[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej3ioOneTy8&w]
The Martian (2015)
Release Date: October 2, 2015
Cast: Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Shiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Mackenzie Davis
Director: Ridley Scott
Studio: Genre Films, International Traders, Mid Atlantic Films, Scott Free Productions, Twentieth Century Fox
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre(s): Adventure, Sci-Fi, Action
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Spoilers: Medium
IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes | Wikipedia
I finished The Martian by Andy Weir in a day because it was that good of a read. It made my engineer brain all giddy because there was science/tinkering/math/all around awesome mixed into a survival story. Seriously, if you haven’t read the book, go read it now. It might not be for everyone because the book goes into great detail of all the math equations and shows how Watney works through problems.
If you love math and science, it’ll be fantastic. The film gives just a glimpse into the book’s intricacies in NASA science technology. Here’s a really cool read about Nine Actual NASA Technologies in ‘The Martian.’ The best part of the book though is not the math/science but the humor. It’s a damn funny book and Watney’s humor is on-point with that of “nerds/geeks.” Too long have movies portrayed nerds/geeks as pocket protector wearing, awkward people. This is doing it right in that we’re not scared to blow ourselves up in the pursuit of finding new things.
Hope is a powerful emotion and when the world is all tuned in to try and save one man 33.9 million miles away, there are no boundaries. You have the world’s best minds working on scenarios to bringing him back. The Martian is about survival, trusting your knowledge and past experience to get you through the toughest challenges. Every obstacle Watney faced he was logical and worked his way through it, all while keeping a sense of humor. You would think he’d go insane living by himself…as the only man on the planet, but he kept his morale up.
The movie was true to the book, of course there were some major changes with the ending scenes, but I can see why they did it. All I can say *minor spoiler* is that Watney faced more…difficult challenges in the book, and you were really on the edge of whether or not he’ll make it. There were more curveballs in the book, that’s it. Other than that, there were some cut scenes, so all in all a great adaptation to movie form.
I was also thrilled when I found out that Ridley Scott would be directing because he is the perfect director for this type of movie. Just look at his resume: Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Prometheus…impressive. I have enjoyed every one of his movies (with exception to Exodus: Gods and Kings, that was the story though). The Martian was visually pleasing, melding the stark dusty landscape of Mars to futuristic space base. I really liked that he mixed in the overlays of the Watney video logs with the vitals, and oxygen, and all the stats of the base. Ridley Scott is an A+ director and this is just another notch on the brilliant totem pole for him.
Final Thoughts: I don’t know why you’re reading this review, go watch The Martian! The story flowed great, the acting was fantastic, the shots were beautiful, action was just enough to have that ‘he’s in danger’ feeling, and the humor carried the movie great. This is easily one of my favorite movies this year.
![[Source: Foxmovies.com - The Martian]](http://www.nerdophiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/martian-gallery11-470x253.jpg)