NP: The Martian

[John Bailey]

I heard a review that described it as 'competence porn' and I kind of
agree. It has no subplot, no subtext, almost no characterisation, the
plot never moves beyond the first act, but it certainly delivers on
the person-doing-their-job promise. Which seems to have proven
incredibly satisfying for a lot of viewers and most critics.

While I was watching it I was wondering if it's Scott's reply to the
many, many haters of Prometheus. That film has absolutely no legs on
the literal level but operates wonderfully if you want to dig into the
symbolism of its cosmic body horror. The Martian is entirely literal
and gives you nothing more. In my opinion. It's good that it's only
one among several.

On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Charles Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com> wrote:
> Can anyone explain why Ridley Scott didn't pull an Allen Smithee on this bit
> of dreck?
>
> love,
> cfa
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l