The Martian [2015 film]

An astronaut is stranded on Mars.

They would have had to have messed this up pretty badly for me not to love it. They did not. It's faithful to the book, only simplifying or cutting things out for time. The book is much more effective, though (although maybe that's just because I didn't know what was going to happen). I really hope this new trend of science fiction movies that are actually science fiction keeps up.

Concept: A
Story: A
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: A
Acting: A
Music: B

Enjoyment: A plus

GPA: 3.6/4

(Oct. 2015)

SPOILERS. Excellent, if suspense-free story of a man stranded on Mars who everyone thinks is dead. Will they get him back OK? It's anybody's guess. Is the "extended" footage worth buying this again? Probably not, but the scene where he finishes everybody else's experiments is priceless. Damon is pitch perfect throughout.

It was an interesting watch, I haven't read the book, and it did make me want to. I fairly much new from the outset that he was going to survive but I was curious to know how, though I did guess some of the details.

Basically, American astronaut Mark Watney is left behind, presumed dead, by the rest of his Mars exploration crew, his comms equipment is non-functional, and to survive any longer than a few months he has to get off the planet. So we watch him survive, find a way to communicate, and watch politics get in the way of an easy rescue mission.

Yes there were predictable parts but as an action adventure movie it entertained me.

Both myself and my husband enjoyed it hugely and I now want to read the book.

I stuck w/ the movie for longer than the book. But if a movie is going to be so nuts and bolts, so close to current time in its technology, it shouldn't also throw in wierd fantasies of a NASA that doesn't automatically think of slingshot maneuvers by now.

I don't know what would have been wrong w/ leaving the guy on Mars. This movie is sentimental in a way that Alien managed to avoid very nicely.

When a wind storm causes the crew of the Ares III mission to Mars to evacuate, crew member Mark Watney is struck by some equipment and left for dead. He is not. As the crew heads home, Mark fixes his wounds, sets up habitation on Mars and grows potatoes. When those on Earth figure out he is still alive, the rush is on to figure out a way to save him.

One of my favorite "realistic" style space movies.

There are plenty of reviews that will tell you what was going on.
I thought the action was too slow, and the set-backs too contrived (although very likely), and the ending too pat.
YMMV.

A good straight-forward story, but what I like best were the Martian landscapes and the spaceship Hermes sequences!