Film Review: The Martian

The Martian. Rated M (survival themes and coarse language). 141 minutes. Directed by Ridley Scott. Screenplay by Drew Goddard. Based on the novel by Andy Weir.

When their Mars mission is hit by a ferocious storm, commander Lewis (Jessica Chastain) makes the decision that the crew leave the planet’s surface and return to the relative safety of their spacecraft, the Hermes. But when the violent windstorm slams a piece of equipment into astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon), he becomes separated from the rest of the crew, and electronic signals from his space suit indicate that he has not survived the impact.

Commander Lewis reluctantly makes the decision to leave Watney behind, only to later learn that he has survived and that NASA is preparing a rescue mission. All Watney has to do is work out how to survive alone on the planet for the four years it will take the rescue mission to reach him.

At a running time of two hours and twenty-one minutes, it’s not that hard to know precisely how he feels. Apart from the opening storm sequence, The Martian feels more like an extra special episode of ‘Better Homes and Gardens’, as Watney potters about tending his crop of potatoes, making and repairing things, while recording entertaining entries into the mission’s video log about how ingenious, funny and resilient he is.

Back on Earth, things are equally ordinary, as a terrifically miscast Jeff Daniels plays Teddy Sanders, the Director of NASA, as something like an incredibly bored school principal. What is impressive, in spite of the ordinary performances, is the extent of ground-breaking technological and scientific innovation that figures prominently in the story, both at NASA, in outer space, and on Mars.

But for all that’s a stake, The Martian is a strangely drama- and atmosphere-free zone.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Exodus: Gods and Kings

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Exodus: Gods and Kings. Rated M (mature themes and violence). 150 minutes. Directed by Ridley Scott. Screenplay by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian.

Verdict: A sumptuous visual feast that brings nothing new to the age-old contest.

Since time immemorial, The Bible’s New and Old Testaments have provided film-makers with a rich tapestry of spiritually-charged adventures on a grand scale. It was the legendary Cecil B DeMille who first filmed the story of Moses and The Ten Commandments in 1923 as a silent epic, before revisiting the story in 1956 with Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as his ‘brother’, Pharaoh Rameses of Egypt.

For his lavish account of the epic, faith-based contest between Moses (Christian Bale), Rameses (Joel Edgerton) and God’s messenger, Malak (11-year-old Isaac Andrews), Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Prometheus) has created a sumptuous visual feast that is simply breath-taking in its scale of cinematic wonder. The work of his Prometheus collaborators – cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, Production Designer Arthur Max, and Costume Designer Janty Yates – is nothing less than awe-inspiring. And while everyone wears far too much make-up (especially eye-liner), Exodus never looks less than magnificent.

The screenplay, though, doesn’t do anyone any favours, with Edgerton’s Rameses reduced to a thinly-drawn, snappy, inarticulate and petulant man/child. Bale gradually rises to meet the demands of his role as the great prophet and saviour of the enslaved Israelites, and his realisation that his God has not abandoned him, just as The Red Sea begins to part, is about as good as the acting gets.

What remains troubling about the experience of this film is how Scott fails to bring any new insights about this well-known battle of faith and self-belief into consideration. At a time where faith of any description is increasingly difficult to maintain, the opportunity to challenge us about the role faith might play in our lives is wasted completely. Faith, after all, is about how we feel, not how we look.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Prometheus

Prometheus. Rated M (moderate science fiction violence and a medical procedure). 124 minutes. Directed by Ridley Scott. Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof.

Verdict: An abysmal script sinks any hope of the masterpiece we might have expected.

With the exception of The Avengers, it is difficult to imagine a film that has been so keenly anticipated as Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus. For months, pre-release expectations have been whipped up into a frenzy with leaked clips, photos and gossip – all of which risked doing the film a great disservice. Could Prometheus be anywhere near as fantastic as we had been manipulated into believing it might be?

It is 2089. Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover an ancient star map that they interpret as an invitation for contact from a pre-human race of supreme beings. Three years later, at the invitation of the ageing Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), Shaw and Holloway join the crew of the scientific exploration vessel Prometheus to travel to the distant moon LV-223 where their creationist theories will be challenged beyond their comprehension.

Spaihts and Lindelof’s (TV’s Lost, and 2011’s turkey Cowboys & Aliens) screenplay boasts a hapless mediocrity – and if there is a sci-fi cliché or another superior movie’s highpoint to be exploited, they waste no time in doing so. The abysmal script is only made worse when compared to the exceptional work of production designer Arthur Max (Robin Hood, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Se7en) and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Alice in Wonderland, Dark City).

The cast, which includes Charlize Theron as corporate whip Meredith Vickers, Michael Fassbender as David the Android, and Idris Elba as the captain of the Prometheus, all do their very best to keep a straight face – possibly realising that at least they’ll certainly look great. Ms Rapace and Mr Marshall-Green both bring real chemistry to their roles, with Rapace in particular, effortlessly rising to the silly demands required of her in the film’s panic-stricken second half.

Shot – spectacularly – in 3D, Mr Scott has certainly made an ambitious return to the universe he so lovingly crafted for Alien in 1979. What is even more extraordinary is why he went there with a script that never manages to stand up to the grand themes of the origins of humanity he obviously wants to explore. And if the heavily sign-posted sequel eventuates (Alien aficionados will know that the crew of the Nostromo discovered a derelict spaceship on LV-426, not Prometheus’s LV-223), we can only hope he goes there with new writers.

Pictured: Logan Marshall-Green, Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender quite possibly dreading their next line of dialogue in Prometheus.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Robin Hood

Robin Hood. 148 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Brian Helgeland.

Make no mistake. We are now entering Big Motion Picture territory. Robin Hood, arguably one of the most eagerly-awaited and heavily-publicised big picture epics of the year has finally hit the big screen. So, is it any good? Yes, of course it is. It's one of the masters of cinematic storytelling Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator), at the helm, after all. Is it Scott's best film to date? No it's not (that's, for my money, still Alien). Is it Russell Crowe's greatest performance? No, it certainly is not (that's A Beautiful Mind closely followed by Romper Stomper). And what's Cate like? She's as marvellous as you'd expect an actress of her calibre to be. And this is the key to Robin Hood's most significant failing: everything is exactly as you expect it to be – that, and nothing more.

It is 1199, and archer Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is a member of King Richard I's (The Lionheart) mighty army. When the King is killed in battle, Robin and his companions are freed to return home to England. Along the way, they discover that the King's Guard (charged with the safe return of the dead King's Crown) have been ambushed by the traitor Sir Godfrey (Mark Strong). After fighting to support their fellow Knights and wounding Godfrey in the process, Robin promises the mortally-wounded Sir Robert Loxley that he will honour his memory by returning his precious and unique sword to the dying knight's father Sir Walter (Max von Sydow) in Nottingham. Back in England, Richard's younger brother John (Oscar Isaac) is named the new King and the country is immediately plunged in chaos. Only the fearless Robin can empower the people to rise up and defeat the invading French forces.

Robin Hood is a serious, lead-footed and humourless film that lacks even one minute in its almost two and a half hour running time of genuine excitement. We anticipate nothing. And while the fine ensemble deliver excellent performances, the encyclopedic nature of Helgeland's (Green Zone, Mystic River) verbose screenplay constantly weighs them down with dialogue so entirely plot-driven and didactic, that not even the promise of light, or romance or personal conquest can shake the immense sense of foreboding that everything is going to play out precisely as we expect it to. And, almost without exception, it does.

Isaac is sensational as the tyrannical, juvenile King John and Strong is great as the evil, duplicitous Sir Godfrey. Von Sydow's spirited performance is all class, and Crowe plays Robin Hood with a great sense of nobility, humility, charity and charm. He belts along on horseback with the very best of them and his moments of wry humour are almost impossibly welcome. Regrettably, they are soon eradicated by yet more thundering hooves, clanging swords and bows and arrows. There's a ridiculous number of bows and arrows actually, which are photographed relentlessly from every possible angle.

With the peculiar exception of the last five minutes, Robin Hood is a film entirely lacking in irony, joy, intimacy or soul. Yes, it starts with a Big Battle (but nowhere near as big or as interesting as Gladiator's sensational opening sequence). It also almost ends with a Bigger Battle – but apart from some impressive aerial establishing shots of the French invasion, we're quickly back on the sand and in the water with yet more thundering hooves, clanging swords and whizzing arrows.

As it, relievedly, begins to wind up, its tone lightens and, for the first time, we sense a pulse – a heartbeat – a pure and restrained optimism and delight that has been chronically lacking from everything that has gone before. While England under the tumultuous reigns of King Richard and King John was quite obviously no fun whatsoever (expect, possibly, for them) – the result is a film that, somewhat perversely, is equally no fun whatsoever. None.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Geraldton Guardian.

DVD Review: Moon

Moon. 93 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Duncan Jones. Written by Nathan Parker from an original story by Duncan Jones.

All too rarely, a movie comes along that, on the surface at least, is apparently incredibly simple and understated. But as it slowly begins to unfold, it reveals itself to be fantastically original and complex, and before long, you somewhat unexpectedly find yourself under its spell. Moon is one such film. Directed by Duncan Jones (the son of David Bowie), Moon is a mesmerising little masterpiece that slowly hypnotises you with its nihilistic vision of not only the future of lunar exploration and the possible exploitation of the planet's resources, but also the very essence of our human identity, fallibility, beliefs and values.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is employed by Lunar Industries to oversee giant harvesters that extract helium-3 from the moon's surface. With only his computer assistant GERTY (superbly voiced by Kevin Spacey) for company, Sam must ensure that once the machines have harvested a certain quota of the precious element, it is jettisoned safely back to earth in canisters where it will aid the development of our planet's clean energy programs. But with only two weeks to go before his three-year contract expires and his replacement arrives, a near-fatal accident involving one of the harvesters threatens his return to earth.

As the lonely engineer who appears to be slowly losing his mind, Rockwell is magnificent. It is a tour de force performance of such immense skill and craftsmanship, that you practically forget that this is, essentially, a film with only one actor in it. He is helped enormously by Parker's marvellously engrossing, lean, mean and inventive script from Jones's fact-based story (the scientific community are actually researching ways to harvest Helium-3 from lunar soil and the film was screened privately for NASA's scientists).

While it lovingly references previous films of the sci-fi genre (particularly Soylent Green, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and Blade Runner), Moon's modest special effects are less concerned with flashy explosions and random space-based exotica, and consist of exemplary model and miniature work (supervised by Alien and Casino Royale Model Master Bill Pearson). And like director Ridley Scott, Jones has the ability to employ the services of his gifted special effects crew to serve his vision and drive the story forward – not distract from it.

But it is Rockwell (who was the voice of guinea pig Darwin in G-Force and who is also starring in Iron Man 2) whose virtuoso performance brings this extraordinary film to life. For those film-lovers who are more than a little fatigued by big expensive flashy epics and want a film that will have you thinking and contemplating the very nature of our existence for days afterwards – Moon is the film for you.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.

DVD Review: Alien

Alien. 117 minutes (Director's Cut 137 minutes). Rated M. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Dan O'Bannon

Thirty years after its original release, Ridley Scott's Alien remains one of the most influential films of the contemporary science fiction genre – not to mention a terrifically thrilling film in its own right. Alien firmly belongs in the era of impressively resourceful and imaginative filmmaking – free from the now familiar obsession with computer generated imagery which, at worst, has replaced the artform's intrinsic storytelling value with a catalogue of eye-popping visual effects and little else.

The commercial towing spaceship Nostromo's return to earth is interrupted by a mysterious transmission from a distant planetoid (LV-426). The crew, awoken from hyper-sleep by 'Mother' (the ship's computer), are surprised to find that the Nostromo has been been redirected to investigate the origins of the distress call. Landing on the environmentally hostile LV-426, Warrant Officer Ripley (a 30 year-old Sigourney Weaver in her feature film debut), eventually deciphers the signal as some kind of warning while, at the same time, the crew discover a derelict alien spacecraft that has crashed onto the planetoid's surface. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Alien's lasting effectiveness is powered by Ridley Scott's commitment to telling us a fantastic story and his uncompromising vision for how his film should look and feel. Unlike today, when much of a film's visual effectiveness is added courtesy of computers, every detail of what appears onscreen in Alien needed to exist in front of the camera as the film was being shot. This included not only a range of immensely detailed sets, special effects, models and miniatures, but also the massive Nostromo set (constructed to precise NASA specifications), which was built as one massive system of complex passageways and chambers – complete with a floor made up of upside-down milk crates painted silver.

Scott, too, relentlessly drove his outstanding cast to levels of extreme emotional and physical discomfort – heightening the real sense of apprehension, claustrophobia and panic among the Nostromo's increasingly fearful crew. The Swiss surrealist H R Giger's Alien design (based on his lithograph Necronom IV), not only radically departed from the human-like alien designs of past science fiction films, but also provided the film with its wealth of startling, other-worldy visual originality. 

The success of Alien resulted in James Cameron's Aliens, Alien 3 (abandoned by director David Fincher) and Alien: Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet), while Alien vs Predator (2004) and Alien vs Predator – Requiem (2007) succeeded in achieving nothing but compromising (and ending) the series in a flurry of tacky exploitation. Ridley Scott has recently announced that he has commenced work on a prequel – Alien 5 – in 3D. Given that he has expressed disappointment with how the series was left to die a slow and artless death, it will be fascinating to see how Scott approaches his return to a story that began his, now, illustrious career.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Geraldton Guardian.