An achievement in filmmaking. Almost seems "based on true events".

Rating: 9/10 (1 October 2015)

Obviously this is a work of fiction, based on a work of fiction, but The Martian is shot in such a way that it seems like it could be based on true events. Ridley Scott is back in a big way.
The movie starts off by hitting the ground running. There is no set up involving drama surrounding who will be included on the mission to Mars and who will not. From the opening scene we are involved in the storyline, there is no filler here.
After a disastrous event, Mark Watney is presumed dead and wakes up to the realization that his crew had inadvertently abandoned him, and he's now the only living organism on the red planet. Rather than wallowing in anguish and despair, Watney decides to use his scientific training, ingenuity and equipment at hand to attempt survival. Though his sanity starts to wane, he develops a rather irreverent sense of humor, which he eventually unleashes in a variety of ways.
Everything in the film is approached in a grounded and factually sound way, not a pseudo scientific or pseudo intellectual, Christopher Nolan sense. Where films like Interstellar are fantasy spectacles masquerading as grounded, true to life movies, The Martian plays out essentially just as it would in the real world. There is no futuristic tech or sentient computers to be found here.
I can only say that I highly recommend this film if you are in the mood for something that is both entertaining and different.