Ridley Scott could be back.

Rating: 9/10 (5 October 2015)

Has Ridley Scott finally returned to form with The Martian? Well seeing that The Martian turned out to be one of the best films of the year, you can say yes! After a period of mediocrity by Scott, The Martian was a reminder that Scott is one of the great directors living today. When you initially look at this film on paper, you see an amazing cast, good writer, and shaky director, but this film had it all. First of all it is amazing to look at. The cinematography is stellar, shot by Dariusz Wolski (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Alice in Wonderland). Ridley Scott's execution of this film was outstanding, he made you feel like they were actually on Mars. When you look at this cast, which has various Oscar nominated actors you are expecting the performances to be good (maybe not great cause look how the Counselor turned out), and they deliver big time! Matt Damon who played Mark Watney was obviously the star of the movie. He delivered on all aspects, and might be one of his best performances of his career. Jeff Daniels (Teddy Sanders) does an amazing job in this movie, playing a real human being, a business man who is concerned only about what is best for NASA. He is not the antagonist at all, even though he might be made out to seem like it. The whole crew consisting of Jessica Chastain (Melissa Lewis), Sebastian Stan (Chris Beck), Michael Peña (Rick Martinez), Kate Mara (Beth Johanssen), and Aksel Hennie (Alex Vogel) played off each other so wonderfully. It seems like they have been together for such a long time and the chemistry is beautiful. Chiwetel Ejiofor (Vincent Kapoor) was superb, but when is he not? Sean Bean was Sean Bean really, nothing super spectacular, but not bad. Kristen Wigg, leaving we can say her comfort zone in comedy and doing some drama, did well, didn't disappoint. Surprising performance came from Mackenzie Davis (Mindy Park) who blew me away. My least favorite was Donald Glover who seemed out of place in this movie and was one really slight negative, but did not detach me from the film. This movie is really an original piece, of human survival and hope. Ridley Scott managed to make this movie feel so real, you were scared for the well being of Matt Damon while he was stuck on Mars. The writing was outstanding as well, done by Drew Goddard. It was the perfect blend of comedy and suspense. The big things I was worried did not happen at all. Mainly being that the movie seemed to spoiled by the trailers, but it wasn't! Also the science behind it all which I thought could become confusing, wasn't! This film ended up being one of my favorite of the year, and made me remember what a great director Ridley Scott can be, and don't be surprised come Oscar time, you see The Martian in the running for an award. Highly recommended a must see this year.