Plot
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.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 8.6/10 (3,288 voted)
Critic's Score: 73/100
Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig
Storyline
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. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney's safe return. Based on a best-selling novel.
Writers: Drew Goddard, Andy Weir
Cast: Matt Damon -
Mark Watney
Jessica Chastain -
Melissa Lewis
Kristen Wiig -
Annie Montrose
Jeff Daniels -
Teddy Sanders
Michael Peña -
Rick Martinez
Sean Bean -
Mitch Henderson
Kate Mara -
Beth Johanssen
Sebastian Stan -
Chris Beck
Aksel Hennie -
Alex Vogel
Chiwetel Ejiofor -
Vincent Kapoor
Mackenzie Davis -
Mindy Park
Donald Glover -
Rich Purnell
Nick Mohammed -
Tim Grimes
Chen Shu -
Zhu Tao
Eddy Ko -
Guo Ming
Trivia:
The landscape and environment of Mars was created through a combination of location filming and CGI. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
The Martian is directed by Ridley Scott and stars Matt Damon as Mark
Watney, an astronaut stranded on Mars after being presumed dead when a
dust storm forces his crew to evacuate their base without him. Watney
must find a way to contact NASA while also surviving on a planet
without food or water.
This movie does not waste time getting started, and quickly sets the
plot in motion by forcing the crew to evacuate and stranding Watney on
Mars. Aside from one or two large time jumps, the film's pacing was
solid and kept the plot moving while never overwhelming the viewer. For
a survival movie, it had a rather sparse amount of the thrills, however
those it did provide were unpredictable and truly felt consequential,
each one radically altering Watney's situation.
The film's script inherits the books humorous and snarky dialogue, and
manages to balance it with the perils of Watney's situation perfectly.
Watney provides comic relief and often makes light of his dire
situation, however through Matt Damon's performance and a sharp script,
the humor never clashes with the film's survivalist tone.
Speaking of Matt Damon, he proves massively watchable as Mark Watney,
and even gives a surprisingly committed performance as his body begins
to suffer from his food rationing. He delivers the dialogue well, and I
feel in the hands of a lesser actor a lot of the snarky writing would
have come off as awkward or out of place. While I would not say his
performance goes as far as Sandra Bullock in Gravity, another
one-person space survival, it is nonetheless solid and at times quite
impressive.
The Martian also inherits it's source materials strong dedication to
scientific accuracy, and definitely qualifies as a "Hard" sci-fi movie.
The science-based story unfortunately does lead to quite a bit of
technobabble between NASA and the other astronauts, which while
sometimes a little off putting is still simple enough to not disrupt
the film in any significant way.
From what I've said, the movie probably seems quite good. And that's
the problem. The Martian is just that; quite good. It lacks the
technical ambition of Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity or the emotional
resonance of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, and never quite rises
from "good" to "fantastic". Aside from the final sequence, the movie
doesn't provide much emotional connection to the characters. While it
can be frustrating to see the setbacks Watney constantly faces, the
film doesn't really bother to invest you enough to have true empathy
for him or the rest of his crew.
The plot also at times does become a bit crowded, especially around
two-thirds into the movie. Between Watney, his crew, NASA, and the
other characters, it does become difficult to keep up.
Nonetheless, the Martian is still a captivating, well-written and
visually marvelous film, even if it never manages to become more than
its source material.
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