The 4 stars are for the visuals

Rating: 4/10 (4 October 2015)

I'm a space junkie. I follow the latest news and developments from the Mars Rovers. I follow Voyager I and II on twitter. I also loved the movie Interstellar. In Interstellar, I felt like the science, although unbelievable, was actually believable from a scientific theory perspective. Interstellar was great science. In addition to that great science, was an excellent and heart grabbing storyline and screenplay. And this inter play between heart grabbing story and good science that made Interstellar so powerful, is what the Martian lacked and for a movie focused on one guy, it was sorely needed.
Let me first say that the visuals of mars, outerspace, the inside of the spaceship Hermes in The Martian were amazing. It was truly interesting to see on film what our current understanding says the surface of Mars looks like. The sky looked almost earth like and the terrain was very Arizona desert like. It was cool to watch and think about what it would feel like if you were on Mars. Aesthetically beautiful film.
Now, for the rest of the movie... I could not relate to Matt Damon's character, Mark Watney. Not in the sense that I needed he and I to have a similar background, etc. But in the sense that I didn't see any real human element to Watney. He came off as robotic in his attitude. I get it that he wanted to be upbeat but c'mon Ridley Scott, the guy is alone with his thoughts 24 hours a day for hundreds upon hundreds of days and we can't get a flashback of him thinking about loved ones he left behind on earth, or of him showing mental agony, stress, and sadness.... Just something to let us know that this guy isn't some type of A.I. There is one quick, seemingly thrown in, scene 2 hours into the film where Watney makes a quick mention of some family back on Earth. Other than that, he seems to be a guy who has no loved ones, nobody that personally knows and cares about him except the crew he went to space with. Nor does he seem to have any true feelings for anybody that we know of. He's just a guy who constantly makes sarcastic remarks and acts as if he is starring in a reality show, not someone who is stranded 50 million miles away from Earth alone with his thoughts. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the film. There are no surprises. No real suspense except at the very beginning and at the end and even then you knew what was going to happen. This movie won't make you feel really happy or sad. It won't make you wonder what happens next nor will you really care. It's basically just a documentary about how to survive on Mars if you're an astronaut and your crew leaves you behind. The end.
4 out of 10.