Good movies make you feel all sort of emotions even after
you left the cinema; better movies urge you to write about it as soon as
possible. Well, that sure works well for me. Hello, the season of blockbuster;
you came a little late this year, didn’t you?
I have the
highest expectation for The Martian. I always have things for slice-of-life
slash science-fiction and you know; spaceship, the galaxy, universe, and
whatsoever. The Martian is all about that. Interstellar with the laugh touch it
lacked of. Plus, Jessica Chastain. I loveeee Jessica Chastain, ever since her
portrayal of Celia Foote in The Help, and again, Interstellar. Well, The Martian has a lot more in common with
Interstellar than you probably have tought of. The very lead man Matt Damon was
also in Interstellar, and he apparently also stranded in some other planet in
the galaxy too. And hello there, The
Lord of Winterfell. Nice seeing you in another movie, being not dead (the last movie is Jupiter Ascending, but
not even Channing Tatum could save that one from being utterly, sadly sucks).
Interstellar is
one of the best movie I’ve ever seen, despite of many complains about its
plot-hole scientifically. Honestly, I don’t really understand about the very scientific way to explain
warp, time travel, merely the theory of relativity. Of course
some time travel stories are obviously weird and don’t make sense just like
that. With the eyes of common viewers without advanced science education passed
my tenth grade physic and math class though, Interstellar is epic, enchanting,
and truly had me breathless. With those being said, I entered the cinema with
this high of expectation.
We were instantly served with the sight of Mars from the
very first footage. This is a movie about Mars that titled The Martian, so well—of course. We were also caught up with
who Matt Damon’s Mark Watney is; the goofy, easy going, and certainly a fun guy
to be with for years of space travel, which unfortunately about to be stranded
right after when his crew were forced to flee a severe dust storm, thinking he
was dead. He wasn’t, but clearly
going to, implicating the current situation. If the oxygenator breaks down, he’ll
suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks down, he’ll die of thirst. If the
Habitat breaches, he’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things magically
happens, he’ll eventually run out of food supply and starved to death. So yeah—he
is fucked.
With help being only 140 million miles away, there is only
one way to not die—our Mark Watney has to science
the shit out of it.
The good news, Mark is the botanist. The best botanist on the planet (and apparently later a space
pirate). He burns hydrogen to produce water, grows potatoes in his poo, rations
his remaining food stocks, and plans to be alive when the next spaceship
planned to reach Mars in about four years. Meanwhile on Earth, NASA notices
Mark’s activity by its satellite and realizes they had thrown a beautiful
funeral for nothing. But how is the hardest question; if they were to rescue
Mark, how?
I talked about all those quantum physic theories we didn’t
understand that mentioned all over Interstellar.
Christopher Nolan is still my favorite director without doubt, but with all of
the comparisons of Interstellar and The Martian, Ridley Scott has won over my
heart. After Interstellar, The Martian feels light as the air. You’d just love
the not-even-real-scientist-botanist Mark Watney no matter what; but partly for
staying sane for hundred days alone in his current situation (with the disco music). He is that funny
guy that sent NASA a picture of himself posing with peace signs when stranded
in Mars—how can you not love him?
It is a real sit-and-watch-quietly experience where you
could take a deep breath of satisfaction shortly after the credit scene. I think I’m not exaggerating it to say The
Martian is the best movie the second half of the year got, yet. The Martian
delivers a package of intensity, playful, and lightweight science fiction that
wrapped in philosophical pondering. Not to mention Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain with their best performance too. Bring
Him Home, the tagline said. I surely want to bring home a piece of DVD I
can re-watch every time whenever I got the chance!
Michelle
