The Martian: A Movie Review by Joey Garrity

Last updated on: October 12, 2015 at 4:46 pm by Monique Ocampo

The Martian: A Movie Review by Joey Garrity 2015-10-12T16:46:35-05:00 Monique Ocampo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Last night I saw The Martian with two friends and my college Newman Club’s chaplain. I am confident saying it is the best movie of this year so far, and that the many good things I had heard about this movie turned out to be true.

The movie opens with an intense sandstorm interrupting a Mars mission, during which the crew’s botanist Mark Watney is struck by debris and lost in the storm, believed by his fellow astronauts to be dead. The remainder of the crew boards their ship and leaves for Earth, reporting the death of Watney to NASA and the world. Meanwhile, Mark survived the Martian storm and must find a way to survive on the Red Planet and contact Earth with only the Ares scientific base with its equipment and leftover food, a few bags of potato seeds, a Mars rover, and various buried equipment from past Mars missions.
The best thing about this movie to me was that it reminded me of the survival stories I read or watched growing up, such as Hatchet and Castaway. And it was very much so the next logical step in the survival genre, as deserted planets are the new deserted islands to a humanity that has expanded its exploration to the stars. Matt Damon gave a phenomenal performance as Mark Watney, and his resolve to never give up in the face of extreme adversity is a great message for all of us.

One of my favorite moments, however, was when Mark’s former crewmates choose to turn around before reaching Earth and head back to Mars to rescue him against NASA’s wishes, whose director argued that one death would be better than six. From the view of Catholic Social Teaching, the Ares crew were some of the real heroes of the movie, going out of their way and risking everything to rescue a single person from death. Sometimes as Catholics we are called to sacrifice convenience for the greater glory of God and His people.

Overall, I highly recommend The Martian to everyone reading this. It is a fantastic piece of cinematography and storytelling. The only problematic scene I can think of is when Mark says he is going to burn a crucifix he found in the base to make water, but we never explicitly see him doing it and it is implied there were other “personal items” he may have used instead. As a final note, I am aware that this movie was based on a book. I have not read it, but I would encourage both myself and all of you to read it as well, since many things can be lost when translating a book to the screen. All in all, a great movie that stands above the majority of this fall’s blockbusters.

Joey Garrity is a 22-year-old Catholic from Ohio studying Computer Information Technology at Northern Kentucky University. He is one of the founding members of The Fellowship of the Geeks, a Life Matters Journal project where he and fellow writers blog about consistent life themes in media and fandoms. He is an avid fan of Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and many others. He enjoys writing, playing his bass guitar, listening to music, video gaming, and hanging with friends.

A Night at the Movies

guest post

movie reviews

The Martian

Previous Post

October 12, 2015

Swift, Synod, and Second Hand News

Next Post

October 13, 2015 Band Candy: Top 10 Buffy Episodes #7

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Night at the Movies Apologetics Asperger's Syndrome autism Being Catholic Books Buffy the Vampire Slayer Faith Fandoms Heart of Mary Women's Fellowship Interviews Lent Music Personal Life Poetry Prayer Radiance and Grace Reflections Relationships Religion Saints Seven Quick Takes Social Media Taylor Swift Television The Soapbox True Love Tuesday Uncategorized Women of Christ Wednesday writing Young Adult Issues

Select a Month February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz