The Martian (2015)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Martian (2015) – R. Scott

Ridley Scott seems to know what he is doing.  He manages to guide this blockbuster on its safe journey, hitting all the necessary highs and lows and with the requisite smart-ass dialogue in tow.  In many ways, this story of an astronaut left behind on Mars (not a spoiler since this happens in the first 10 minutes) feels like a true story – but of course it’s not (and one wonders if NASA will ever get to attempt anything like manned voyages to Mars, given present and future budget problems).  Still it works as a faux replay of a story that we know will end well – it is just the process of getting to that happy ending that we need to watch.  Scott, aided immensely by Matt Damon (playing his usual average Joe), keeps the plot moving for more than two hours with intermittent crises and successes.  The rest of the cast play as a collective, trying to rescue him.  You can feel the problem-solving happening.  All the pieces fit together.  Even the familiar music used on the soundtrack takes on new relevance in this context (Bowie’s “Starman” and the closing “I Will Survive” which somehow remarkably references outer space in its opening lines).  The CGI is fine.  I was manipulated and I enjoyed it.