Yksin Marsissa

The Martian surprised me by not being about atmosphere and philosophizing, but about people and the joy of telling a positive story. It also offers a pool of inspirational ideas for emerging film editors. Matt Damon is great and Jeff Daniels got a good role after a long time. It is a pity that the movie has a weaker climax, which in the long shadow of Gravity has no chance to impress. If you compare The Martian to Prometheus, however... Ridley is still a champ. He just needs a good script. (06.10.2015)

The anti-Interstellar. Nolan’s sci-fi opus was a space colonisation western about the search for an alternative to our devastated blue planet. By contrast the “coloniser” in the delightful The Martian has to be rescued from a wilderness that somewhat resembles Monument Valley and returned to Earth. The celebration of the human ability to make maximum use of available resources is only one level of the narrative, which in the film is better interwoven with the parallel organisation of the rescue mission than it was in the book. The cutting between events on Earth and on Mars starts earlier than in the novel and the two storylines are better synchronised. As a result, the film has more momentum and, unlike Mark, it never loses its breath. Despite the individualistic title, Matt Damon’s lonely face on the poster, and its reputation as the ultimate professional drama for geeks, The Martian is, in my opinion, a particularly successful example of a story with a collective hero. Even in the interconnected world of high-speed internet, enabling media coverage of events in other countries, on other continents and even on another planet, it works best on the principle of mutual cooperation and coordination. Each of the many characters enjoys their own moment of glory. Thanks to their gradual introduction to the scene and the clear establishment of professional and personal relationships between them (there are no characters in the film who fight solely for themselves), we have no problem remembering them. Not only people of different races, ages and genders, but also of different nationalities join forces. The Martian creates the illusion that the individual comes first in a massive organisation like NASA, as well as in a totalitarian country like China. The creation of sound bridges between scenes and the precise editing, when a question directly or indirectly asked on Earth is answered in the following shot from Mars, reinforce the cohesiveness of the narrative and the impression of a global village, where even a distance of tens of millions of kilometres is not insurmountable. The Martian is outstanding feel-good entertainment that may not restore your faith in humanity, but it’s highly probable that your faith in Ridley Scott’s skill as a director will have been restored by the time the end credits roll. 80% (05.10.2015)

An adventure film, rather than sci-fi; a crowd pleaser, rather than survival; feel-good, rather than smart. But even with all these dichotomies, I would’ve rated with it with five stars as Ridley Scott garners all the strengths of his old age to put together a technically flawless film that treads from beginning to end, it’s not even for a moment boring and the most tense scenes are reliably gripping. But for me it’s just too safe and user-friendly. 85 % (18.10.2015)

In the space of three years comes a third major sci-fi hit that may not be all that much science fiction. By contrast, it's the blockbuster approach that works best, the hallmark of Scott's unmistakable craft confidence that last affected me this way 14 years ago. Sure, Goddard loses the plot a fair bit at the end, but the celebration of human knowledge and indomitable will is literally palpable through the screen for the vast majority of the runtime. I don't think anyone else will conjure up such feel-good emotions this year. 4 ½. PS: It's nice to see a Ridley Scott film in the movie theater that doesn't make you cry after watching it that you have to wait for the DC Blu-ray to fully appreciate it. PPS: I felt full satisfaction after the second screening. It actually works even at the end. A better "feel-good" film than Love Actually. (18.10.2015)

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to pause the movie and think about how I don’t want Matt Damon to stop colonizing Mars. I get that it’s mental to live there for some time, but apart from him doing well in the beginning, he had some really ironic and cynical remarks, which only made the movie better. Now I’m not even surprised that it won Best comedy at the Golden Globes. The award might be as cynical as Mark Watney, but who cares. The Martian is an absolutely amazing, realistic sci-fi movie and its story flows in a completely logical way. All while the story was written for a blog; that’s how far this sort of an enthusiastic expression can go. (29.02.2016)

Best Ridley since 1982. The master finally left behind his megalomania and unique sense of over combining anything potentially impressive and filmed a technically brilliant, moderate yet emotionally nourishing celebration of humanity as a tenacious community that overcomes all problems with cynical humor and potato growing. Damon is the heart and soul of the film, which falls into model sentiment in a terrestrial storyline, but thanks to an unquenchable storehouse of optimism and catchphrases on Mars, keeps the viewer in an uncompromising bind, which it will use in the last quarter of the weightless finale. Ridley Scott quotes himself nonchalantly when he lets the freezing echoes of Alien be heard at the beginning, then turns the man battling the inhospitable cosmos into something completely opposite - in a feel good movie that triumphs over all its mistakes and loss of concentration with the immeasurable enthusiasm and intelligence that is still quite rare with pure "entertainment". Humanity will rise from shit. Je suis Martian. P.S. I suggest that it be voted that the Master has already found the Lost Paradise and can retire. (25.09.2015)

Matt Damon needs to be rescued. Again… So the bestseller Handbook of Young Martians written by Bear Grylls finally got a blockbuster film adaptation. And this adaptation is so successful that it rectifies most of the weak points of the original (especially the repetitiveness of the first half). In any case, advertising of NASA through the fate of the botanical MacGyver, who starts to like Abba, sand, red, taste of potato and solitude, is fun, stylish and what is nice is that it is relaxed and humanistic in a feel good style that is rather unusual in terms of survival films (let alone sci-fi blockbusters). It is as unusual as refreshing and surprisingly fitting. (06.10.2015)

This seemingly unfilmable collection of technical details and sarcastic monologues became surprisingly easy to adapt in Drew Goddard's hands. Albeit at the cost of simplifying or even completely omitting Mark's struggles with producing air, water, or stone inscriptions, meaning that his fate in the first half is not really something to worry about. However, in the end, where after all the disasters and crises the source material merely struggled, the effort to rescue the main protagonist turns into a strongly graduated symbiosis of all involved. The main triumphs are surprisingly not the great Matt Damon, but Sean Bean perfectly cast as Mitch and especially the entire crew of the Hermes, led by Jessica Chastain. (15.10.2015)

Ridley Scott is paradoxically considered a great auteur and a guarantee of quality (this cult is clearly connected with the overabundance of director’s cuts in his filmography), but at the same time he simply personifies what every director should be, i.e. a person who squeezes all of the potential out of every bit of material and ensures its effective transfer to the screen. After a number of futile screenplays and pointless projects, he finally got his hands on something proper and the result is outstanding. (28.12.2015)

An honestly-filmed blockbuster, and one of those rare cases where the creation of a blockbuster is justified. The Martian tries to appear serious, but you won't find any stargates or, heaven forbid, lightsabers in it. Ridley Scott works on a realistic depiction of the environment and tries to be technologically convincing. In a sense, it is Scott's return to his roots - this is how Prometheus should have been and then it wouldn't have ended up as a silly pop culture mishmash. The captivating beauty of the landscape of the red planet, endless space, and a lonely hero in the midst of nothingness. Thanks to its visual aspects, the film has a captivating atmosphere and the director skillfully doses tension. However, I did not actually feel any enthusiasm. The stranded astronaut is, in fact, a skillful follower of Ferdy the Ant. He goes through the story too confidently, as if he were always in control. Add a few lines, and he would appear like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. At the moment when Mark takes a piece of metal from a shattered wound, one would expect a storm of juicy curses, and, at other times a wave of despair, doubt, and confusion. It was simply lacking a piece of humanity. Matt Damon does not act badly, nor does anyone else, but there was something missing to make me relate to the characters. Maybe they seemed too clean, almost textbook perfect. The runtime is just right, and Scott knows when to cut the shot and not bore the audience. Americans, as usual, show that they are the best, but this time in an acceptable form. And the Russians have been replaced by the Chinese - clear proof of whom Hollywood considers the second superpower of today. I'm not crazy about The Martian, but overall, thumbs up, the film has the potential to become a sci-fi classic. Overall impression: 85%. (12.10.2015)

A mellow movie for a good mood. Damon is MacGyver on Mars, but the viewer lives not by resourcefulness and savvy alone, but also great lines. Nice guy Watney paradoxically most reminds of the polite Damon (at least when he’s making fun of Kimmel), A-grade casting. Sean Bean is evidence of this - again at the advice of Eldrond. The effects were done with bravado of Ridley’s very own. The space ship homage to A Space Odyssey is cool. The best-done Mars sci-fi so far. P.S.: The book was a little better. (05.10.2015)

This is exactly the kind of directness without digressions and unnecessary puffing, solutions and polemics over bullshit I wanted from Interstellar, and didn't get. As brilliant a filmmaker as Christopher Nolan is, he still has a lot to learn from Ridley Scott's sophistication and experience over all these years. My only complaint is the downplaying, or perhaps neglecting, of pretty crucial things – the drastic cuts across the timeline – probably necessary to prevent the running time from swelling. Associated to that is the lack of dramatic personal transformation, the suspiciously consistent mental and physical state of the protagonist, the very sporadic depiction of climatic hell on the planet, etc. The protagonist commands most the attention from beginning to end, but the charisma is there, in the tried and tested sky crew (Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain). (04.10.2015)

A completely seamless sci-fi film full of optimism, pleasantly breezy humor and suspense, with great actors led by a meticulous director who simply has filmmaking down pat, and who many people now claim is "back", although in my opinion he was never gone. Nevermind. Comparisons with Interstellar are completely out of place, but the Gravity comparison is more appropriate and I have to say that The Martian is equal to it in every way and I have no reason to give it a lower rating.___P.S. The montage with Bowie's “Starman" is simply divine.___P.P.S. I'll go again. (03.10.2015)

A riveting space story about real people, the joys of living with minimal resources, and unprecedented creativity in a natural and entertaining interpretation of a dramatic tale spanning eighty million kilometres. A great and worthy film that, with its polished yet simple visuals and strong theme of the unity of the human species and the indomitable will to save its only member despite ‘heavy costs and inane journalistic inquiries’, leaves a more sincere, deeper and more holistic impression than last year's bloated Interstellar. Scott is beautifully in control throughout, Matt Damon is becoming the most beloved film character of the last few years thanks to his animalistic acting and sense of humour, and The Martian is poised to become a future cult classic at least as much as Cuarón's Gravity. A weaker ending, which doesn't stand out compared to other sci-fi gems, and some purely American motifs with roots in B-movie genres (crowds of people watching the rescue of the hero online in public spaces) prevent me from awarding a full star salvo, but this is still a great spectacle and a sure entry in the top 10 of this hyped-up year... (09.10.2015)

I hate to spoil the party, but The Martian strikes me as the most tired safe bet that only Marvels can match. The fact that there are no negative characters in the film, the protagonist lacks any ties to Earth, and the whole thing takes place in some weird universe where, for example, it's possible for Houston to beam the astronauts' communication channels live to the entire world, may seem refreshing, but it doesn't. Instead, it's a degradation of the whole issue into a handful of hilarious science memes designed for fans of The Big Bang Theory and Epoch magazine that may be technically intelligent, but as a film are unfunny and stultifying. I cite the contained humor, which is the hero's only character superstructure, but is kept within such safe and correct boundaries that, given the situation he finds himself in, it is aimed squarely at the movie theater and not the fictional universe. It's a terrible salesman's pandering, in which Scott, worn out from all manner of reception to his previous works, is virtually unrecognizable. (19.01.2016)

I was afraid of how the great book would be adapted into a film, but Ridley Scott simply didn't disappoint. Visually, this work is beautiful, at times it strongly reminds me of "2001: A Space Odyssey". Matt Damon carries the film excellently, and the others not only complement him, but also complete the film brilliantly. Except for the message, which is even more pronounced in the book, I simply have to like this. (13.12.2015)

In today’s world full of bad news, with so much negativity everywhere you turn it almost makes you want to go on antidepressants, one day you just go to the movies and get a dose of cheerfulness, fun and optimism right into your vein. Few movies have made me feel as great as when I saw The Martian. Ridley Scott doesn’t mess around and the film starts strong and fast. No chitchat, lengthy introductions, or unnecessary subplots that would eventually go nowhere. Instead, we get Matt Damon’s one man show, awesome cast, even the small roles, and especially a celebration of science and humanity as such. Just a small aside, and I say this in every science fiction movie review - the biggest mistake of the current generation is that we basically gave up on conquering the universe and stopped setting big goals. Sadly, man hasn’t set foot on the Moon for over 40 years, and the only reports of a mission to Mars are that it’s been postponed again. Fortunately, we have the cinema and movies like The Martian. A clear five stars, no question about it. (18.10.2015)