The Martian (English)
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor
After scientific explanations for the plagues in his last movie Exodus: Gods and Kings , Ridley Scott takes the mystic route for The Martian . Scott, who seems to enjoy exploring the beginning of things (remember Prometheus?), in The Martian tells the story of an astronaut, Mark Watney, who is stranded on the Red Planet after the crew of Ares III leave him behind presuming him dead. Watney, who is a botanist, survives growing potatoes and maintaining a video log to keep up his morale. He manages to communicate with NASA and they do all they can to bring him home.
Based on Andy Weir’s novel of the same name, The Martian is surprisingly funny — be it Watney’s disgust at mission commander Melissa Lewis’ taste in music or the nerd jokes flying around. While surviving on a planet where nothing grows with no one to hear you scream or sing is super serious business, it is nice that Watney’s sense of humour survives the privations.
The film is a thrilling, positive reinforcement of the human spirit. It also proves that nerds are cool and science is fun. The film almost made me wish I had paid more attention to maths and physics. Matt Damon as Watney proves that Jason Bourne will survive and thrive in the Red Planet making full use of available resources.
Jessica Chastain as Lewis is still out there after solving the space and time riddles in Interstellar.
Sean Bean plays the sympathetic crew supervisor Mitch Henderson while Jeff Daniels is director of NASA Teddy Sanders. Michael Peña as usual has the funny lines as Rick Martinez, an astronaut on Ares III. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays NASA engineer Vincent Kapoor (he has apparently taken his mum’s name) who is one of the first to realise Watney isn’t dead. Donald Glover plays cool dude astrodynamicist Rich Purnell who finds a way to save Watney.
Detailing (potatoes were grown at different times) and scientific accuracy (NASA was consulted) has been taken into account while also providing rough and ready translations for the scientifically challenged.
At the end of an entertaining and engrossing 141 minutes, you doff your hat to the skill of the actors, the director, the never-say-die spirit of human beings and also remember the intrinsic value of trash.
MINI ANTHIKAD CHHIBBER
