All the hype this week is focused on "The Martian" (opening Oct. 2 throughout San Diego) but there are plenty of other film choices for this weekend.
Summer may have ended last month but "The Martian" provides the perfect film to transition out of the summer season of big, noisy popcorn tentpole movies and into the Oscar-bait season when studios release what they think will be their serious contenders for awards gold. "The Martian" is definitely being packaged as awards material but it still has a little summer irreverence and sense of fun so it doesn’t feel too weighty and somber. It’s a film with epic interplanetary scope and some A-list stars, yet it still manages an oddly breezy style that makes it easy to watch.
The film is based on Andy Weir’s debut novel. Weir attended UCSD and studied computer science, and has claimed to have a lifelong love of science. His novel is written as log entries and the first line of the book is “I’m pretty much f-cked.” Of course that’s not where the film starts. It has to start big as a storm hits the surface of Mars, forcing a NASA team to abandon its mission and leaving astronaut Mark Watney for dead. But he’s not dead. He’s just got a few challenges.
"The Martian" is a film fueled by a passion for science and a confidence that every problem has a solution.
The great thing about the film and its undeniable appeal lies in an optimism rooted in the joy of science. And what’s exciting about its enthusiasm is that it could inspire a new generation of scientists. But the film serves up an odd mix of science and Hollywood.
I’m not a scientist, but I have read that many scientists do appreciate that the science is well done.
The Hollywood part comes in how the science is glossed up and sped up. Science tends to take time and so does anything you do in space, but the film - knowing our fast-food appetite - quickens the pace of everything. I will give director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Drew Goddard credit for at least having characters mention the fact that messages to and from Mars are by no means instant but once that fact is established, the editing certainly makes it seem as fast as texting. So while I have an issue with the pace of the narrative, I understand that it’s a necessary thing in order to make the film more entertaining and to fit in as much as they did from the novel.
The other oddity about the film is that all the excitement is focused on bringing Watney home, of getting him off of the planet Mars. There was a time when sci-fi movies were more interested in getting to a planet or the moon. Now, being on another planet seems rather blasé and requires rescuing.
The reason I point this out is that there was an interesting piece on Motherboard by Lisa Messeri, an assistant professor of Science, Technology and Society in the Department of Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia. She writes about the irony of "The Martian" opening just after NASA announced evidence of intermittent flowing water on Mars.
The irony being that while the media was wildly excited about the science fiction of "The Martian," it was decidedly indifferent to the science facts. She poses these questions: “What are we to make of the collective disappointment regarding actual Mars science and the collective excitement for cinematic Mars fiction? Moreover, how should we understand NASA’s drive to excite us about the journey to Mars while 'The Martian' focuses on the journey home?”
Valid points. They don’t detract from the entertainment on the screen but they are points worth considering.
And my final point about "The Martian" is that while the science is great fun, the film’s too slick and cheery to capture the reality of being alone on an inhospitable planet. This is a case where a big budget and a big cast of stars actually hurts. Less would be more in a story about one man’s solitary struggle to survive.
I wish director Ridley Scott – who’s been to space before for "Alien" and "Prometheus" - had taken his cue from the small indie sci-fi films "Moon" and "Europa Report" rather than from the Hollywood endeavors "Gravity" and "Interstellar." Or going further back in time to a film like "Silent Running," in which botany also played a role.
"The Martian" misses getting a gritty sense of how lonely and isolated Watney must feel, and how challenging survival over many months is. Matt Damon plays Watney and the film waits till the third act to show any negative side effects from eating little more than potatoes and being malnourished.
I’ve spent a lot of time complaining about flaws in the film and that’s because it does some things right and comes close to being more than a glossy Hollywood genre film. So, my point is that it could have been better, but as it is it’s still an engaging work of science fiction and science fact.
For a roundup of what's playing outside of the mainstream, listen to my podcast in the audio clip above.