In the Movie Martian What Does It Cost to Bring Him Back

10 /10

It's hard to imagine Ridley Scott directing a film like this one....

Ridley Scott is famous for bringing "Alien" and "Bladerunner" to the big screen. Both have huge followings and both are amazing for their time when they were made. Now with "The Martian" he brings a great sci-fi film to us but one with an entirely different mood--so much so that it's hard to believe it's from this famed filmmaker! Why? Because the mood is so much more positive and upbeat--and it's a film that leaves you happy...something you could never say about the other movies!

As far as what I liked about the film and what I disliked, I'll make it easy--especially since there are already so many reviews for the movie. What I liked was everything and I hated nothing. There is nothing I would have done differently...and that's something I almost never can say. This is a very intelligent, crowd-pleasing quality picture from start to finish and you should see it on the big screen if you can. Yes, it's THAT good!

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8 /10

Tasks for your survival

Although The Martian is set in an indeterminate future I have questions about labeling it science fiction. One of the film's best strengths is that it is based on what we know about the landscape and atmosphere of Mars right at this point in time. It's a desert planet with water and no life as we know it. Compared to what Matt Damon has to go through, Robinson Crusoe was on that tropical isle for a picnic.

They never really say just exactly what year The Martian is set in. The film in that sense avoids a trap like so many others fall into. Just this past year we saw 2015 come and go and it wasn't really anything like the 2015 that Marty McFly experienced. That's just one example.

Of course you can also never predict what popular trends will be there. That's purely speculative. So you can't have Matt Damon's character listening to current music. His captain's taste in music was 70s disco and that really became a running joke. It's all he heard for the months he was on Mars. Personally I'd prefer a selection of 30s and 40s music with Bing Crosby at the top of my list. But if that's all I heard for months on end, I'd grow to hate Der Bingle.

And that's part of the story, the everlasting boredom trying to keep your mind fresh and busy with tasks for your survival. Like Mr. Roberts from tedium to apathy and always boredom.

What happens in The Martian is that Damon is part of an astronaut team and gets left behind when a Martian sand storm erupts and the crew flees on the space ship. Captain Jessica Chastain takes when she thinks Damon was killed.

The future also brings us better communication and NASA learns that Matt's still there. To say that there's a public relations problem is putting it mildly. Just leaving him there is actually an option discussed. But that goes against the code of a decent civilization which while we're not at Star Trek level yet, we look to be heading that way.

Although The Martian splits time evenly with Damon's plight and the efforts to rescue him, Matt's time alone on the screen with the full range of emotions displayed is what got him his Best Actor nomination. Besides the realistic depiction of Mars, his performance is the other pillar on which this fine film rests. I would give mention to Jessica Chastain and her fine performance as a tough and yet humane leader of her team.

Besides Matt Damon, The Martian is also up for Best Picture and for a flock of awards in the technical categories. It should take home deserved statues this year.

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Technically Great and a Wonderful Performance by Damon

The Martian (2015)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

On a mission to Mars a crew of astronauts get caught in a brutal storm when one member, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is hit with an object and apparently killed. The commander in charge (Jessica Chastain) decide to leave the planet and NASA must announce that Watney has been killed but soon they all discover that he survived. Now Watney must find a way to try and survive on the planet with a lack of food and water.

Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN is an extremely entertaining movie and it's easy to see why it became such a box office hit. The idea of a man being trapped on a different planet and having to decide whether he wants to live or die is such a simple idea and there's no question that Scott knows how to handle drama and tension in space. The film has a very good story to draw you in but I'm not going to lie and say I didn't have any problems with the movie but more on that in a bit.

A lot of credit certainly goes to Scott who handles the material extremely well and most importantly is the fact that he makes you believe that this man is actually trapped on Mars. If the viewer thought they were just looking at a set or just some fake CGI then it would pretty much kill the story. By Scott creating a real environment you have no problem believing that you're seeing a man trapped on a planet with his closest help millions of miles away. On a technical level the film contains some wonderful cinematography, a great and rousing score and of course brilliant sound effects and set designs.

Damon's excellent performance is another very important factor because we need an actor who we're not only going to believe in the part of a brilliant astronaut but we also must be entertained by him and care for him. Damon certainly makes you believe that he's this brilliant mind and there's no question that his one-man-show is something the actor nails. We get a strong group of supporting players including a very good Chastain plus strong work from Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

As I said, I did have some major problems with the film including the fact that it just seems like everything happened way too easily. I understand this is a mainstream movie that couldn't get into great detail because it might confuse or bore the viewer but I just thought the film would have worked even better had it been more realistic. Of course, I'm no space expert so perhaps what happens here is 100% believable. I'd also say that the film is also a tad bit too predictable. Either way, THE MARTIAN is certainly a very good movie.

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8 /10

fun thrilling space adventure

The Ares III manned mission encounters a sand storm on Mars. Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left for dead as the rest of the crew evacuate on their spacecraft. Mission control back on Earth is shocked when they discover that Mark is actually alive and alone on Mars.

Simply put, this is a fun space adventure. There is a good deal of Apollo 13 and Gravity. Damon is humorous and engaging. Meanwhile, the mission control back on earth is doing interesting things. Nobody is the villain. Jeff Daniels is a capable bureaucratic leader. Chiwetel Ejiofor gives the team intensity and has fun scenes with Mackenzie Davis. Almost every side character adds to the group. As for the spacecraft, it's interesting to have Jessica Chastain as the commander. The entire cast is great. The whole story is thrilling. There are unexpected turns. It has the feel of reality. A lot of praise has to be given to director Ridley Scott for a well constructed film. Also it's genius to give it a disco soundtrack.

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7 /10

Fun but Far From Great

This is certainly an entertaining film as a formula movie. It's fun like the earlier "Independence Day" film with Bill Pullman and Will Smith. We put a poor guy in an untenable situation, trapped on a planet when his colleagues are forced to take off and leave him behind. As a scientist, he does miraculous things to stay alive, including creating a greenhouse where he can grow potatoes (that just happen to be on board providing seed). That's OK. That's a plot element. He also has incredible knowledge of all the incredible stuff left behind on Mars. An amazing rover as well as a nuclear device. That's OK too because we can't have a plot without something for this guy to do. Where it falls down is in the reality of NASA (which we are told are a pack of insensitive boobs or nerds). They are going to do this and then they are going to do that. Jeff Daniels plays a stuck-in-the-mud guy who is only concerned about the politics of the job. I love Matt Damon. I've seen nearly everything he has done. He's adequate in this film but certainly not Academy Award material. He expresses almost no emotions other than a couple little under-control tantrums. What about the loneliness, the sameness of every day? Years of eating potatoes. Anyway, it is candy for those who don't want to think very much. It's very impresstive looking and the special effects are awesome. We've become a bit spoiled, I guess. Things by the formula.

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8 /10

The man on Mars

Ridley Scott's The Martian was wonderfully realised on 3D for the big cinema screen. It probably will not come across well on the small screen.

Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is separated from his spacecraft and crew on a mission to Mars. Instead of panicking he overcomes the obstacles in his way by thinking outside of the box to survive as long as possible.

When NASA find out that Mark is still alive his former crew mates turn around for a rescue mission.

The film is essentially a lone survival film without the protagonist not exactly getting too lonely or crazy. There is the parallel story of NASA and other agencies working together on the rescue mission as Mark's predicament catches the public's attention.

The problem with this type of movie and it happened with Gravity is that you can be blown away with special effects the first time round but it might lack rewatch value.

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7 /10

Total Lack of Emotion and Suspense

During a storm in Mars, the astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is hit by an antenna and presumed dead by his captain and crew that cannot find him. Captain Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) seeks him out and decides to departure with her crew. However, he has survived and finds that was left behind short of supplies and without communication to Earth. Mark is botanic and uses his knowledge to plant potatoes in a green house he has prepared. Meanwhile in NASA the scientists find that Mark is alive and try at any cost to bring him back to Earth. Will they succeed?

"The Martian" is a film with fantastic special effects and cinematography. However there is a total lack of emotions and suspense and it is hard to understand the hype around this film. Mark Watney seems to be a combination of Robinson Crusoe with MacGyver with his ideas and solutions. However, he never feels depressed or in despair with the loneliness or with his doomed situation. His rescue is a rip-off "Gravity" that is better and better. If the viewer watches this movie with great expectation, he or she will be very disappointed. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Perdido em Marte" ("Lost in Mars")

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Entertaining and slick enough to make you go with it

I heard a lot about this film regarding its scientific validity as a piece of fiction. Perhaps as a result of this I assumed that the film would be a dry affair – an impression sort of confirmed by the longer than normal running time. As it happens, this is not the case at all because The Martian has much more in common with the entertaining blockbuster that the starry cast list and presentation suggest it will be. The story wears its science very much on its sleeve, but yet makes it accessible and fun – with the slick presentation making it so. As a result everything seems to be explained with everyday objects, and even the most complex principles are presented in simple terms (references to Iron Man for instance). As a result the film gets to have its cake and eat it – although the film is helped by the knowledge of a lot of this being possible (eg hitting a point near Pluto recently with very tight tolerances on a journey of years).

The film itself doesn't really play up the drama in a heavy way, but rather does enough to invest the viewer in it without making it too much of a downer or serious. The soundtrack is hugely upbeat, the content is mostly light in tone, and the science is delivered in a very user-friendly fashion – essentially in the service of the tone and the entertainment value, nothing more than this. The starry cast add to this feeling, and use their screen presence well. Damon is consistently likable, which is just as well since he is alone in the vast majority of his scenes. The ensemble cast has a lot of depth to it, all of which are solidly watchable – Chastain, Wiig, Daniels, Eiofor, Peña, Bean, and so on. The Chinese aspects of the plot serves as another reminder that this film is a blockbuster out to make money, but it doesn't seem too out of place. Technically it looks great and it impressive how convincing the surface of Mars looks.

In the end we get to the fist-pumping mission control scenes that we all knew were coming, but along the way the film is slickly packaged and entertaining as a result; even if the oft-mentioned scientific validity of it all is not something it ever seems concerned with itself.

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8 /10

Project Elrond

Warning: Spoilers

A NASA crew on Mars evacuates during a bad storm, Mark (Matt Damon) is believed dead and is left behind. However, he is not dead and needs to be resourceful to survive until the next mission, over a year away. However it it not as bad as "Gravity" or "Cast Away" without Wilson. Mark (plot spoiler revealed in previews) manages to make contact with Earth and we have a subplot to break up the monotony of a one man play.

The film is designed primarily for science geeks. There is a lot of terms for them, many are broken down, some inanely as when a sling shot effect had to be explained to the head of NASA, something they do all the time.

With all the hype of an Oscar nomination, I thought the film would have been better. It was good, I enjoyed it, but I don't believe it belongs in the Science Fiction hall of fame. There are no space aliens, ghosts, or anything crazy like that. Science fiction, not science fantasy.

As far as science goes, my understanding is that Martian soil has a high perchlorate content hindering plant growth. Also NASA is leery of sending anyone to Mars as the radiation dose they will get on a round trip would be considered a lifetime dose for the astronauts, ending their careers and greatly increasing the risk of a latent radiation induced cancer etc.

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8 /10

Roasted, Mashed, Boiled, Sauteed? How'd you do your Potatoes?

If you've ever wondered if Tom Hanks went even further adrift in Castaway then this could be the answer you're looking for.

An Earth team are on Mars carrying out tests on the surface of The Red Planet, a message comes through from Earth warning of a huge and fast approaching storm. The team quickly assemble and flee, unfortunately Mark Watney is caught in the storm, loses his communication device and presumed dead. Watney has survived and has a harsh realism that he's abandoned on Mars with precious little supplies, no company and little chance of survival. Being 50 million miles away and 4 years away in terms of rescue life seems bleak. Watney has to defy the odds in order to survive.

Ridley Scott is responsible for so many wonderful films, and for many The Martian will sit among them.

This is a beautifully made film, it looks incredible, I love the realisation of Mars's surface, truly brilliant, wasn't going to be otherwise with the budget they had. The music is interesting, the score itself is quite subtle, but the tunes from Abba, Gloria Estefan etc are so random.

The pacing of the film is very cleverly done, never does it feel rushed, and on very few occasions does it feel slow or padded. If i'm honest at twenty minutes I was questioning how the film was possibly going to last over two hours.

Matt Damon shows his class, he carries the film on his shoulders, he gives a stellar performance as Mark, cannot be faulted. Some of the others in the film were a little hit and miss, I enjoyed Chiwetel Ejiofor very much. Jeff Daniels was fairly good. Kristen Wiig seemed an odd choice, but she was good too.

It was better then I expected, I enjoyed it a lot 8/10

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8 /10

The Gardener out of space

It's almost impossible to not have seen at least glimpses/clips from this movie. But just knowing what this will be about, does not mean you won't enjoy the ride. It may be true with some other movies, but this works quite good. Even though we do know more and are expecting the inciting incident to happen to Matt Damons character.

And while everyone else does not know about him and his status, we do know. And I think everyone can at least relate to some parts, when it comes to feeling lonely. Even someone who has a lot of people around him/her, has moments where you only have yourself (to rely upon). And Damon has a lot to do. You could say this is predictable (and maybe has an agenda, depending on the outcome always), but the tension still never lets up. Entertaining and funny too, even when Damon breaks a couple of rules of filmmaking (not talking to oneself, but then again, what else can you do? Plus he's not "just" talking to himself ... well you'll see).

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8 /10

"Who am I to talk about loneliness?"

Warning: Spoilers

As improbable as the story is, it had a certain resonance to my mind about the capacity of the human spirit to persevere and make the best of one's circumstances under the most intolerable of conditions. Faced with the same situation, how many would simply give up and let fate take it's course? The harder thing to do is stretch one's mind and resources in an effort to stay alive and operate from a position of informed intelligence until help arrives. When Mark Watney (Matt Damon) proclaims "I'm not gonna die here", not only do you believe it but you wish there was something you could do to help.

That's not to say I didn't find some elements to be just too unbelievable. The real time communication with the rescue team, and especially the sharing of Watney's comments with the rest of the world defied any sort of credibility. China helping pro-actively - I don't think so, at least not in an official capacity. The cracking wise dialog of the crew members was also a little too forced it seemed. You would think there would be some consternation over the plight of the stranded team member.

But for a sci-fi film offering a once in a lifetime what if scenario, the picture works well enough to be an entertaining diversion. I can think of worse ways to spend a couple of hours.

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9 /10

Quite Possibly the Best of 2015

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.

Although at this point I have only seen three of the eight Best Picture nominees, I feel confident in saying that "The Martian" deserves to win. Although Ridley Scott is not nominated for Best Director (odd considering this is his best film in a long time or possibly ever), and the only acting nomination is for Matt Damon (who will likely lose to Leonardo DiCaprio)... this movie nails it on the story alone.

By all means, this can win in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, as well. No, I have not read the original book so I do not know what Drew Goddard put into it. And no, I have not seen all the other nominees yet. I suspect "Big Short" is also an excellent script. But again, this film succeeds based on two things: incredible suspense and a strong script. Is all the science strictly accurate? No. Apparently some key things, such as the "fierce storm", are not correct. But we believe it. Everyone speaks as though they know what they say, and unlike "Star Wars" (or even "Star Trek") this is clearly based on reality.

In recent years, it seems that a space movie somehow sneaks into the top Academy nominees. After "Gravity" and "Interstellar", we have this. And I dare say they are getting better. "Gravity" was a good exploration of visuals, but not a deep film. "Interstellar" took everything to the next level, even to the point of being a mind-bender. Here, I think we have the perfect balance: hard science and space danger. What could have been two hours of boring, bland scenes of a man in a desert end up being exciting and you can feel the desperation -- and more importantly the endless optimism and hope.

The bulk of the film's nominations are in production design, sound and other effects. These are well-deserved, and it may take home a few. Not being an expert, it is hard to judge sound editing. But this is the sort of movie where such a thing can make or break the picture. There will be some strong competition, but the designs of the NASA equipment are impressive and the sounds are excellent. The visual effects are a harder sell, with some of the low-gravity moments seeming a bit off somehow.

The takeaway: expect a win or two in the technical categories. Of the bigger awards, Damon is a contender for Best Actor but will not win. Best Adapted Screenplay ought to be a lock, and if it gets nothing else this is the film's strong suit. For my money, "The Martian" has Best Picture written all over it, but the experts are leaning more towards "The Revenant" or "Spotlight"... on that, we will have to agree to disagree.

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6 /10

The Martian

Warning: Spoilers

From BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated director Sir Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Prometheus), this cleverly titled space film I debated seeing at first, having average reviews, but I went for it. Basically a temporary artificial habitat called The Hub has been established on the planet Mars by the crew of the manned mission Ares III, they are to stay for 2 months and return to Earth in their orbital probe. However, 6 days into the mission the base is hit by a massive Martian storm and they are forced to abandon and launch themselves, to avoid the escape vehicle collapsing and leaving them stranded. While evacuating, astronaut Mark Watney (Golden Globe winning, and Oscar and BAFTA nominated Matt Damon) is hit by a large piece of debris and disappears into the rushing planet dust, he is presumed dead as his biomonitor is damaged, mission commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) and the rest of the crew with their lives at stake are forced to leave Mars. Watney has in fact survived the storm and makes it back to the Hab, but he is unable to contact NASA, he calculates that he has 300 days of food, uses his knowledge as a botanist to make a makeshift farm in the central room of the habitat, and anticipates needing to survive at least three years before a return mission to the planet takes place. Mark makes video logs to keep up morale and plans to journey to the landing site of Ares IV, he modifies the rover for capability to travel long journeys. Satellite photos of Mars are received at NASA, engineers Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis) realise Mark is alive, they immediately attempt to establish contact, against the decisions of the Hermes spacecraft flight director Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean), NASA director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) orders that the crew of Ares III, currently travelling back to Earth, are not told. Back on the surface of Mars, Mark finds defunct probe the Pathfinder, he uses it to regain contact with Earth, using the probe camera and signs for a letter coding system, later on Mark establishes real-time text messaging from NASA in the modified rover. As Mark continues to grow his crops, a plan is formulated by crew supervisor Mitch Henderson and JPL director Bruce Ng (Sunshine's Benedict Wong) to send a space probe to Mars to resupply Mark to last up to four years until Ares IV can reach him, Sanders speaks to the press about the discovery of Mark living on the planet, and he authorises Henderson to send a video message to the crew to tell that Watney is alive. But probe inspections are skipped and it explodes during launch, Mark meanwhile suffers his own disaster as the airlock on the habitat malfunctions, it explosively decompresses, his crops are killed, his projected food supply is reduced and he resorts to strict rationing. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) offer NASA a lifeline, a classified booster can carry a payload, this can be sent to Mars to resupply Mark, or resupply the Hermes so that the Ares III can return to the planet and rescue Mark, Lewis and her crew agree to force Sanders to go ahead with the second option, by setting their craft into a gravitational slingshot back to Mars, the resupply mission is successful and the crew begin the return journey. Seven months later, Mark has driven all key life support systems to the Ares IV mission base, he strips down the Area IV launch vehicle (placed on Mars in advance) to save weight, following instructions from Kapoor, his spacesuit will be used to protect against the vacuum of space. The Hermes reach and orbit Mars, the Ares IV is launched remotely, but Mark's vehicle fails to achieve the altitude needed to be intercepted, an explosive device rupturing an airlock to release the ship's atmosphere and generate thrust is improvised to slow the Hermes down without wasting fuel, still too far away Mark makes the drastic decision to pierce his suit hand and use the suit's pressure to come close enough for Lewis to catch him. In the end Mark returns to Earth to begin "day one" of his new life as a NASA safety instructor for new candidates to the astronaut training program, and the crew members watch the news of the successful launch of Ares V. Also starring Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose, Michael Peña as Rick Martinez, 127 Hours' Kate Mara as Beth Johanssen, Sebastian Stan as Chris Beck, Aksel Hennie as Alex Vogel and Donald Glover as Rich Purnell. Damon as the man trapped on the red planet is a great amiable character, making wisecracks to himself along the way, you definitely want him to be rescued, and there is great support from Chastain, Daniels and Ejifor. If you were to describe this, you could plonk together Cast Away and Apollo 13, but there is a film titled Robinson Crusoe on Mars you could mention as well. What is really good about this film is the choice of music throughout, the lead character is forced to listen to disco tunes, and the choices of songs used are inspired, including "Hot Stuff" - Donna Summer, "Waterloo" - ABBA, "Starman" - David Bowie, and the genius choice is "I Will Survive" - Gloria Gaynor. The first half of the film is really effective with the man, the "martian" of the title (no aliens are ever seen), desperate to survive working for his needs, the middle trails a little with scientific gibberish, but it picks by the last half an hour with the crucial rescue, overall it is a worthwhile science-fiction drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Production Design, and it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound and Best Special Visual Effects. Good!

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8 /10

An Intelligent Space Thriller

Warning: Spoilers

These stories of isolated individuals -- "Castaway", "Robinson Crusoe," "Jeremiah Johnson" -- can be difficult to pull off. They can turn banal in a hurry. Poor Thoreau couldn't do a satisfactory job. "First, I felled the small fir, then adzed the bark and trimmed the mesophyllum into rabbits for the lallies."

"The Martian" pulls it off with aplomb, helped greatly by a courageously demanding script from screenwriter Drew Goddard. A cornucopia of plaudits to the guy, and to Ridley Scott for doing a fine job with the direction, and to the performers who are all at the top of their game, especially Chiwetel Ejiofor as a member of the team back on planet earth. The climax is about as tense as it gets. The musical score, alas, is generic.

The story is pretty well-known by now. Matt Damon is a botanist, part of an exploratory team on Mars, who gets accidentally left behind. He sets about providing a habitat for himself, much in the manner of a test pilot who has run into troubles. As Chuck Yeager has pointed out, the pilot in distress doesn't panic. He just asks, "What do I do next?" It may sound a little boring but it's not. Damon's Martian doesn't despair. He describes exactly what he's doing to a video recording he intends to leave behind as a record if he dies. We are the video recording device. He's pretty chipper throughout. An experiment goes awry and he presents his injured face to the device and says, "Okay. I blew myself up."

About a third of the movie deals with the team back on earth and with the crew of the Hermes, the space craft that left Damon behind. The commander of the Hermes is Jessica Chastain, whom I admire a great deal. It's not just that she's attractive because she's less like a typical Hollywood glamour queen and more like the pretty women ahead of you in the supermarket checkout line. She has a strong jaw but her pale presence suggests fragility, as if one of her long bones might break if she slipped and fell down. I grovel in wonderment at her nose. It assumes a normal tangent from the plane of her face but at its very tip it forms an impudent little outward projection.

Speaking of tangents, that reminds me. Some viewers might find the dialog a little challenging -- velocity in so many meters per second, escape acceleration, "sols" instead of days, Schroedinger's cats or whatever. It didn't bother me a bit. It all sailed completely over my head in the most satisfying way.

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10 /10

Stranded on Mars

Warning: Spoilers

Set in the not too distant future the Ares III mission to Mars has to abort there 31 Sol (Martian day) mission on Sol 18 when a storm hits their base and threatens to topple the rocket that will take them back to the Hermes, the craft that will take them back to Earth. As they run through the storm a piece of debris hits mission botanist Mark Watney. His colleagues try to find him but as his suit's telemetry suggests he is dead they are forced to leave without him. It soon emerges that he is not dead… unfortunately he calculates that there won't be enough food left for him to survive till the next mission to Mars. Back on Earth everybody thinks he is dead until a satellite photograph shows that the Ares III site has changed so somebody must be there! Still at this point there is no way to contact him. Mark manages to grow potatoes for food and sets about retrieving a transmitter from a previous mission. With contact finally made they start discuss how he might be rescued. Time will be close and there will be setbacks.

Fans of 'Hard Sci-Fi' should really enjoy this; the idea of manned mission to Mars might seem many years away the technology we see doesn't seem unrealistic and the story seemed plausible… so much so that the film this most reminded me of was 'Apollo 13' which was of course based on a real life near disaster in space. The opening set up is effective and wastes little time in stranding Mark on Mars then we get down to the business of him trying to figure out how to survive. He encounters many problems which are resolved logically. Similarly the events on earth appear plausible as first those in charge want to avoid a PR disaster then work to rescue him when it becomes apparent that he is alive. The cast does a fine job. Matt Damen excels as Mark Watney managing to be entertaining even when the only talking he does for much of the time is direct to camera as he records a video diary. The rest of the cast, which includes many familiar faces also impresses. The Jordanian locations used look suitably barren to act as a substitute for Mars. While things are serious for the most part there are some good laughs as well; many provided by the fact that the only music Mark has is some disco taken to Mars my the mission commander… this provides an excuse for some enjoyably incongruous back ground music which I rather enjoyed. Overall I really enjoyed this and would certainly recommend it even if you don't consider yourself a sci-fi fan.

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6 /10

How to singlehandedly colonize a barren planet...

I had some reluctance about sitting down to watch "The Martian" because it is a movie starring Matt Damon. But finally got around to watching it almost a year after its release.

This movie, despite being a Ridley Scott movie, is as predictable as they come. You know what happens and what is around the corner a mile away. The movie was so predictable that even a blind man could foreseen what would happen next.

With that being said, don't get me wrong, because "The Martian" is still an enjoyable enough movie for what it turned out to be. However, it just wasn't a groundbreaking movie in any sense, nor was it a particularly outstanding movie, to be bluntly honest.

And a whole movie with almost nothing but Matt Damon was a serious test on my durability. I am not a fan of him at all, but a friend said that this is a really great movie, and that was the selling point for why I actually sat down and watched "The Martian".

The movie was fairly well paced, but running at over two hours and just watching Matt Damon struggling to survive on Mars for the majority of two hours was starting to become a drag.

While "The Martian" certainly is entertaining enough in itself and for what it was, then it is hardly a cinematic masterpiece, nor a movie that is likely to become a classic movie. In my opinion, there are far better movies that revolve around the Red Planet compared to "The Martian".

While Matt Damon had the majority of the screen time, then there was a handful of good casts to assist him as well. And I think that Jeff Daniels and Sean Bean were doing good jobs, just a shame that they didn't have bigger parts and more time on the screen.

My final score, once the red dust has has settled, comes down to a six out of ten stars. For me, then "The Martian" is the type of movie that you watch once, then you bag and tag it, most likely never to be watched again.

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Help is only 140 million miles away. For Mark Watney, stranded on Mars.

Warning: Spoilers

We viewed this on DVD from our public library. Picture and sound are first-rate.

The premise is somewhere in the 2030s we have advanced our space exploration to successful missions to Mars. While one is underway a large, unforecast storm comes up on Mars requiring the crew of 6 to cut the mission short and use the escape rocket to blast off and rendezvous with the main space ship orbiting Mars. But one of the crew, Mark Watney, is hit by a large object and carried away, injured and out of communications. Reluctantly they have to blast off without him after a short search was futile. Mark was presumed dead.

But Matt Damon as Mark Watney didn't give up so easily, he managed to get himself to a base station and using medical tools and staples repaired his wounds and set about trying to figure out how to survive with limited resources. Fortunately with rations for 6 he was able to make food stretch, and as a Botanist even came up with a method to make water and, using his own waste as fertilizer, used a Thanksgiving package of potatoes to grow potatoes in a chamber converted to a greenhouse of sorts.

So much of the movie is about Mark's survival, plus his figuring out a way, using old abandoned Mars exploration robots, to communicate with NASA. The real hard part becomes how to plan and carry out a rescue mission. Mars is far away, it takes a long time, he has limited time to survive.

The cast is varied and good, with Jessica Chastain as Melissa Lewis, the commander of the mission. Kristen Wiig in a serious role as a NASA communications officer, Jeff Daniels as Teddy Sanders, the NASA chief, Michael Peña as Rick Martinez, the pilot for the mission, Kate Mara as one of the crew, a computer expert, Beth Johanssen, among others.

This is a really good and entertaining movie. It is a serious subject but is treated with appropriate humor.

EDIT: I re-watched it 8 days later and enjoyed it as much the second time!

SPOILERS: When the first rescue approach failed in a faulty rocket launch, a young data nerd calculated, using NASA's super computer, that the crew on their way back to Earth could accelerate and using the Earth slingshot return to Mars, but it would require a risky capture of a re-supply module and a never-rehearsed module take-off from Mars to try to capture Watney in a Mars fly-by. NASA said no to the risk but the crew decided on their own to try the rescue. That whole last scene was very tense and of course it was a success.

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10 /10

a thoughtful, exciting, crowd-pleasing movie about problem-solving

It's great to see characters think and actively searching for a solution to a problem. That was one of the driving forces of Apollo 13 (remember, "fit that, with that, using nothing but that"), and other films dealing with survival often have that as a crux of the narrative. But The Martian isn't something where the filmmakers are trying to do a lot with a little dialog, like All is Lost or Cast Away. There are stretches without talking, but not as many as you'd expect; as the audience we're filled in often about what processes are going on and how things keep evolving (or, sometimes, breaking down miserably) in the search for how to keep astronaut/Botanist Mark Watley a) alive and b) bring him back home. It is a splendid piece of big, mainstream entertainment because it really digs in in ways that invite the audience in, while constantly keeping things entertaining and amusing.

The Martian is about a man left behind by his crew (not their fault, they genuinely thought he was a goner), and how he has to find ways to stay alive, to give himself food and, most importantly, send word to NASA that he's alive and well and can they maybe send some supplies and oh does the crew know yet? It's got a lot of science to it - as Damon says in the trailer that most have seen, "I'm going to have to science the s*** out of this" - but, more often than not, it's accessible and easy enough to understand. That is, of course, if you're not too scared by science fiction (or, as the filmmaker and actors have talked about in press interviews, science 'fact', as everything, save for us presently going to the moon with men/women on a ship, is plausible).

It's a movie about how to keep humanity in all its dimensions going through the perils of space. And, as we see, space is nothing if not indifferent; it acts, particularly on Mars, as a place where nothing really grows, storms can knock the hell out of things if items or persons aren't fastened tight, and if anything comes loose, watch out for the air and pressure to possibly kill you. On the level of threats, director Ridley Scott and especially screenwriter Drew Goddard (taking, from what I've been told, faithfully from Andy Weir's best-seller), it's high and pretty constant, and there is always that sense even when things are going well that they can break down at any time. While I never thought watching it 'Oh, maybe he won't get back or might die', as the conclusion seems clear since we are meant to like this guy and want to see him live/return, the threats and obstacles are presented expertly, with a lot of excellent pacing giving us breathing room.

The 'breathing room' part is what I mean by this being a crowd- pleasing, entertaining flick. Goddard, previously of Cabin in the Woods, is adept at giving actors funny things to say, and The Martian is just good but basic sci-fi without the wit. Some of it may seem obvious - Watley is saddled with one of the other astronauts' musical selection (disco, which he grows to kind of like in a begrudging sort of way) - but a lot of it is due to personality, from him as well as those at mission control (Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, a very funny Donald Glover, Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara are part of what is actually a giant supporting cast). These are serious scientists and people trying to do their jobs in (mostly) responsible ways, but how they talk is closer to how one might see people talk in, say, the real world; this isn't the tone-deaf wit of Prometheus, and it's funnier than what Gravity previously tried to do. I was surprised how much I was laughing during The Martian.

But it's deep down a drama, and led by Matt Damon in a performance that makes this director-writer-actor triangle complete for the audience. He has to hold down major chunks of the film, albeit there is a lot with NASA and the other ship with Chastain and so on, and without making this man believable in his serious scientific intellect, his ways of making things light (or cursing, which is interesting that they get away with a PG-13 here by the way through bleeps), and real pathos, the movie won't work, or nearly as well. He delivers up to what the script asks, and it, plus Scott's visual scope and control of the pacing, make this an exceptional Hollywood movie. We get to see how process works in a crisis, and that's always character-building and interesting (when written well) in a movie; that it's at this level of A-list makes The Martian a special film, and one of Scott's best.

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So touching!

This film tells the remarkable story of an astronaut stranded on Mars during a space mission. He does everything he can to survive, while the Earth sets up an unprecedented rescue mission to bring him back home safely.

Many people say "The Martian" is a very good film, and I do agree after watching it. The plot is simple but it has all the right elements to capture the viewers' hearts. To see Mark survive against all odds is very engaging and touching. In addition, the Herculean efforts to rescue him back to Earth is even more touching because there are almost insurmountable technical difficulties. The risk of failure is so high, that death seems almost certain. That of course brings about an poignant ending, which surely leaves me in tears. I enjoyed watching "The Martian".

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9 /10

Surviving the loneliness of Mars.

Warning: Spoilers

Not the most overwhelming thing from director Ridley Scott, but not exactly underwhelming. Commend Drew Goddard for putting Andy Weir's book way out there. Mark Watney (Matt Damon)is an astronaut and superior botanist that finds himself abandoned on the surface of Mars after his crew concludes that he perished in a major dust storm. Watney with his intellect and humor must find a way to survive the harsh planet.

His former crew is high-tailing it back to Earth and is not told my NASA command that Watney is planting/growing potatoes and producing water for sustenance. NASA administrator Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) is too embarrassed and ashamed at first to tell the world that the astronaut has been discovered alive by astrodynamics nerd Rich Purnell (Donald Glover) and has convinced space scientist Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that a rescue is very possible with some major help of international scientists, especially the Chinese space program that has the perfect rocket to get the Herculean effort underway. After being told, his original mission colleagues led by commanding officer Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) are more than ready and able to join in the rescue watched around the world.

This film is held together with a soundtrack a bit better than astronaut Watney prefers. Music by the likes of Donna Summer, Abba, The O'Jays, The Hues Corporation, David Bowie and Gloria Gaynor's anthem "I Will Survive".

Other cast members featured: Kristen Wiig, Michael Pena, Mackensie Davis, Askel Hennie, Sean Bean and Kate Mara.

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10 /10

A Great Story Of Hope And Optimism

Warning: Spoilers

Matt Damon stars in this science fiction film that tells the story of an astronaut that was mistakenly presumed to be dead and left behind in the planet Mars entitled The Martian.This film directed by Ridley Scott is based on Andy Weir's novel of the same name.Joining Damon in an ensemble cast are Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Astronaut Mark Watney is part of a NASA manned mission.After a fierce storm,the mission presumed him dead and left him behind after he was presumed to be dead.But with strong will,he managed to survive and finds himself alone on planet Mars.Learning of his circumstances particularly the meager supplies available to him,he draws upon his intelligence and wit to find a way to signal on earth and ask them to send a rescue mission to save him.Faced with the impossible task and with the world informed about his predicament,the rescue mission is cheered upon by many people to conduct this impossible task of bringing Watney safely.

This is a wonderfully made movie.Ridley Scott and Matt Damon did well as director and actor respectively especially the latter who probably had one of the best performances that he has ever had in his career.The story of hope and optimism will truly inspire the viewer especially in these tough and challenging times around the world.Added to the theme of the triumph of the human spirit,it was also fun to see a great mixture of science,intelligence and humor into the movie particularly in main character.Definitely a must-see feel good movie.

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6 /10

Not Brilliant And Not A Musical

While exploring Mars an expedition get caught up in a sandstorm and have to beat a hasty retreat leaving behind the body of a dead team member . As it transpires he isn't dead but soon will be as it'll take too long to mount a rescue mission and his supplies will have run out long before then

A return to form from acclaimed director Ridley Scott . Oh hold on I'll use quotation marks because that's not really my opinion "A return to form from acclaimed director Ridley Scott" . I'm afraid I found this rather boring . Matt Damon finds himself trapped on Mars struggling to survive . Early in the film Matt takes off his spacesuit and glancing at his inhuman well buffed torso you know every hetrosexual woman on the planet will want to use him as their own personal lick toy if he makes it back to Earth . Remind me and 3.5 billion other mortal men why we want him to survive this ordeal ?

I'm afraid I'd forgotten his characters name because my disbelief was never suspended long or hard enough to think I was watching a real life character trying to survive a real life situation but more of an actor appearing in a Hollywood movie . "Luckily I'm a botanist so I can grow things" he states. Wow , how fortunate is that ? Very fortunate I'd say and this type of good fortune reminds you you're watching a contrived story . It does try and bring science fact to the narrative but at the same time when you've got the actor who played Boromir in THE LORD OF THE RINGS explain why the rescue mission is called "Operation Elrond" this tends to underline the fact that you're watching a movie

One puzzling thing is that it's picked up several Golden Globe nominations - in the comedy/musical category ? This is ridiculous since the film is in no way a comedy or a musical . Its style is somewhat reminiscent of these films in the 1980s with either a diegetic or non diegetic musical soundtrack blasting away . Anyone consider APOCALYPSE NOW a musical ? I didn't think so . That said I did slightly respect THE MARTIAN more than the rather overrated INTERSTELLAR . It's just that when you compare it the breathtaking achievement of GRAVITY a couple of years ago or the thematically similar THE REVENANT then you'll probably find THE MARTIAN a bit lacklustre in comparison . I also think because of voter politics - Inarritu won best director at the Oscars last year - the Academy Awards might just give Ridley Scott a long overdue Oscar in 2016 , but to be honest he's made better films than this one

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5 /10

Typical Overrated Claptrap…Familiar, Forced, and Forgettable

Artificial, Derivative, and unwelcome Things like Forced and Unfunny one liners and...Wait for it.........A lot of Disco Muzak...while constantly Reminding the Audience just how Bad Disco Muzak is.

The Film has very Little Style and the Shining, pristine Sets Look OK, but begin to Bore after a while. The Space Shots and the Mars Landscape, Ditto. The Acting is Stiff, and the PC inclusions are Distracting.

All of the Action set Pieces, what Few there are, have been Seen in other Sci-Fi Films. The "Coming Together" of Earth's Population with Clichéd "Time Square" shots from Around the World have been Done to Death in the Genre, "War of the World's" (1953) and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), to Name a couple.

In Fact, almost Everything in the Story has been Done before and the Film just Can't Escape it's Familiar Territory with anything New, Exciting, or Inventive. It really is a Big Disappointment and will only Seem Fresh to Young Folks and People that Don't Watch a lot of Movies.

Overall, Average at Best, but Cookie-Cutter to the Extreme, Flat, Uninventive, and some severe Missteps (Disco and Stand Up Routines), Render this just Another Big Budget, quickly Forgotten, A-Picture trying to bring its B-Movie Pedigree to New Heights. Truth be Told, the B-Movies do it Better.

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8 /10

Smart, exciting crowd-pleaser

Exceptional sci-fi drama from Ridley Scott about an astronaut (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars and the efforts made to rescue him. As others have pointed out, there's more than a little bit here that reminds you of movies like Apollo 13 and Cast Away (particularly the former). I fail to see how that's a knock on it but it's being presented as such by some. We all come to movies with our own expectations and baggage. I'm not a Scott fanboy expecting him to wow me (his last two films were not great). I just wanted to be entertained and this did the trick. It's a movie aimed at the masses that is smarter than your average movie aimed at the masses. Maybe it's not for all nerds (a quick glance at some of the reviews shows a lot of inane nit-picking from people who seem to have no concept of dramatic license), but I didn't find the movie dumbed-down at all. I also want to say how much I appreciated that this managed to stay remarkably light and positive while still maintaining the tension, proving once again that you don't have to be depressing to be good drama. If you haven't seen The Martian yet, you should. It's a great film with a first-rate cast, good direction, and stellar effects. If you're just looking for a quality movie to entertain you for a while, this should be something you'll enjoy.

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In the Movie Martian What Does It Cost to Bring Him Back

Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/reviews

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