"I'm Matt Damon!"
Posted on 10/07/2015 9:25:26 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
In Capital (volume 3), Karl Marx observed: “In London . . . they can do nothing better with the excrement produced by 4 1/2 million people than pollute the Thames with it, at monstrous expense”. That would not have happened if Matt Damon had been around. Marx was railing against the loss of nutrients from the soil caused by contemporary (and modern) sewage systems. In Ridley Scott’s new 3D blockbuster, The Martian, Damon is inadvertently left behind on Mars by his NASA crew mates and is obliged to survive until help comes.
As is so often the way, inspiration strikes him on the toilet. We never find out if he was familiar with Marx’s views on ecology, but we do learn that he is a first class botanist. A rummage in the cupboards throws up some potatoes and the contents of the crew’s toilets mixed with some Martian dust allows him to make enough soil to grow a crop.
The fact that the film was released in the week that evidence that water may still exist on Mars was lucky timing. It was also a week in which another mass shooting in an American school and Donald Trump’s domination of the Republican Party nomination process reveal a dystopian irrationality in that society. Damon, one of the stalwarts of left liberal Hollywood, offers a defiant refutation of backwardness and irrational thinking. His approach to every problem is to “science the shit” out of it. By this he means that every problem with which he is confronted can be solved by using science and intellect. At times it feels like a promotional film for a university offering very advanced courses in physics, chemistry and biology.
It’s mercifully free of romantic interest and scenes of his bereft family. However, all the usual big budget stuff is there. The music to tell you what to feel; the reaction shots when something dramatic happens and endless joyful cheering when something good happens.
It’s a sign of changing times that the Chinese are shown as helpful allies with the maverick director of their space programme ignoring the party and lending the Americans a rocket.
Power to the Fecal!
They already have it!
Matt...just shut up and start working on the next Bourne movie.
I see Damon is promoting GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE on a huge scale.
On Mars, its OK. On Earth, not so much.
Actually the dork community says the science was pretty good.
http://space.io9.com/science-of-the-martian-the-good-the-bad-and-the-fasc-1734726471
And I enjoyed it. It’s nice to get some movies where none of the characters are @#$holes.
As is usually the case, the book went into much more detail and was probably better. I haven’t seen the movie yet.
The Bourne Walker, Bourne Wheelchair, Bourne Geritol...
I have a friend who’s a sci-fi nerd. He didn’t dislike the movie, but thought the novel it’s based upon is much better.
You left off The Bourne Enema
Thanks for watching it so I don’t have to. It’s still a shame that some of your money is going to the produces and actors of this propaganda.
Science SCIENCE!!!
That’s a big NASA word during their press conferences.
“We gotta go , we have SCIENCE to do!”
In the book it was explained that he could use his own excrement because his bacteria was the only bacteria in the environment. That meant that his body had already created defenses against it.
I found the science in the book to be logical, explained, and plausible. There was no dues ex machina to come save the day.
If they stuck to the book, it was “doable.” The book took place over a couple years, so the timeline is probably compressed.
When I can figure out whodunnit 20 minutes in, and I didn't read the book, why bother? Once you see how airplanes are actually built, to watch one slide a half mile through the trees and stop intact transcends silly.
Haven't seen the movie yet but read the book twice. The author is a science/space geek and the science in the book is accurate...sometimes bordering on tedious. But it's very authentic.
I prefer the Aliens franchise much better.
Or Robinson Caruso on Mars.
There was just something about this movie... Maybe it’s the actor? I don’t know. I’ll have to just science the crap out of this sh*t.
That’s pretty much the movie. Less detailed of course, but it works pretty hard to at least make it sound right, it’s not the usual SF “reverse the polarity” junk.
Mmmmmmmm! Turdtatoes
"I'm Matt Damon!"
“The book took place over a couple years, so the timeline is probably compressed.”
In the movie he was alone for ~550(?) days...
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