The Martian

(M) ★★★★

Director: Ridley Scott.

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong.

"Nice day for it."
"Shut up, Harvey."

IN 1979, Ridley Scott’s Alien famously proclaimed that in space, no one can hear you scream.

Thirty-six years later, Scott has flipped that tagline into a question: if someone did cry out from space, how would you help them?

The answer lies in The Martian, in which Matt Damon finds himself accidentally Robinson Crusoed on Mars.

Unlike in Interstellar where ***SPOILER ALERT*** Damon also happened to be stranded on a distant world ***END SPOILER ALERT***, this film doesn’t disappear up its own black hole. Instead The Martian is a straight-shooting survival story that sets up its situation quickly and then goes about solving its problems methodically, which is entirely fitting for a movie that’s predominantly about science. There are no grander themes beyond the will to live and the sacrifices made in the name of discovery, and there are certainly ***SPOILER ALERT*** no meta-physical journeys into the bizarre bookshelves that supposedly lie on the other side of black holes ***END SPOILER ALERT***.

As a result, The Martian is direct, gripping, smart and surprisingly funny. A lot of that comes down to Andy Weir’s intelligent source novel, Drew Goddard’s sympathetic script, and Damon’s immensely likeable performance as the stranded botanist/astronaut Mark Watney.

While the almost clinical nature of its story structure leaves little room for excessive character development, Damon’s turn ensures Watney feels like a real person worth caring about. The action cuts away to the returning crew that was forced to leave Watney behind and the Earth-based NASA boffins trying to figure out how to get him home, but this is very much Damon’s show and he holds the film magnificently. There are emotional highs and lows, but he makes Watney’s can-do attitude infectious.

In a way, this is the anti-Alien. While Scott’s 1979 horror story took a sinister look at everything that could go (horribly, horribly) wrong in space, The Martian is the optimistic response to everything that could go wrong in space.

That’s not to say the film isn’t intense or without its dark moments, but it’s tone is closer to Ron Howard’s similarly themed Apollo 13. It’s gripping and thrilling, but the sunshiney climes of Mars and largely positive outlook of Watney mean the darkness never overwhelms.

The weakest parts are the Earth-based segments, where Daniels, Wiig, Bean, Ejiofor, Wong and Donald Glover nut out the science behind a rescue mission. These parts are certainly not bad, and the cast is top-notch, but they pale against what’s going on back on Mars and occasionally break the flow of the film.

For anyone who loves science – which should be everyone except anti-vaxxers and climate change denialists – this is fascinating and enjoyable. The film keeps its nuts and bolts at an understandable level and ensures the audience is wondering and marvelling – Weir’s much-praised research in the novel is dealt with intelligently on the big screen.

Scott has made some decent films in the past decade and a half since Gladiator – American Gangster, Matchstick Men, Body Of Lies – but this might just be his best since Rusty stomped out into the Colosseum and asked us if we were entertained. Which you will be with The Martian.