Ranking the MDGHCU (Matt Damon Getting Home Cinematic Universe)

[Deset Gled]

We've had a lot of good "ranking" threads, from Star Trek to Kubrick. But there's a critical Cinematic Universe that we haven't touched yet, the Matt Damon Getting Home Cinematic Universe. With "The Odyssey" coming out soon, it's a good time to address it.

It's a tale as old as the 90s: Matt Damon is lost and must get home. Multiple directors, writers, and storytellers have told the tale. Here are the movies, from best to less-best.

The Martian: Matt Damon (as a space pirate) is trapped on Mars, and everyone on Earth tries to bring him home. Peak hard sci-fi.
Dogma: Matt Damon (as the angel Loki) is trapped in Wisconsin and must get home to heaven with his best bud Ben Affleck. Great comedy.
Saving Private Ryan: Matt Damon (as the titular Private Ryan) is the last surviving Ryan in WWII, and Tom Hanks must bring him home. A classic.
The Odyssey: Matt Damon is the OG "Guy Who Must Get Home". Unseen so far.
Interstellar: Matt Damon is trapped by time and space on the other side of the galaxy, and must do everything he can to try and get home. Meh.
The Great Wall*: Matt Damon needs to get home from China (preferably with some gunpowder), but gets caught up in wacky hi-jinks involving lots of CGI on the titular Great Wall along the way. Of all the movies on this list, this is certainly one of them.

So, what's your ranking? There are two tasks to creating it. The obvious one is ranking the movies. The less obvious one is deciding what movies to rank. I present the above list as The Right list, but many Wrong people will argue with it. First, because Matt Damon doesn't get home in all the movies I mentioned. But I believe the MDGHCU is based on the journey, not whether or not it's successful. Also, some people on the internet might claim that others belong, such as:

Elysium: Matt Damon must get to Elysium. But Elysium is not his home, so it doesn't count.
Courage Under Fire: Matt Damon's helicopter is shot down in the Persian Gulf, and he gets home. But the plot of the movie really isn't about getting anyone home and he's a tertiary character.
Titan A.E.: Matt Damon, alone in the universe, must make a new home for humanity. But his home (Earth) is destroyed and he spends his life as a drifter, so getting to Planet Bob doesn't count.
Field of Dreams: There is no reason to even mention this movie except to bring up the trivia that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were apparently extras in it.

* Late addition based on comments.

 

[Barner Cobblewood]

I don't understand how you could have forgotten The Great Wall. It's not forgettable at all.

 

[Talltomwright]

I don't understand how you could have forgotten The Great Wall. It's not forgettable at all.

Is that the one where the audience really wanted to get home?

 

[TheAlkaizer]

Interstellar: One of my favorite movies. Possibly my favorite. This has to be up top.
Saving Private Ryan: A classic for a reason. Amazing movie.
The Martian: Excellent movie. Just not on the level of the two above movies.
The Odyssey: Very excited to watch it. Can't rank it though.
Dogma: Never saw it. Can't rank it.

 

[Tonguez]

Dogma: It really is a great comedy
Interstellar: Very good movie
Saving Private Ryan: A good War Movie
The Martian: too much science for my popcorn brain
The Odyssey: Here for now, who knows

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Dogma. It's the only one I've seen.
The Odyssey. It's one I will see.

 

[Joshua Randall]

If home is where your heart is, then I move that Titan A.E. be allowed and I rank it R for rad! Underrated movie with some memorable scenes and characters. (I’ve used the mute space bats in my D&D game and one player still talks about them.)

 

[trappedslider]

Is that the one where the audience really wanted to get home?

I am glad i live alone because you had me actually crackling at this.

I feel that the MDGHCU should be redone to be "People go looking for Mat Damon" just so we can include the Jason Bourne movies

Note however, unlike traveling with Tom Hanks,if you travel with Matt Damon,people will come looking for you; well really for Matt,but as long as you're with him you'll get found too.

 

[Vael]

How I rank the MDGHCU ... who is trying to help or stop Matt Damon from getting home. From most helpful to most against:

The Martian: The world unites to get Matt Damon home.
Interstellar: Matt Damon is mainly being opposed by the crew and honestly he's his own menace.
Saving Private Ryan: Tom Hanks and his team are trying to get Matt home, but the Germans have other plans.
Dogma: Matt Damon getting home will cause the end of the universe, so the whole story is about our heroes trying to prevent that.
The Odyssey: Haven't seen it, but the story has literal gods and monsters in Odysseus's path.

 

[Deset Gled]

I don't understand how you could have forgotten The Great Wall. It's not forgettable at all.

I have to admit, I remember the movie, but completely forget that "getting home" was part of Matt Damon's arc. I just remember him making friends and fighting monsters. I kind of assumed he just stayed in China at the end. But I checked and it seems that he does travel back home after freeing Pedro Pascal.

If home is where your heart is, then I move that Titan A.E. be allowed and I rank it R for rad! Underrated movie with some memorable scenes and characters. (I’ve used the mute space bats in my D&D game and one player still talks about them.)

IMNSHO, getting metaphorical with "home" basically kills the entire genre; it's so broad of a definition that almost any movie could count "from a certain point of view".

That being said, I also have a very hot/cold relationship with Titan A.E. It's Don Bluth's last big movie. It's got interesting characters and ideas. It could have been so much. But the CGI and traditional animation blend is terrible. The voice acting is all over the place. It can't tell if it's a kids movie or not. So much weirdness.