The Martian (2015)

Every good story has 3 major components: A beginning, a duration and an end, somethings many Hollywood writers are afraid to do anymore. Studios have their fingers in so much of the creative/artistic development of a project, it certainly explains why so many movies are considered critical flops. However, the public speaks, and box offices like making money.

This being said, The Martian certainly seems to please most people, even the critical. I don't think I'd be spoiling anything by saying the plot of the movie is about an astronaut left for dead as the crew evacuates from the planet surface of Mars only to find out the crew member didn't die. You have the story from a bureaucratic side, a scientific side, a social media side and engineering side all interwoven around the subject's story; the guy they left behind.

I personally don't think many people outside the enthusiast would know the difference between Mars and Wadi Rum in Jordan where the principal filming took place, and seeing even my understanding of the terrain is limited it was quite convincing. You get comfortable with the associations pretty quickly when you add all the environmental supplements that add to location that dispel the earth atmospheric conditions. I think most people have accepted the way Hollywood deals with space and give it a great deal of flexibility, so space travel is somewhat forgiving, but mixing the tech that got the various crafts into the air and the ship its self "Hermes" (Check your Greek mythology – very appropriate name) builds this story into one congruous epic. Obviously, the whole story revolves around Mark Whatney, a botanist who is left for dead and between his skills and ego are able to survive the elements until he is rescued. One of the nicer things about the story is that unlike other Ridley films, is that it isn't one emergency after another. The strong point to the screen play is that it breathes so well when mixed with the various sub-stories that the movie never gets tedious or overly long.

Using the word "Mix" is a very appropriate term to describe this epic scifi movie. An experienced recording engineer know when to emphasize a specific instrument when doing the final edit to enhance the focus and listeners experience. Harry Gregson-Williams score is not intrusive but well integrated (Credits include Shrek, Man on Fire and Cowboys and Aliens); Dariusz Wolski cinematography translates Ridleys vision to screen, and all the various departments all seem to come together to culminate in a perfect "Mix" for this compelling story. This movie has a great beginning, an absorbing duration, and satisfying ending.

So, I give this a full 10 our of 10 for experience. The audience was totally engrossed in the film, fully responding to the humor and horrors, empathetically sensing the singularity of being stranded but ultimately making the best of a bad situation. As the alien in John Carpenters "Starman" quote on being human: "You are at your best when you are at your worst". -B