Reviewing ‘How Come Aquaman Can Control Whales?’
Normally The Verge reviews technology and lifestyle products, but there’s also a dash of media in the mix. That means ‘The Martian’ is clearly in the website’s remit, and Bryan Bishop has examined Ridley Scott’s remake of ‘Robinson Crusoe on Mars’ the self-publishing SF hit of the decade:
It’s like Apollo 13 meets Cast Away, and in many ways The Martian plays like two entirely different movies. One follows NASA’s director of Mars missions, Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), as he learns that Watney is alive, and then wrangles support from the agency’s director (Jeff Daniels — that Will McAvoy Newsroom smugness lives!) and head of media relations (an understated Kristen Wiig).
The other is a one-man show with Damon as he tries to grow food, make water, and knock down the complications that inevitably arise. It’s carried in large part by the video diaries Watney makes with the GoPro cameras hanging around the Mars habitat, and while it’s a device that could quickly grow stale, it’s a testament to both the actor’s watchability and screenwriter Drew Goddard’s adaptation that the sequences are not only interesting, but compelling.
