THE MARTIAN: This could actually happen, you know?
A mission to Mars being disrupted and going awry due to a sudden and violent wind storm on the red planet.
The exploring astronauts having to seek refuge in their spaceship—except one: Matt Damon. He is struck by a satellite dish and knocked out far from his Mars-exploring team.
Now rushing to save themselves, and presuming that Damon has been killed, the rest of the crew is barely able to evacuate the angry red planet.
But wouldn’t you know it, with just a little oxygen left, Damon regains consciousness and figures out a way to keep it together and stay alive.
There’s his rationing of the remaining food at the base station. However it’s not enough to keep him going until a rescue space mission can reach him—which would take four years!
The big question now is how to grow edible food in a land where nothing grows.
I’m not giving away how he does it though. Suffice it to say Damon builds on his expertise as a botanist.
“I’m the greatest botanist—on this planet!”
All the while NASA’s ground control – which is receiving signals from Damon – is wringing its hands.
Will Damon be rescued? And if so—HOW? That’s another part of the story I’m not going to spoil for you.
If all of this sounds pretty bleak…well it’s not, as Damon chronicles his day-to-day activities via a video diary, a lot of which is quite comical.
For that matter, so is a lot of the snappy dialogue by a terrific supporting cast which includes Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniel, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Eliofor, Donald Glover and Michael Pena.
High stakes abound in this thought-provoking, entertaining journey with top notch visuals.
Director Ridley Scott’s THE MARTIAN—think CAST AWAY ON MARS—Scoring a: B.
(Reviewed at Cinemark, Merriam)
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings at 6:40 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. on 98.1 FM, KMBZ – and anytime on Facebook.
And poor, poor Don Cheadle got left behind on Mars as a minor subplot on another Mars movie. Black man can’t get no breaks even on Mars!
i was beginning to think more like “All is Lost” rather than Cast Away, but that is a more apt analogy.
another reviewer mentioned “Oscar-worthy.”
I’ll hold that ‘Oscar-worthy’ comment for Steven Spielberg’s”BRIDGE OF SPIES” starring Tom Hanks from a screenplay by the Coen brothers.
really. hadn’t heard about that film. helluva team, all heavyweights.
Hey Mike,
I may be a little partial due to the subject matter of the film—especially since it takes place in Berlin—but it opens here on October 16th!
Astronauts commenting on the film had one complaint on how they depicted spacemen.
No diapers! 🙂