I have not seen The Martian, but Approaching the Unknown’s premise struck me as the anti-The Martian movie and is about a man, played by Mark Strong, on a solo one-way trip to Mars. I like Mark Strong and was intrigued to see if he had the chops to carry a movie by himself.
Approaching the Unknown is a story of human desires’ contradictory goals. Strong’s character enjoys an extreme life where his ingenuity is a matter of life or death, and his actions are suicidal because he prefers to live life without safety nets to force himself to experience epiphanies, but he also wants to live fully. He does not want to infect other people with his loneliness so he relegates himself to a life alone, but his face glows at the prospect of being on a planet alone with a fellow pioneer following behind him, played by Sanaa Lathan. He wants to accomplish something distinctive and has faith in his abilities, but also is filled with an undercurrent of dread that he may fall short.
Approaching the Unknown ultimately failed to be a memorable viewing experience. The idea of a man in his 50s caring less about actual life, but willing to die if he failed was so extreme that I was not invested in his survival, especially since he wasn’t. He looked death in the face and achieved a breakthrough, but that did not make me care about him as a person. It felt like he was not fully human, but simply defined by his accomplishments and a walking talking resume, which did not make his character interesting to me.
Approaching the Unknown is an examination of one man’s existential crisis as he succumbs to the possibility of death and failure like others, but strives for a life of distinction, purpose and excellence. Dust to dust. Approaching the Unknown did not make me feel anything.