On Earth, people are just as flummoxed by Watney’s situation. He doesn’t make grand speeches or weep into his helmet he makes fun of himself in video diaries and swears at NASA via text. The downplayed mood extends to Damon too, who uses his everyman charm to narrate events with a surprising amount of humour.
That unique mindset grounds everything: because we’re focused on the basic challenges of day-to-day existence, we don’t question that this is all taking place on an alien planet the stunning scarlet landscapes (shot with unfussy style by Ridley Scott) are second to the mathematical athletics on display the prospect of space travel is nothing compared to the mind-bending number of disco tunes in the possession of Chastain’s guilt-ridden leader – if there’s one thing Blade Runner’s missing, it’s Abba. It’s like watching the final act of Apollo 13 remade into an entire film. What follows is a series of theoretical and practical exercises, each one seemingly dry on paper but thrillingly urgent on-screen, where they mean the difference between life and death. It’s a tough call for Commander Lewis (Chastain) and co (Mara, Peña, Hennie), but it’s over and done with in 10 minutes, because Drew Goddard’s script knows that there are more challenges still to come. How do you grow some? The formula begins even before Mark’s isolation, as the rest of the crew of shuttle Ares 3 face a more essential conundrum: with a severe storm hitting their base, should they evacuate without the missing Watney and survive, or wait to find him and possibly all die? It’s a simple motto, but that’s the secret to both Mark’s potential survival and the movie’s success: it reduces space travel down to a string of problems that need to be solved. “I’m going to science the shit out of this,” decides Mark Watney (Damon) near the start of The Martian, after the astronaut finds himself stranded on Mars. Watch The Martian online in the UK: Disney+ UK / Apple TV (iTunes) / TalkTalk TV / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / Rakuten TV / Google Play Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Aksel Hennie
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