Humanity is a theme that every movie regardless of being good, great, and terrible each touch on in their own way. Characters in stories only become real after they are perceived as such from the viewer, and the characters that become the most real are the ones who become the most tangible to our own individual understanding.; it's the reason why many of us identify with different people and make separate choices. The Martian (directed by Ridley Scott) is a movie about humanity, but not humanity on a grand scale; its an epic that chronologues the chapter in the life of a fictional character, of a fictional future, and makes you care about him like a forgotten friend. The Martian weighs the significance of a life in the sacrifices and the sparks it takes to save it. Its one hell of a watch.
Honestly the less you know about The Martian the more surprises you will be in for, but this paragraph should serve as a basic outline. Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left behind and presumed dead during an emergency evacuation from Mars. He is left alone with limited resources and previsions, and overall hope for survival is slim, but his optimism pushes him onward to fight for a chance. The story is part told on Mars, where Watney must improvise solutions to various impossible problems, and the other part told on Earth where Watney's death and circumstance is being handled by NASA.
The two part story does major milage for the story's main theme since we get two completely sides of the situation to examine from. On Nasa side we see a struggle between many different personalities and minds over how to handle the situation, and on Watney's side we see the personal struggle considering it's his ass in the fire. Both parties are working toward the same goal and both fail if Mark doesn't make it. In the trailer Matt Damon narrates that as humans we have a natural instinct to help one another, and this theme only becomes larger and more prevent as the plot develops.
The Martian isn't all serious though, in fact it may just have the best since of humor out of any movie so far this year. Throughout all the hardship and hopelessness Mark Watney remains a beacon of optimism and charism. Scott strategically chooses to have Damon narrate most of his scenes while alone on Mars as a way to incorporate his triumphs with our own, making us want to see him get out alive even more. Matt Damon crushes it in this role, its some of the greatest work he's ever done and Im including Good Will Hunting. The folks at NASA are also extremely relatable and easy to root for, even the ones you may not agree with like Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) who despite wanting to save Watney as much as everybody else, realizes that jeopardizing more lives is not worth losing another.
In summery if you have no plans this weekend go see The Martian. Its epic, its personal, its Ridley Scott at his absolute best. The movie is gorgeous, the performances are symbiotic and the experience is one that kept a constant smile on my face. This movie does everything I can ask for and I can't wait to see it again!
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