Oscar Optimization – The Martian (2015) – Encore Review 2

Since it’s been nearly two months since I watched most of the Oscar Nominated movies, I decided to rewatch many of them and reevaluate my thoughts on these films.  I am rewatching them in no particular order.  Here are my Optimized thoughts on The Martian (2015) :

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“Hi, I’m Mark Watney and I’m still alive… obviously.” – Mark Watney

Number of Times Seen – 3 (11 Dec 2015, 27 Jan 2016 and 24 Feb 2016)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – After a mishap and he is left for dead, an astronaut must figure out how to survive for four years alone on Mars until a rescue mission can save him.

My Take on it – I guess three times is a charm here.

I seem to like this one more and more each time I watch it and feel more and more inspired by it each time.

Matt Damon is great as wise cracking but intelligent astronaut Mark Watney.

Having read the book after seeing this movie the first time, I imagined him as the character in the book and was quite satisfied with the job he does.

He definitely deserves the Best Actor nomination because he carries this movie practically by himself since he is onscreen almost the entire time.

The adaptation is done extremely well but still a few good parts from the book are missing. As compensation, they add a great epilogue that helps bring more closure to the story.

I really felt the kind of inspiration that was present in Apollo 13 (1995) where men and women on earth and in space work together to find solutions to so many problems.

Things don’t get too technical and it’s easy to follow all that is going on.

Filled with thrills and also light moments that are balanced quite well together.

Ridley Scott once again shows how great a director he can be with this movie and it’s unfortunate that the academy didn’t agree.

Bottom Line – Great movie about a lone man’s quest for survival against nearly impossible odds. Very good adaptation of the book but not perfectly transferred. Gave me the feeling of Apollo 13 (1995) with the way that people on Earth and space worked together towards the goal of saving a life in space. Damon is great here as the smart but wise cracking stranded astronaut. Scott is back to form and does an amazing job directing this film. Highly recommended!

Oscar Best Picture Worthy? – It’s definitely an inspirational movie that theoretically is good enough to win the award…even as a drama. 😉

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The “cloak-and-dagger” meeting to propose the Rich Purnell Manuever is dubbed Project Elrond after the Council of Elrond in the “Lord of the Rings” series. When this name is questioned, the first character to explain it is Henderson, played by Sean Bean. Bean played Boromir in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and was present during said council. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)

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