The Martian

It's been a while since Ridley Scott has made a truly great film, but has his recent direction on The Martian changed all that? Read my full review below to find out!

The Martian follows Mark Watney, an astronaut who has to survive on Mars after being accidentally stranded there by his crew, who believed him to be dead. Let me start by saying, this film has an amazing cast! Ridley Scott has managed to bring some of the best talent around to take part in this film and it really pays off, I mean just read this, the film stars Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwitel Ejiofor, Mackenzie Davis and Donald Glover! The cast is incredible and they all do incredibly in their roles, some of which are relatively small, but they all get their chance to shine. There's a scene which features Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean and Mackenzie Davis together which had me thinking this is the best crossover of The Newsroom/ Game of Thrones/ Halt and Catch Fire that I never knew I wanted. A film is not its cast though, they have to do well and like I said before they all do however, this film mainly falls on one guys shoulders and that's Matt Damon, who has to convince us that he is a scientist/astronaut that is stuck on a different planet. Considering he mainly talks to himself through various video logs, he does this very, very well.

The plot itself is great, yes its a long film, but it's part survival film and part film about the philosophy of the human race coming together to save one man, you can't usually do that in 90 minutes. It's truly emotional at times considering the events themselves aren't based on any truth, I mean the accuracy of the science seems believable, but we have never left someone stranded on Mars. In fact the film is based of the self published novel of the same name by author Andy Weir, now I haven't read the book but from what I have heard, the film is extremely faithful to the source material. The film itself doesn't have one dull moment, you are constantly on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happens next and particularly in the final act of the film, things get very tense, it's brilliant and like with most space films it's exhilarating.

One of the reasons it's so exhilarating is the fact that it all looks so real. We saw a couple years ago with Gravity that effects these days can make outer space look very realistic. Now The Martian is not a special effects orientated film, the effects are there to enhance our experience, but hell, they might as well have filmed in space or on Mars for all I cared because the film looked stunning. Add a great soundtrack to the mix and The Martian has got it all.

This film is set slightly in the future, everything you see isn't out of the realms of possibility, unlike last years Interstellar (which yes I still love), this film presents itself as being very believable. The science, to my ears, sounded plausible enough and even though very geeky at times it was also accessible to a wide audience without ever needing to 'dumb' itself down.

I didn't really have any problems with the film, there was one moment that I felt could have been trimmed or left out but it didn't effect my enjoyment or love for this film. So yes this is a return to form for Ridley Scott, a form I hope continues when he comes around to making the next Prometheus or Alien: Paradise Lost as its being called now...

At the end of the day I am a sucker for these kinds of films, I love a good sci-fi, so much so that the first feature script I wrote was one. Space is something that has always been able to capture my imagination, I love stories that revolve around it and this one is definitely one of the better ones out there! As you can probably tell, I absolutely loved The Martian and therefore am giving it a rating of 5/5.

Have you seen The Martian yet? If so what did you think? If not then stop being a fool and go watch it on the big screen and then after let me know what you thought in the comments below!

Thanks for reading! 

Broken Hearts Poster!

Here you go readers, the exclusive poster for my short film 'Broken Hearts' which should be online next week (hopefully)! You may have read about this before in previous blog posts but if not the plot goes like this: An anti-romance film, based on a couple whose relationship ends in tragedy. Take a look at the poster below!

Feel free to let me know what you think!

In other news; The other day I watched the film 'Take Shelter'. Here is my short review of the film:

Take Shelter has had great review from critics and mainly positive feedback from audiences online. After doing well in Sundance last year and containing the brilliant Michael Shannon, this was a film I have been eager to watch for a long time. The plot goes like this; Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself. The film is surprisingly scary in places and (Boardwalk Empire) Michael Shannon's performance is brilliant in the film as the husband. The visual effects are very good and Jessica Chastain's performance is one that is rather heart warming. The only flaws are the great yet underused sub plot of the couple's daughter being deaf. Although it is handled well it would have been better if it had more purpose in the movie. Also the ending leaves you wanting more, but not as in 'this needs a sequel' but as in 'give me 10 more minutes of footage please!' But overall a very good film and another great performance that was snubbed at this years Oscars!

Thanks for reading!

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