The Martian: One Potato, Two Potatoes

by Devina Gunawan

Let me catch my breath. I got out from the theater about twenty minutes ago feeling like, I just landed on Earth.

It was not the case, obviously, but I did just leave Mars. Sort of.

The Martian, wow, I did not expect to enjoy it that much. I saw the review grades for this movie before watching it, because I have a habit of seeing the numbers before spending my money on a movie. For example, I didn’t trust the grades for the latest installment of Fantastic Four and what a bad move!

So we start the movie on Mars with Hermes’ crew. Six astronauts who were stationed in Mars received a storm warning. The storm warning was really bad and urgent, so the commander called the mission off and decided to ship everyone back in and out of Mars.

On the way back to the ship, however, Mark Watney got hit and flew away. The commander, Lewis, kept on searching for him but time was ticking and the rocket was launching. After all her crew insisted that she left Mark behind, she went on board and left Mars.

So the next day we have Mark, waking up and realizing that he’d been left alone and that he got an antenna stuck in his abdomen. I literally cringed when I saw this, it looked sickening. So painful.

So Mark rushed to the habitat, a dome where the crew rested and dined, where he cleaned his wound and staple it to stop the bleeding. When he finished his own mini operation, he closed his eyes, looked up, and cursed, “Fuck.”

That was brilliant. Because that is exactly how anyone would react.

Mark then did the math and figured he had enough food to last him for awhile, but not enough until the next mission to Mars. So he decided, since he was a botanist, to grow his own potatoes. It took trials and errors, and after an explosion, his little farm was going.

On the other hand, on Earth, at NASA, to be exact, the director had to announce Mark’s death, and he did so nonchalantly. I did not like that guy one bit, but apparently he was the one in charge. Then one of his men, Vincent Kapoor, wanted to bring Mark’s body back home. After receiving a no, Vincent decided to take matters into his own hands.

With the help of a girl whose name I don’t remember, Vincent found out that Mark was alive and convinced everyone else to set a rescue mission. He tried to figure out what Mark was thinking, based on the satellite images he was receiving, and tried to follow Mark’s steps. Out of everyone in NASA, he was probably the one who felt closest to Mark, as they exchanged messages and he kept on tailing Mark’s every move.

Two months after finding out that Mark was still alive, NASA decided to tell Hermes’ crew that their missing man was still alive. Of course, they did that by going against the NASA director.

The crew of course felt terrible, and commander Lewis felt that it was her fault since she left Mark on Mars.

After a rescue mission failed, the fastest option to reach Mark would be for Hermes to change course: instead of going back to Earth, going around Earth and back to Mars to get Mark.

Everyone on Hermes was on board with the mission, because they wanted their friend back. NASA director was against this; however, he couldn’t do anything as the crew went against him and everyone else in the world was rooting to bring Mark back home.

I teared up here and there.

Matt Damon has done an amazing, out of this planet, job. That was a hell of acting. Everyone else has performed and delivered amazingly as well. That was the top of their game, and that was one of the best movies I’d seen all year.

Kate Mara redeemed herself from the fall of Fantastic Four. Michael Pena needed more screen time, but I can’t complain since just the fact that he was in this movie made me happy. Jessica Chastain doesn’t disappoint, and I cannot wait to see her in Crimson Peak.

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor is the best one on Earth. And I am happy Sean Bean’s character didn’t die.

This movie was aesthetically pleasing, and as for the emotional connection to the audience, did impressively well. One problem I find in movies nowadays is the lack of emotional interaction between the characters and the audience, but the Martian delivered. I got so emotional during this movie, and this doesn’t happen a lot. This is so good, y’all. I am not kidding.

I give the Martian a 9 out of 10. It is a must watch, go see it if you haven’t.