The Martian Review

Straight From Being Saved In Interstellar, Damon’s Back At It 

Released : September 30th 2015

Certificate : 12A

Director : Ridley Scott

Cast : Matt Damon, Jessica Christian, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean

Plot : During an expedition to war, an unexpected storm means that the crew lead by Melissa Lewis (Christian) must abandon the planet immediately. In the chaos Mark Watney (Damon) is left behind and presumed dead by the crew, with limited supplies and no way home. Back on Earth NASA is shocked to discover his condition, after telling the whole world he was dead.

Ridley Scott is returning to the genre which made him, Sci-fi, after the last entry to genre of Prometheus, and due to his established Hollywood position, for his latest film he was able to bring together a hugely talented cast, and when the story comes from a best seller, it has all the making to be a real science fiction treat. But a successful book and a great cast combined with Scotts talent hasn’t proved to hit the target in the past, with The Counsellor as an example pleasing few audience members, and even less critics. Scott followed The Counsellor with the equally unpopular Exodus: God and Kings, providing Scott with a slight dry spell in the way of successful films.

The storyline of The Martian is one so fully of humanity that even if the all other aspects failed, it would prove to be a tale worth hearing. Just as the like of Saving Private Ryan and Apollo 13 did, the story of rallying together to save one man is hard not to enjoy, from the emotion and the humanity it conjures up. The Martian storyline does this beautifully, from Watney all alone, to the crews felling of guilt, to the team of NASA working around the clock, it makes the film into a big sci-fi epic that utterly absorbing. The storyline is not only layered with different setting and varying characters proving for a range of emotive responses to the situation, making the film a joy to see the character drama, but also unpredictable. Additional to this, without giving lot point away, the story arc over its prolonged actual time, doesn’t falter for a second. Each act of the film proves as entertaining as the last for different reasons. From the chaos of the start, the progress of the survival, the reality of death and the drama of the climax all prove the be a equal in weight and entertainment as each other. In sort its one of the most entertaining plain stories brought to cinema so far this year, if nothing else.

Down to Scotts work himself, regardless of the top class story he is dealing with, The Martian proves to be his best work since Hannibal, plain and simple. So many directorial aspects of the film were executed so well to make the film appear as real as possible which took the enjoyment of the film to the high standard that it is. Scotts presentation as Mars a huge obstacle for Watney to overcome, the action both on planet and out in space was beautifully tense to watch, and the presentation of the atmosphere on earth that is working to bring him home was all orchestrated by Scott superbly, added with the high production value of the film made for a spectacle. Hence the film succeeded with what all sci-fi space films should do on a basic level, which is to entertain the audience, and at the same time keep the audience believing that the science of the film is real, as a audience memeber you could picture the films reality, aspects not as present in other films of the genre. The aspect of the film that was most surprising about Scotts work here was how he was able to blend the varying emotions of the film together, despite there polar oppositions, as the film is both moving as well as genuinely funny. Scott was able to blend the contradictory feeling of the film without letting one take away from the other, resulting in a film with a really enjoyable vibe whilst still keeping on the edge of your seat.

The Martian himself, was on brilliant form, as astronaut Mark Watney has been one the most entertaining film characters of this year due to Damon’s ability to tackal as Scott did the combination of gallows humour as well as fear of death, keeping the film to feel just as real as the aspects that Scott had constructed. Most poignantly impressive about Damon’s performance was that of the classic scene that takes place in most ‘disaster’ or man against nature films which is that of the breaking point, where the hero losses faith that he can make it. Scenes such as that and other particularity emotional scene were delivered by Damon to top standard, executed with the same results as some of his best roles. The supporting cast as well as this was a joy to watch, even when the characters weren’t as likeable, which was in the case of Jeff Daniels who played the role of the stern head of NASA, and the role fitted like a glove. Other actors of the huge cast who made a particular impression during their screen time was of course Chiwetel Ejiofor (as he always does) as one the minds eager to get Watney home and Jessica Christian who plays the captain filled with the guilt of leaving him behind. The cast of the crew who left Watney all worked very well together, constructing a feeling of friendship present within the groups despite having very little screen time with Watney.

The Martian is without a doubt one of the best and most entertaining film of the year, a space thriller that can be up with the greats, baring particular resemblance to Apollo 13, making it this years Gravity. But a welcome surprise is the unexpected humours vibe that the film brings, distinguishing itself from Gravity in that aspect, and making the film so more enjoyable that it would have been otherwise. This aspect of the film really makes it something that is pleasantly re-watchable, this is helped by the deliciously layered set of characters portrayed by a excellent cast making the film a big scale sci-fi epic, which will stay with the audience long after viewing.

Verdict : Some of Damon’s most memorable work, and a film that has raised Scotts recent career out of the dumps, and then some, placing him back as one of the kings of the sci-fi genre. A wildly entertaining epic.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “Fuck you Mars.”

Everest Review

Brokeneck Mountain 

Released : September 18th 2015

Certificate : 12A

Director : Baltasar Kormakur

Cast : Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley

Plot : The true life story of May 10th 1996, when two commercial expeditions made their assents to the summit of Everest. But upon decent a violent storm strikes the mountain, placing everyone’s lives in danger.

If nothing else Everest has assembled the best cast of any disaster movie in recent years, a ‘Expendables’ size cast of the disasters thriller. Some may think that this has little effect on the enjoyment of the film, and that big actors don’t promise big performances, but an unexpected benefit of a number of famous actors is that it brings a level of unpredictability. With most disaster films where one main lead actor of high status is known, in most cases that will be the actor that survives, but when you have three high-profile actors in a film, it adds fun for the audiences as its harder to pin point survivors. While the supporting cast is of a surprising high standard, with the likes of Sam Worthington and Michael Kelly, the main players are of Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), Jason Clarke (Dawn of Planet of the Apes), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) and Keira Knightley (The Theory of Everything). Between them having enough talent and Oscar nominations to promise to bring the required acting power needed for the drastic emotion to bring disaster films to life.

Down to the specific characters themselves the main protagonist is Jason Clarke character of Rob Hall, an experienced climber who is extremely particular to doing everything by the book and as safely as possible. He is helping climbers who he has worked with before and newcomer to Everest to react the summit, one of which being Beck Weathers (Brolin). He plays the part of a wealthy business man playing a large part in the funding of the expedition but lacks in experience in comparison to the other climbers. Then the polar opposite to our Rob Hall we have Scott Fisher (Gyllenhaal), the most experienced climber on the mountain and the most likeable character in the film due to his laid back surfer like vibes. Keira Knightley plays the pregnant wife of Rob Hall at home waiting news from the expedition. This has the structure to bring to the film an enjoyable level of character drama, with a pleasant mix of characters who will prove for different reactions to the situation and plot, unfortunately the film doest actualized much upon the way of character interaction apart from that of Clarke and Knightley.

This flaw is shown via the way that during the build up to the disaster strike, there is a lacking of substance to the film character interaction, resulting in the film slightly dragging its feet to the point of plot development of disaster. The characters are plainly revealed to use in a way that gives each character a 2D appearance, lacking in poignant development and chemistry to get you on broad with the characters. With a cast as skilled as this, the film could have really benifitted with script material to build the characters and there realtionships, so that you woul dhave the added benefit of more emotion when these character arr in danger. But instead the film lacks in this construction and so we are given ‘rushed’ character and result in a slow transition to the point of near the summit reaching.

The entertainment that is found if through that of Kormakur work with setting the scene and presenting Everest, which was effective for the most part but the magic is lost in some point where it can be noticed that footage is repeated, only once does this occur, but for mainstream blockbuster it seems rather old-fashioned and conveys again a scenes of being rushed, and lacking in the required attention to detail to make the film more than the average disasters movie that has ultimately been seen before, only in different setting. Where Kormakur’s work is at its best is at the point of the disaster strike, where the storm runs up the mountain towards the climbers effectively brings both excitement and a true sense of reality to the situation on top of the world. Following this the directing skill compliments the acting of Jason Clarke, as the story of the main characters battle though the mountain proves to be the most enjoyable. Kormakur effectively builds the atmosphere of complete helplessness around Rob Hall efforts to get all of the team back down the mountain. This for the most part makes up for the rather unimaginative build up with animated shots of Everest from a distant, which served the purpose of conveying the sheer size, but just didn’t appear as realistic due to the reliance of special effect. But by the time that the film is in full flow of the storm, he is able to stretch is legs conveying the high level of thrills needed. He did however still struggle with dedicating enough time to each story, as some many characters find themselves marooned on the mountain, it would have added sustains to cover everyone story in the same detail, but Clarke story fortunately held the required emotion to mostly make up for this.

When the film is in the thick of its disaster flow, there was a chance for acting that was lacking in the film up until this point, and it was found within Clarke and Knightley chemistry within the face of the imminent threat. One particular scene where the two are connected via telephone call where Rob Hall is on the verge of throwing in the towel was of a surprisingly effective manor and will prove to be found moving to most audience members. Clarke was able to depict the sense of extreme exhaustion to the point of despair brilliantly, and Knightley is as effortless at scenes of overwhelming sadness as ever with a believable reaction to the updates on Clarke situation. Due to the issues within covering all the different sub-plots of all characters on the mountain we are unable to see Brolin or Gyllenhaal make an emotional connection to the audience like Clarke and Knightley did, which would have brought the film to the next level and had more of an impression, but also made the film more heavy going.

Verdict : A disaster film which falls short of being as good as its cast suggest due to initial directorial and script issues, but the are glimmers of pure talent from the makers during the most gruelling scenes which make the film a cut above most in the genre, unfortunately the effect couldn’t been sustained, but proved effectively intense when present.

Verdict : 3/5

Quote : “Human beings simply aren’t built to function at the cruising altitudes of a seven-forty-seven.”

Mini review: Barash

Year: 2015

Certificate: N/A

Director: Michal Vinik

Screenwriter: Michal Vinik

Cast: Sivan Noam Shimon, Jade Sakori, Dvir Benedek, Irit Pashtan, Bar Ben Vakil, Reut Akkerman

Stuck between her well-meaning but overbearing parents and her wayward, army-enlisted older sister, the eponymous Naama Barash (Sivan Noam Shimon) is struggling to piece together her own identity amid the chaos of her family life. A burgeoning romance with the rebellious Dana (Jade Sakori) offers respite from her family, but young love brings with it its own complications.

Taking a deliberate stride away from the overly dramatic tropes of canonical lesbian romances, Barash is a surprisingly sweet coming-of-age tale set in a small town in Israel. The two young leads, both newcomers, provide energetic and authentic performances, and the ups and downs of their whirlwind romance are joyous and heartbreaking to follow by turns. Cinematographer Shai Peleg’s intimate and loose camerawork perfectly evokes the experience of heady adolescence. In more reflective moments, when the camera lingers on Shimon’s face, Naama’s internal state is brilliantly communicated. Outside of the core romance, the subplot of the search for Naama’s missing sister Liora (Ben Bar Vakil), while played equally for its wry familial comedy as its encroaching sense of disaster, fleshes out the narrative nicely. It both allows for an exploration of Naama’s loving but chaotic family, and of some of the social issues at play in modern Israli society.

Although the character arc is fairly standard coming-of-age fare, the refusal to set Jade and Naama’s relationship up as some kind of pretentiously posited all-encompassing love and the subtle exploration of the wider society in which the story operates lend a weight Vinik’s directorial debut. Currently doing the rounds at film festivals, here’s hoping it’ll get a wider distribution before too long.

Verdict: 4/5

Image credit: lamafilms.com