It's sci-fi cinema done right - pleasantly surprised

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2019)

I don't argue for the movie's accuracy in terms of the challenges of space travelling. Although I have heard Neil DeGrasse Tyson claims this is one of the best movies he has seen on that front. But personally, as long as it looks / sounds fairly plausible on screen... it really does not affect the film's entertainment values. Nor does not having read the book it is based on.
As for the film itself - I was a bit sceptical about The Martian because, despite being directed by Ridley Scott, I am not traditionally a big fan of sci-fi movies. But was pleasantly surprised by it.
Given how much of the movie is focused on the survival of a man who is stranded on Mars (the remainder on the way to get him out of there), it was very entertaining to see him adapt, innovate, fight boredom... everything to survive. On his own. And those scenes were never long enough to bore me. Not sure if it's thanks to the script, the acting or the directing - but it delivers!
I care less for the heroics involved in the attempt of saving the astronaut but the depiction of his own struggle back in Mars is spot-on. And keeps you rooting for him throughout.
Overall solid enough to be an 8 or higher.