‘The Martian’ is Scott’s second best opening behind 2001’s ‘Hannibal’

Watching “The Martian” reminds me that this is a genuine possibility. Both book and movie try to be as true to the science as possible – and, in fact, the science and the fiction around missions to Mars are rapidly converging.

But with a tonne of courage and a load of science, The Martian takes Scott one giant step closer to being back on the right track. With a tagline like “Help is only 140 million miles away”, you know that it’ll provide you with all of the cosmic, survivalist excitement of “Gravity“, with a little less gut-wrenching terror. During the evacuation Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is hit by debris and goes flying.

A few films are merely distractions, while others act as inspiration.

Overall, “The Martian” is sure to stand out as one of 2015’s best films, and earns that ranking by far thanks to incredible pacing, great humor, and thrilling direction. Directors of space films often want to suffocate their audience with the vastness of space as is the case in “Gravity” and “Interstellar”.

Just a heads up, if you havent seen The Martian yet, there will be SPOILERS beyond this point.

A problem presents itself and Watney solves it, somehow.

According to Nasa, the landing sites for “Ares 3” is on a real plain on the Red Planet named Acidalia Planitia. The main focus of the movie is simple enough, but there are enough events that happen to keep the audience attentive and curtail a yawn or a quick glance at a phone screen to see how much time has passed. This is where the writers shine.

“More than 39,000 of them have been taken since the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reached Mars in 2006”.

Astronaut Tracey Caldwell-Dyson also provided advice and guidance to actress Jessica Chastain as she prepared for her role in the film. For those of you out there who are giant space buffs, as most of my friends are, you are going to love all of the wide shots of the surface of Mars. On paper it must have seemed a daunting prospect, but the combination of Goddard’s smart, amusing script and Damon’s charismatic delivery makes it all easily digestible, ensuring that we’re laughing as we’re learning.

Expectations for me have proven to be a double-edged sword.

Matt Damon does his best Tom Hanks from “Castaway” impression, but the weight loss is clearly done with special effects in lieu of a six-month filming hiatus. By the end of the movie I could only weep for the current state of our space program knowing such a stunning landscape languishes mostly unexplored and we don’t have any big attractive spacecraft like the one in the movie to get us there.