Empire UK

in the pantheon of cinema’s greatest
space gardeners Damon’s Watney is the
actor at his most engaging by turns flip
and desperate. Following a lacerating
storm Watney is left to survive on his mad
gardening skills three years’ worth of
potatoes and old episodes of Happy Days.
Scott has a blast putting Damon/Watney
through the mill. There is self-surgery.
There is an experiment that goes horribly
wrong. There is a coquettish selfie. When
the Martian is on Mars it rocks.
Away from Watney the movie flits
between the remaining Mars mission
members making their way home and
NASA — chiefly Jeff Daniels’ director
Kristen Wiig ’s PR flunky Chiwetel
Ejiofor’s Mars expert and Sean Bean as
the brilliantly named Mitch Henderson
possibly NASA’s most unlikely flight
director — dealing with the fallout.
There are crisis meetings hastily

assembled press conferences eulogies

a hook-up with a Chinese space agency

and botched attempts at rescue. Much

like Apollo 13 the joy of The Martian is

watching smart people work through

unsolvable problems and succeeding only

to have bigger obstacles hove into view.

For all of Scott’s visual prowess and

Damon’s human centre the unsung hero

might be screenwriter Drew Goddard

lacing the storytelling with wit energy

and an approach to the science that is

graspable without being over-simplistic.

He also solves the book’s interior-

monologue problem. If this is a cosmic

Cast Away Watney’s Wilson is a vlog that

is a receptacle for his inner thoughts be

he moaning about the disco soundtrack

left behind by Jessica Chastain’s captain

— the ’70s floor-fillers make for a

refreshing soundtrack — or pondering

colonising Mars as a space pirate. When

he finally gets in touch with Mission

Control through a jerry-rigged instant

messaging system typing in cinema has

rarely been so joyous.

It isn’t perfect. The supporting cast

feel under-served the idea that Watney’s

plight draws crowds of people in

Trafalgar Square waiting for the outcome

feels forced and at 141 minutes it’s a bit

long. But ultimately it’s a film where the

lead character realises he is going to die

then wilfully refuses to accept it. It’s an

ennobling uplifting thought delivered

with sass and bite. Or as Watney puts it

“Fuck you Mars.” IAN FREER

VERDICT Anchored by another great

turn from Matt Damon The Martian

mixes smarts laughs weird character

bits and tension on a huge canvas. The

result is Scott’s most purely enjoyable

film for ages.

Matt Damon goes

rogue in the

Beige Zone.