The Rewatchables: The Martian
The Rewatchables is a podcast from The Ringer and it’s one of my favorite podcasts of all-time. However, they have shown no signs of covering the movie I consider to be among the most, if not the most, rewatchable movies ever produced: The Martian. I felt like doing a bit of fan writing for The Martian as if it was covered by The Rewatchables on the chance that they never actually come around to it. It deserves the treatment!
Spoilers are ahead!
Here’s an introduction to the movie:
Release Date: October 2, 2015
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Drew Goddard
Based on: The Martian by Andy Weir
Genre: Science-fiction, space, survival comedy (according to the Golden Globes)
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing
Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Mackenzie Davis, Askel Hennie, Donald Glover, Benedict Wong
Most Rewatchable Scene
This is obviously the category that honors which scene is the one that is most likely to hook you to stick around for the rest of the movie. There’s a few contenders for this one!
- Mark Watney breaks down what he’s facing in the video diary.
- Watney searches for the rover and listens to “Hot Stuff.”
- Watney creates water and blows himself up.
- Jessica Chastain’s crew makes the decision to go back for him and go rogue.
- NASA works with Watney to communicate with him.
- The rescue of Watney.
But the answer is obvious. It’s the scene I will watch the most out of the context of the rest of the movie and the one I look forward to when watching the movie. The “Starman” montage of Watney gearing up to travel across Mars while the rest of the world and NASA works to get ready to receive him. “Life on Mars?” would have been the easy David Bowie selection, but Ridley Scott shoots his shot with “Starman” and it paid off. One of my favorite movie scenes ever.
Casting What-Ifs
Irrfan Khan was meant to play Vincent Kapoor, Ejiofor’s character, but he was committed to a Bollywood movie, Piku, at the time.
Cate Blanchett also had a scheduling conflict, which prevented her from playing Commander Melissa Lewis. I think Chastain fits the role better!
Half-Assed Internet Research Corner
Both Weir and Scott worked to make sure the story was as scientifically accurate as possible and while not perfect, many scientists do praise the accuracy.
Rich Purnell’s maneuver is dubbed as Project Elrond (a reference to The Lord of the Rings), meaning Sean Bean was present for both Elrond meetings, as he played both Boromir and Mitch Henderson.
Matt Damon (obviously) filmed most of his scenes alone and when he hears the pre-recorded voices of his co-stars, his tears were real and Scott only recorded one take of the moment because of how impressed he was with Damon’s acting.
Lots of Marvel actors in this one. Damon appears in Thor: Ragnarok, Ejiofor and Wong appear in Doctor Strange. Pena appears in both Ant-Man movies. Stan portrays Bucky Barnes in five Marvel (all three Captain America films and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as the post credits scene of Black Panther) movies to date. Mara shows up in Iron Man 2. Glover has a small role in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Apparently, The Martian is set in 2035. Matt Damon was forty-four when The Martian premiered and for most of its filming, which took just seventy-two days. Assuming Watney is also forty-four, the character would have been born in 1991. He’d be just twenty-eight now. Applying this same math to Glover’s character, he’d be just fifteen in 2019.
What Aged the Worst
You have to mention the casting of Davis as Mindy Park and Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor. The characters were meant to be Korean and Indian, respectively, and the actors are decidedly not. Not great.
Also, not a single Oscar win for The Martian? Wild. Truly wild, Academy.
What Aged the Best
I’m going to give a shoutout to the soundtrack. It came out right in between the soundtracks for 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. The idea of including 1970s music in a space movie was not new, but it was not over-saturated either. And for a collection of songs derided by Watney, they’re actually pretty good.
“Hot Stuff” is a banger and “Starman” is obviously great. “Waterloo” makes for two excellent ABBA references in the movie. While there are some novelty songs, including “Love Train,” I think they actually fit very well in the movie.
I also want to give a shoutout to the cast. It’s a murderer’s row of great actors with the twelfth lead being Glover, one of the most talented people alive right now. And everyone else is great before him, too. It’s a solid cast with likable stars and a friendly face turning up around every corner like you’re walking through the Magic Kingdom and it just makes you happy to see Tigger hanging out.
Joey Pants: “That Guy” Award
This award, named for Joe Pantoliano, is the one given to the actor who shows up who is only vaguely recognized by the audience and would never actually be able to be named.
This is a tough category. I’m tempted to give it to Davis because she is in a couple big movies and no one really could name her when they see her. Askel Hennie would qualify if he was at all famous outside of The Martian. It might have gone to Sean Bean if he didn’t have Game of Thrones to back him up.
Therefore, I’m giving it to Benedict Wong. He was a “that guy” for me before I saw the movie, for sure. He’s moved out of that territory now because I’m a huge Marvel nerd and he obviously played Wong in Doctor Strange and Avengers: Infinity War, but for the general population, I bet not many know his name. Not yet anyway. (Unless calling someone by his character’s name, which also happens to be his own name, counts.)
Dion Waiters: Best Heat Check Award
This award, named for Dion Waiters of the Miami Heat, goes to the actor who knows he, or she, does not have a lot to do in the movie and just fucking goes for it. It’s the one who does the most with the least, but needs to be put in check a little.
No contest. It’s Donald Glover. He’s pretty obviously doing Abed from Community, but in a space movie and I honestly can’t even tell if it’s a good performance or not. He’s in The Martian for, like, three scenes and he goes way over the top in all of them.
Saul Rubinek: “THEY KNEW!” Award for Overacting
Named for both Saul Rubinek and Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight (the movie that won Best Picture over The Martian), this award isn’t entirely relevant because no one really overacts in The Martian. Everyone seems to do a solid job. Sean Bean gets a little wonky like one time, but not a problem. This award probably goes to Glover again.
Picking Nits
Not a lot of nits to pick either. The Martian is about as impeccable as science-fiction can get. There are surely aspects of it that can be dissected to death, but I’m not smart enough about engineering or botany or astronomy to mention them. One question I had is how Pena’s character is allowed to go back in space. They mention they’re basically committing career suicide by ignoring NASA’s orders, but Pena gets to go back on another mission. I’m sure he’s treated like a hero when he returns, but there’s surely some stooge at NASA who would be a strict rule follower.
I also don’t like how Watney comments on his friend’s shit.
Unanswerable Questions
Here’s an unanswerable question I have: Would this actually matter as much as the book and the movie act like it does?
I think that it unequivocally should, but I doubt that it would. It’s a story about the triumph of the human spirit and the teamwork of mankind, but in today’s news cycle of Donald Trump-can-do-whatever-he-wants-and-it-is-forgotten-about-in-minutes, how long can the Watney story captivate the world? This also plays into the renewed interest in outer space exploration brought about by The Martian. May we never lose it again.
Best Quote
I have a lot of good quotes to mention and most of them come from Watney:
Watney’s Quotes:
- “I’m the greatest botanist on this planet.”
- “If the oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the hab breaches, I’ll just kind of implode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So, yeah.”
- “They say once you grow crops somewhere, you have officially colonized it. So, technically, I colonized Mars. In your face, Neil Armstrong!”
- “At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you. Everything’s going to go south and you’re going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem and you solve the next one and then the next. And If you solve enough problems, you get to come home.”
- “I admit it’s fatally dangerous, but I’d get to fly around like Iron Man.” (The delivery on this one is awesome.)
Other’s Quotes:
- Kapoor: “Mark, please watch your language. Everything you type is being broadcast live all over the world.”
- Lewis: “Rich Purnell is a steely-eyed missile man!”
- Kapoor: “You want to send him into space under a tarp?”
- Martinez: “Oh, wow. Did everybody hear that? Mark just discovered dirt.”
The Best Quote:
“I’ve been thinking about laws on Mars. There’s an international treaty saying that no country can lay claim to anything that’s not on Earth. By another treaty if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law aplies. So Mars is international waters. Now, NASA is an American non-military organization, it owns the Hab. But the second I walk outside I’m in international waters. So Here’s the cool part. I’m about to leave for the Schiaparelli Crater where I’m going to commandeer the Ares IV lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can’t until I’m on board the Ares IV. So I’m going to be taking a craft over in international waters without permission, which by definition… makes me a pirate. Mark Watney: Space Pirate.”
No contest.
Apex Mountain
This evaluates the contributors to the movie and if it was the apex of their careers. Full disclosure, this category is perpetually unclear.
- Andy Weir: Immense success with the novel and an all-time great adaptation of it. Verdict: Yes.
- Drew Goddard: Goddard was given a blank check to create his own movie and now he’s a major player in savvy blockbusters. It’s close, but not quite. Verdict: No.
- Ridley Scott: Gladiator, Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down. Ridley’s had a lot of great movies. The Martian was a resurgence for him, but it’s not his apex. It’s hard to go against the fact that he directed Alien and Blade Runner back to back. Verdict: No.
- Donald Glover: Yeah, right. Verdict: No.
- Benedict Wong: He has big roles around the corner. Verdict: No.
- Mackenzie Davis: It might have been, if it wasn’t for the controversy. Verdict: No.
- Askel Hennie: Nothing else recognizable on his filmography besides this and Hercules, but nothing wrong with a movie this iconic being the peak of a career. Verdict: Yes.
- Sebastian Stan: Best known as Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stan is in the same boat as Wong. It’s a great role, but not his apex. Verdict: No.
- Kate Mara: Where’s Kate Mara been these days? Having The Martian come after Fantastic Four (I haven’t seen the movie, but it was a big role, regardless of its quality) and an Emmy nomination for House of Cards when she was the talk of the season. As it stands right now, this is her apex. A great two year stretch for her. Verdict: Yes.
- Michael Pena: One of the great character actions of his generation, I sure hope we haven’t found his apex yet, but if we have, it’s probably not here. Verdict: No.
- Sean Bean: His apex definitely comes from either The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. You know, two of the biggest fantasy stories ever put to screen. Verdict: No.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor: I think everyone is in agreement on this one. It’s definitely 12 Years a Slave. Verdict: No.
- Kristen Wiig: Wiig is great in dramas, but her niche is obviously comedies. The Bridesmaids and SNL combo might do it for her. Verdict: No.
- Jeff Daniels: Lots of nos in this one, but Daniels obviously has done a lot of great things, including an Emmy win for The Newsroom. This movie has a lot of great actors doing a lot of great things, but they mostly have their apex elsewhere. Verdict: No.
- Jessica Chastain: She showed up in lots of great movies over the years, but I think her apex right now is the meaty role she had in Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game that led her into many awards’ conversations. She ended up on SNL and has an X-Men movie on the way after that. I’m wary of saying that parlaying great roles into superhero gigs is someone’s apex, but it feels like Chastain has a lot of power in Hollywood right now. Another very close argument for her apex is that she had back-to-back Oscar nominations for The Help and Zero Dark Thirty before playing a huge role in Interstellar two years after that. Whatever Chastain’s apex is, it’s probably not The Martian. Verdict: No.
- Matt Damon: Let’s be real, Damon has had like eight different apexes. The global success of Good Will Hunting and the Oscar win and then immediately jumping into Rounders and The Talented Mr. Ripley is probably his. But he also hit the big time with concurrent franchise turns in the Ocean’s trilogy and the Jason Bourne movies. The Martian was a great late stage role for him that did not turn into much success. Maybe this year’s Ford v. Ferrari will change that. Damon’s complicated and his role here might be my favorite, but I don’t think it’s his apex. Verdict: No.
Mount Rushmore
There are a couple different Mount Rushmores this could be on. I’m not sure yet, but it might just be my favorite movie of the 2010s. I’d have to figure that out. I am confident in saying that it is on my Mount Rushmore of space movies and should probably be on most people’s Mount Rushmore of survival movies.
Here are some contenders for space movies (I don’t think The Right Stuff counts):
2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Alien, Apollo 13, Starship Troopers, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Wall-E, Moon, Avatar, Gravity, Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, First Man.
Here is my Mount Rushmore of them:
The Martian, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
Here are some contenders for survival movies:
Cast Away, 127 Hours, Into the Wild, The Grey, Life of Pi, The Revenant, All Is Lost, I Am Legend, Gravity, The Shallows, Children of Men.
Here is my Mount Rushmore of them:
The Martian, Cast Away, 127 Hours, Life of Pi
Who Won the Movie?
Ridley Scott and Matt Damon both have big arguments to be made here as they both mounted major comebacks into the cultural main-main-mainstream with The Martian. Space had a solid argument, as well, because of how much interest there was after this movie came out. This was a big deal at the time and I hope that that’s not soon forgotten.
However, I have to give the edge to Matt Damon. After being in The Departed and then following that up with two trilogy conclusions the year after (2007) with Ocean’s Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum, Damon went smaller. He was still around and he still made big movies (True Grit, Interstellar), but he also went to HBO for Behind the Candelabra. He just straight up had some smaller roles, but was still the lead in most of them.
The Martian brought him back in a major way and everyone remembered how easy it is to love Matt Damon. He’s also so great in this movie. It’s truly perfect for him. Matt Damon wins the movie and he should have won the Oscar (Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs also has a good argument, but it should not have been Leonardo DiCaprio because he should have won the Oscar for The Wolf of Wall Street two years prior).
Congratulations Matt Damon and long may The Martian live!
