Last weekend, Ridley Scott’s space adventure The Martian took over the box office, winning tons of praise from critics as well as moviegoers, and for good reason, it’s a fantastic movie (read our review here). A new deleted scene just hit the airwaves, and it provides an illustration of a number of the selling points for the movie, especially Matt Damon’s sense of humor.
Check it out below, and don’t worry, there aren’t any real spoilers if you haven’t seen the film yet, as all of this is similar to the TV commercials leading up to the release.
This clip first appeared over at EW, and though there isn’t much context, it appears that it is from relatively early in the movie. The plot of The Martian revolves around astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon), who is part of the first manned mission to Mars, and, after the rest of the crew abandons him on the surface in the face of a horrific storm, thinking he is dead, he finds himself alone on the Red Planet.
As you can imagine, every move is life or death in this situation, and as Mark struggles to figure out how to survive, this clip shows that he also remains dedicated to the scientific nature of the mission. Though with his superior officer and fellow crewmembers gone, he’s doing it his way, and getting a little personal with some of the equipment.
One of the coolest elements about The Martian is how big a role science plays. Every option Watney faces boils down to a big science project, and this is the kind of movie that shows how awesome science and math and engineering can be. And he details all the science in a way that makes it accessible to average viewers out there who may not have advanced degrees. These video journal entries also serve as a way to disseminate this information without it feeling overwhelming.
Something that was unexpected about The Martian, at least for those of us who didn’t read Andy Weir’s novel, is the sense of humor. It’s a predominant feature of the film, does a lot of work, and really serves to ground the character—sometimes he laughs because things are funny, sometimes it’s a gallows humor, and sometimes he laughs because the only other option is to cry. And then sometimes, like when he bags on Martinez, played by Michael Pena, it’s also just damn hilarious.
Around these parts, The Martian is one of our favorite movies of the year so far, and given an almost $55 million opening weekend and almost unanimous positive reviews, there are a lot of folks out there who seem to agree. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s definitely one to check out.
