Life imitates art as Nasa releases photos of real-life Martian locations

The actor is on fine-form here and whilst this may not be the lavish, in-your-face type of role that will bait an oscar nomination it is still a very subtle, under-stated performance that will only garner positive reviews.

Reading the synopsis for The Martian, you might think that Ridley Scott wanted to direct his own version of Gravity – another movie about an astronaut doing everything he can to survive in the desolate, uncaring void of space.

The sci-fi Matt Damon starer “The Martian” gained a massive opening over the weekend. As the crew makes their way to an escape vehicle, Watney is struck by debris and is separated from the crew. In one such session, Max asked whether a knife-puncture of a suit could generate the thrust Watney needs to survive a critical moment of the film.

Meanwhile, ground crews at NASA have discovered Watney is alive via satellite feeds and are working on the same challenges, but from 140 million miles away.

Watney awakens after the storm blows over, in shock from the injury he sustained.

Its observations will be used during a workshop this month in United States for consideration of landing areas for real future human missions, NASA said. The consistent jokes and lightheartedness in what could’ve been a darker story allows the audience to relate and sympathize with Watney, and to thus become more invested in his journey toward survival. He cultivates a potato garden and converts his battery-powered rover vehicle to nuclear-powered.

And now NASA has just reported the electrifying news that liquid water is flowing on Mars.

Even from its earliest trailers, The Martian’s tone is noticeably lighter than that of its space film counterparts ie. It also bears a strong resemblance to another movie, 2000′s “Mission to Mars”.

NASA recently announced findings about water on Mars followed by the release of the movie “The Martian”.

Whilst the majority of the film’s focus sits on Watney there is also a good chunk of run-time spent with the NASA organisation itself back on Earth as they attempt to rescue their man and ensure that their proud safety record continues.

We certainly could use a lot more of that these days. In fact, only three films on the list with listed budgets have been successes without counting worldwide take, but more on those later. Never once during the film does the audience question its authenticity.

Castaway and Duncan Jones’s Moon are other touchstones as Damon delivers a terrifically nuanced performance, showing the strains – physically and mentally -of his isolation.

If you haven’t seen the trailer for Ridley Scott’s latest epic, “The Martian”, stop what you are doing and head on over youtube (don’t worry, this will still be here when you’re finished).