The Martian: Film Review (www.revelryreview.com)

Rating: 9/10 (22 February 2016)

Upon watching the first trailer for The Martian my initial thoughts were that it was a ripoff of Interstellar (fantastic movie by Christopher Nolan), where it was such a successful movie I thought this movie was heading in a similar direction to feed off it's success. But reading into the plot more I found that it was a lot different, Ridley Scott being one of my favorite directors I could not miss out on seeing another one of his epics. Also seeing that Sean Bean was cast into a role I just had to see whether or not he would survive his encounter in this movie!
The general plot of this movie is that an astronaut named 'Mark Watney' is presumed dead after a fierce storm on Mars which forced his crew to abandon him. Watney finds himself abandoned on Mars and must fight to survive before help can arrive.
My expectations were high for this movie and I was not disappointed, while it was not Scott's best film it was still definitely one of the years best movies. The visual effects are stunning, and the recreation of the planet Mars is probably one of the best yet we have seen in any movie, surprisingly this movie won best comedy movie at the Golden Globes, and to be honest it was deserving of it as there were some very funny moments.
The pacing of the movie was brilliant, there wasn't a dull moment, the overall tone of the movie was bleak but the screenplay was brought to life by the often comical moments that were portrayed in the film keeping it well balanced so it didn't come off as too depressing.
Matt Damon really showed his class in this movie, with most of the film on his shoulders he carried it perfectly and gave one of his best performances, not all of the actors were great in the movie though, Kristen Wiig was a strange choice and I felt as though her character could have been left out.
VERDICT: Ridley Scott has put together another great movie, with intense action scenes, great comical moments and cripplingly emotional at times I believe this movie is in the top 10 of 2015.
PROS: - Never dull or boring - Great humor for a Sci-fi/Drama - Matt Damon's performance
CONS: - Some of the casting was a bit off
9/10