Stranded on Mars

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2017)

Set in the not too distant future the Ares III mission to Mars has to abort there 31 Sol (Martian day) mission on Sol 18 when a storm hits their base and threatens to topple the rocket that will take them back to the Hermes, the craft that will take them back to Earth. As they run through the storm a piece of debris hits mission botanist Mark Watney. His colleagues try to find him but as his suit's telemetry suggests he is dead they are forced to leave without him. It soon emerges that he is not dead unfortunately he calculates that there won't be enough food left for him to survive till the next mission to Mars. Back on Earth everybody thinks he is dead until a satellite photograph shows that the Ares III site has changed so somebody must be there! Still at this point there is no way to contact him. Mark manages to grow potatoes for food and sets about retrieving a transmitter from a previous mission. With contact finally made they start discuss how he might be rescued. Time will be close and there will be setbacks.
Fans of 'Hard Sci-Fi' should really enjoy this; the idea of manned mission to Mars might seem many years away the technology we see doesn't seem unrealistic and the story seemed plausible so much so that the film this most reminded me of was 'Apollo 13' which was of course based on a real life near disaster in space. The opening set up is effective and wastes little time in stranding Mark on Mars then we get down to the business of him trying to figure out how to survive. He encounters many problems which are resolved logically. Similarly the events on earth appear plausible as first those in charge want to avoid a PR disaster then work to rescue him when it becomes apparent that he is alive. The cast does a fine job. Matt Damen excels as Mark Watney managing to be entertaining even when the only talking he does for much of the time is direct to camera as he records a video diary. The rest of the cast, which includes many familiar faces also impresses. The Jordanian locations used look suitably barren to act as a substitute for Mars. While things are serious for the most part there are some good laughs as well; many provided by the fact that the only music Mark has is some disco taken to Mars my the mission commander this provides an excuse for some enjoyably incongruous back ground music which I rather enjoyed. Overall I really enjoyed this and would certainly recommend it even if you don't consider yourself a sci-fi fan.