I deliberately waited till the initial excitement around Scott's new movie The Martian died down before I hit the 3D cinemas last week. Critics asked us to be prepared for a Cast Away in space. But I found the 2000 movie starring Tom Hanks boring! The Martian, on the other hand, was exciting, nerve-wracking and extremely funny at times! It was also one of the most beautifully-shot films I've seen.
Most film critics gave credit to director Scott as well as the lead actor Matt Damon. But I think if there is any Oscar buzz, the Academy should also consider Drew Goddard who wrote the screenplay adapted from Andy Weir's book of the same name. The script was tight, humorous and witty and the film was not laboriously long to tell the moving story.
By now, you must know the story line even if you haven't seen the movie. During a mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) was presumed dead after a dust storm and left behind by his crew. Most of the film depicted how Watney tried to stay alive and on his survival skills on Mars. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists worked tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crew mates simultaneously tried a close-to-impossible rescue mission.
The film was beautifully shot in Wadi Rum, Jordan, which has a red-coloured desert; and in Budapest where the buildings representing the NASA HQ and the Chinese space centre were actually two of the city's most important cultural hubs (the film and book acknowledged China's important role to help with the rescue mission). It was not surprising that Matt Damon's solo scenes were shot for five weeks straight, after which he was relieved from the filming schedule. He did not even meet most of his co-stars until the full cast was reunited to promote the film. NASA was, of course, consulted to ensure accuracy of space and space travel.
Many people call Damon the contemporary Tom Hanks. But I think the former is a better actor. After all, in spite of the wide range of Hanks's acting skills, can you ever imagine him playing an action hero like Bourne? Because Damon led us to believe that this ingenious astronaut, who was also a PhD in Botany, survived this ordeal in space by growing a potato farm on Mars from his and his crew's excrements, we marveled at his wisdom and perseverance; laughed at his intolerance of the '70s disco music; and were moved to tears by his humanity. I thought Damon deliberately lost weight when he went from a beefed-up body at the beginning of the movie to a bone-thin physique towards the end, but I read that the director did not allow this to happen and had used a body double at the end of the movie instead.
The Martian is the perfect synergy of a triumphant journey in science and a magnificent cinematic work of art. No wonder retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield said he has read the book and seen the movie and gave the latter a two thumbs up!
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