Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews
TIFF Movie Review: The Martian
The Martian is a survival thriller based on a book of the same name by Andy Weir. The film is directed by Ridley Scott, famous for Blade Runner, Alien, and a bunch of other really popular and really great movies. It follows an astronaut who, through a series of accidents, ends up stranded on the surface of Mars. The movie follows both the astronaut struggling to survive on a planet with no natural resources, as well as scientists on Earth trying to figure out how to help him however they can. The film stars Matt Damon, Chiwitel Ejiofor, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, and Sean Bean.
I've said in other articles that - unlike almost any other movie based on a book - I've actually read The Martian. Anyone else I know who's read The Martian has agreed with me that Matt Damon was the perfect choice to play Mark Watney, which he truly is. He is absolutely stellar as Watney, selling his hilarious sarcastic monologues of the book, but also playing a convincing scientist, never at any point seeming like he's acting. Matt Damon isn't the only powerful performance shown in The Martian, the entire cast of this movie delivers fantastic performances, especially Chiwitel Ejiofor and Jessica Chastain.
Despite the tone depicted by the trailer, The Martian has a lot of humor throughout the story, between Watneys sarcastic jokes about his situation and a lot of nerd humor. While The Martian is definitely a serious film, it's by no means as grim and harrowing as other isolation films such as Castaway or Moon. Another great part of this film's tone is that there is never a dull moment, there's always something going wrong that has to be fixed to keep the audience on their toes for the entire movie.
Any time a book is turned into a movie, most of the time therez are some significant changes, and some minor ones. However, The Martian is a rare exception, with the only real differences between the book and the movie are minor scenes. This movie, with some very minor exceptions, follows the book verbatim. If anyone reading this has read the book, I guarantee you will love the movie. Honestly, I'd say try to read the book before the movie comes out, I read through it in about a week.
Final Rating
The Martian is by far one of the better films of 2015, it's Matt Damon's best movie in a while, and a fantastic comeback from Ridley Scott. This movie features powerful performances from the entire cast, a few of them I'd say are absolutely worthy of an oscar nomination at the very least. It's consistently entertaining, mixing both a great sense of humor, and constant action to keep the audience guessing. The Martian is one of those rare movies I think absolutely everyone should go see.
Final Rating
The Martian is by far one of the better films of 2015, it's Matt Damon's best movie in a while, and a fantastic comeback from Ridley Scott. This movie features powerful performances from the entire cast, a few of them I'd say are absolutely worthy of an oscar nomination at the very least. It's consistently entertaining, mixing both a great sense of humor, and constant action to keep the audience guessing. The Martian is one of those rare movies I think absolutely everyone should go see.
The Martian has a wide release on October 2nd.
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