The Martian

Of course I'm not one to try and sway the Academy (last Oscars reference, I swear) but to me the award for Best Actor was given to the wrong guy this year. Yes all the nominees and all the films are surely superb, and I am in no way discrediting Leonardo DiCaprio as an acting talent, but Matt Damon's near-solo powerhouse in Ridley Scott's The Martian I found phenomenal.

In fact, the whole film for me is phenomenal. Based on Andy Weir's novel, The Martian imagines a world not too distant from ours, where space travel is ground-breaking and breathtakingly powerful, but not nearly as much as the struggle and story of the one man that is left behind on Mars.
As astronaut Mark Watney, brought spectacularly to life my Damon, struggles to survive and achieve rescue, the result for the audience is not only a gripping, dramatic, and action-packed sci-fi thriller; but an incredibly raw and stripped bare look at humanity in almost impossible circumstances, the likes of which I have never seen before on film.

Yes, we do get some action and interplay away from Matt Damon on Mars, also comprised of a superb cast - including the likes of Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig on the ground back on Earth who struggle to contact and rescue Watney as he struggles on Mars.
Another fascinating element we see is the dynamic of Mark Watney's fellow crew of astronauts, who are often caught between moralities, as well as between Mars and Earth. These include very solid performances from the likes of  Kate Mara and Jessica Chastain.
No matter how commendably perceived and executed every other element and performance of The Martian is however, there is no doubt at all from start to finish who the main man is in this one.
Looking back having watched the film now, I can think of few other actors alive, in Hollywood or otherwise, who could encapsulate not only the character of Mark Watney, but also the incredibly unique journey and experience his character undergoes.
Matt Damon is instantly believable, and throughout each and every second of each and every scene he delivers on the desperation, sorrow, light-heartedness, triumph, depression, science, humour and eventual resolution that comprises the Mark Watney story. In fact the only drawback with Damon's performance and indeed The Martian as a whole, is that his performance is so perfect that it does tend to tarnish slightly all the other very positive elements of the picture.

The Martian to me is a certain future classic of film. All the right amounts of sci-fi, great writing, beautiful cinematography and music, with great performances all round, led by the superb Matt Damon. I sincerely recommend this one; as The Martian's action, joy, sorrow, performance level and sheer power cannot fail to impress.