Very Interesting and Entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2019)

I love this movie and have watched it several times. The whole case is terrific and the science is better than most, as several scientists have pointed out.
True there are some conceits here, but a movie without conceits is either a documentary or very boring or perhaps both.
The design of the spaceships and the other hardware was first rate; I don't know that there was hardware we saw that couldn't actually exist in the near future.
Mark's emotional progression was very well done. There would definitely be some very high highs and some very low lows during that ordeal!
I did end up hating the NASA director (Jeff Daniels) because he seemed to embody the worst of the recent NASA managers with his decision making.
If I had been Mitch Henderson, my response to being asked to resign by the NASA director would have been to say 'I'll put my resignation on top of yours'. Not sure if future space travel will include a NASA manager in charge. Might be more realistic to have a corporate person in that position.
I do wonder about the reviewers who tried to point out inconsistencies. One being that Mark could have just replanted everything after the storm destroys his crops.
I think this statement completely ignores the fact that when Mark established his 'farm' he was working off the food supply left from the original mission with only some slight rationing. His energy levels would have been at their highest. Existing off mostly potatoes by the time the HAB was compromised he would not have had the energy or the will to re-establish the farm. With a supreme effort he was able to get to the Aries IV MAV. There he got better food (you can see he is having an actual meal) before he had to strip down the MAV for his launch.
So there were certainly some conceits made as this was a movie, but his inability to restart his farm was not one of them.
I think it was certainly a satisfying movie and will undoubtedly watch it again.