This is definitely not a Ridley Scott masterpiece, and should have a more polished story (and scientific side).

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2015)

I made it a point to watch The Martian without first consulting IMDb for reviews (a usual practice for me). I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the movie, mainly due to various errors and a large lack for a more human element and story creativity. To start out with, this movie is so riddled with mistakes that CinemaSins would love to review it. To begin with, if Watney spent an undisclosed number of hours unconscious with a long piece of metal embedded in him, wouldn't he (A) bleed to death, (B) die because his suit was ripped and (C) not be able to walk all the way back to the base and still perform a basic medical surgery on himself? Another large issue was the sound present when filming an explosion in space where there is no sound. I cannot stress how disgruntled this particular detail left me, seeing as I walked into this movie expecting a Ridley Scott masterpiece that was as scientifically accurate as the novel the movie is based upon. The idea of Watney "iron manning" his way to the space ship was also something out of a cartoon. I understand that NASA EVA suits do have some protection systems against holes and tears, but I highly doubt that Watney would survive such a long amount of time without some permanent damage being done to his body.
Like previous reviewers, I also found that the movie lacked a more personal element, where Watney contemplates or is impacted in some significant manner by his solidarity and dire situation when it comes to emotion. I also found that, as the movie progressed, the script began to lack imagination. Watney's constant turn to potato farming for most of the movie did get slightly boring at some moments. I understand that the filmmakers were trying to emphasize on the importance of growing crops on Mars (something that I do appreciate), but I believe the script could be slightly richer if the filmmakers truly wanted to get audiences to absorb the message being conveyed.
That being said, this movie was very enjoyable to watch as a regular moviegoer. Despite the feeling that I got that the action started too early and before there was proper exposition, I really appreciated the general story. This might have not been Ridley Scott's finest films (it is certainly no Alien), but it wasn't a complete flop either (far from it). This movie does have its credit when it comes to scenic shots and scenes filmed in space that capture the sheer enormity of the place. Nevertheless, some of the shots were slightly overkill, not only in terms of quantity, but also because of their constant following of cliché "helicopter-style" shots to dramatic soundtrack music.
Overall, this was a enjoyable movie (to a certain extent), with a mostly thrilling story and some good character development. However, it would deserve 8 stars if it was more polished and the story (and science) was more developed.