REVIEW: "The Martian" - about the triumph of scientific knowledge and the benefits of electrical tape

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A few days before the official premiere of "The Martian" in Russia, the editor of "MacRadar" attended the preview of one of the most anticipated films of this fall. Here's what she saw.

The Martian is Ridley Scott's first sci-fi film after the dubious success of Prometheus: while critics praised the Alien prequel quite well, fans of the universe criticized the film for numerous logical mistakes and problems with the motivation of the heroes (these blunders were later recognized by the authors themselves).

In The Martian, Drew Goddard, known for the cult TV series Buffy and Lost, the recent Daredevil and the witty Cabin in the Woods, is responsible for reworking Andy Weir's book into a screenplay. So the script should be fine, right?

It is worth saying that I have not read the book yet, so the review refers only to what I saw when I came to the cinema. And what I saw is this.

First of all, there were a lot of people in the hall. Literally no free space. It's even surprising, because the film does not belong to any of the popular franchises - this is not the last part of The Hunger Games, for example. Well, maybe "hard" science fiction is more popular with the people than I expected, or "The Martian" has a very competent advertising campaign - one of two things.

The very first episode introduces us to the Ares III mission team and gives us a first glimpse of the heroes: here is the joker who was on all the posters (Matt Damon), she is the commander (Jessica Chastain), there is also a young genius (Kate Mara), German (Axel Henny), handsome (Sebastian Stan) and another joker (Michael Peña). However, we will have the opportunity to get to know the characters a little better and even remember their names if we try very hard.

Then, of course, there is a moment codenamed "Everything Went Wrong." The main character, Mark Watney, is cut off from his team during the strongest Martian storm, and they, considering him dead, fly back to Earth.

Mark comes to his senses, pulls out a fragment of a metal antenna from his stomach and discovers that he was left alone on the whole planet. At his disposal is a residential block, personal belongings of the team members, a rover and some potatoes.

After a brief despair and recording a farewell video, Mark remembers that he is actually a nerd. “Well, no, you won’t wait, I won’t die here,” he decides and takes on a difficult task - growing food on barren Martian soil in extremely limited resources and preparing the rover for a long journey through the desert to the place of arrival of the next mission - “Ares IV.

This part seemed to me the most interesting. If you read "Robinson Crusoe" and you were fascinated by the main character's quests to extract useful things from the wreckage of a ship, tame wild goats and grow simple garden crops, then you will also like it. And the ingenuity, resourcefulness and negligence of Mark Watney can only be envied.

Soon, NASA employees learn that Mark is alive. They strive to establish contact with him and send a cargo ship with supplies to Mars as soon as possible so that he has at least some chance of waiting for rescue. A lot of new characters appear, whose names you can not even try to remember (however, to help the viewer, they show titles with their name and position). They are played by famous actors, so it's not very scary - you will recognize them by sight.

But from the moment NASA learns that Watney is not dead, the script gets a little jerky. The plot moves in jerks, and it is very difficult to keep track of the course of time. Here Mark gently touches the very first sprout on his future potato plantation, and we see the date "Sol 61", when suddenly Sol 245, NASA launches a ship with supplies (spoiler: this is only the middle of the film, so the launch failed), and it happens something else. No, I watched carefully. And if you reconstruct the events of the film in a logical sequence in your head, everything seems to look harmonious. But this does not negate the fact that while watching it you can get a little "lost", especially if you have not read the book. It seems that during editing, only cuts were left from some scenes. We may see them in full in the director's cut - but that's not fair.

The second problem: the hero is difficult to empathize with. In general, I have an ambiguous attitude to this moment. On the one hand, this is a good move: to abandon the melodramatic whipping. Mark Watney does not reflect on his deplorable situation (even when it becomes almost hopeless), he just takes and does what needs to be done - otherwise you will die. At the same time, he does not even have an inconsolable girlfriend who would look longingly at the starry sky.

And no matter how paradoxical it may sound, the astronaut abandoned on Mars, the only living soul on the whole planet, was not truly alone, except at the very beginning. When NASA found a way to communicate with him, Mark was constantly looked after, he was led by the hand and did not leave any screen time for a minute. Let's assume that I lacked the feeling of endless universal loneliness.

In order not to get the impression that I am just finding fault - I liked the music and the Martian landscapes. The alien panoramas captured in the Jordanian Wadi Rum Desert are stunningly good. And David Bowie on the soundtrack and I Will Survive of Gloria Gaynor - definitely yes.

"Martian" landscapes of Wadi Rum.

Desert Wadi Rum, or "Valley of the Moon", at sunset.

And for comparison - a real Martian landscape, filmed by the Curiosity rover.

In general, the "Martian" is nothing to scold. "Hard" science fiction remains that way (I trust the folks at NASA who advised the filmmakers). Good actors. Russian dubbing was not bad this time, it seems. There are a couple of funny jokes.

And the main idea is very worthy of respect: scientific knowledge brought man to Mars and they will return him home. And one more thing: it's good when there are people who will be ready to spend another year and a half in outer space for your sake.

Is it worth going to the "Martian" in the movies? If you crave adventure in the spirit of "space - the last frontier" and an atmosphere of pioneering - then no, you will be disappointed. If you like films about the triumph of fortitude over circumstances, about the triumph of reason and the power of friendship, then perhaps yes. But don't expect too much.

In general, it is worth going at least so that you can keep up the conversation, when in the company of friends or colleagues the talk about the "Martian" comes up - this will definitely happen.

P. S.