The Martian: How to Handle A Bad Situation

I used to be subscriber to Entertainment Weekly, which means I knew a lot about upcoming movies. But I let my subscription lapse months ago and now live a pop-culture knowledge-free life. Well, not entirely knowledge free but it’s a lot less than what it used to be. Without the subscription I have to find things out for myself. Which means lots of times I have no idea about a movie until the week its released. 

Such was the case with The Martian. I gathered that it was based on a book, starred Matt Damon, and involved space. Oh, and that it was directed by sci-fi “auteur” Ridley Scott (I use auteur in quotes because, while he’s made some great, classic sci-fi films like Blade Runner and Alien, it’s not his only genre; see: Thelma and Louise and Gladiator).

The film exceeded my expectations, which were based on the above information and a viewing of the trailer (which I am glad to say did not tell the entire plot of the film). It helps that Matt Damon plays a very likeable character in botanist/astronaut Mark Watney, who in the beginning of the film gets left behind on Mars by his crew. There was a stand storm and he got blown away by a flailing piece of equipment; the logical assumption was that he was dead. 

He’s not dead, though. And his reaction to being stuck on a lifeless planet: how can I science my way out of this and survive? He has such tenacity. And excitement and just overall positive attitude. A problem is before him and he works his way through it using the knowledge he has – math, science, chemistry, botany. It’s remarkable. He also has some pretty great 70s disco music to get him through. And sure, he has setbacks and gets angry, but then he decides how to solve that problem too. I wish that's how I approached my problems.

Mark also has help from the NASA team on Earth. These parts of the film reminded me of Apollo 13, one of my most favorite films. Everyone is working their hardest to figure out a way to get Mark home. They even get help from another space program. 

The film is chock full of great actors playing great characters. I’ve always liked Michael Pena, an actor who generally flies under the radar but has been in some great films. Sean Bean plays the Ares director, and there’s a great Lord of the Rings joke that, while funny in its own right, is more so because Bean was in the first Rings film. 

The Hollywood Reporter had this to say, and it captures my sentiments:  The director and screenwriter downplay the conventional melodrama inherent in the situation in favor of emphasizing how practical problems should be addressed with rational responses rather than hysteria, knee-jerk patriotism or selfish expedience.