elevated by a strong central performance, but overall, fails to really stand out among other films of its genre. B-

[TheMovieman]

Enjoyable through and through but mainly because of a solid performance from Matt Damon, much in the same way Cast Away excelled because of Tom Hanks. It's nothing mindblowing in terms of story of course yet it was a fun experience even if the film could've been trimmed a tad, making me wonder how the extended cut (which I'll be watching when my Blu-ray comes in) will hold up.

 

****/*****, (A-, 8.0/10, 3.25/4)