Superb Adaptation of the Novel

Rating: 10/10 (30 September 2015)

I saw this last night at its opening. I was stunned by the book, but curious how they would pull off a movie given the book is basically the thoughts of one man stranded on Mars. This is not a story set in the future, but our own present day. We have the technology to send a manned mission to Mars but we lack the political will. Unlike Apollo 13, which bored me to tears, this movie is just captivating. The human interest is beautifully balanced with the technical aspects (many of which have quite rightly been edited out from the over-technical novel). Apollo 13 lost itself in trying to follow the wives' stories, which were all painfully dull. This film sticks to Mark Watney on Mars and the NASA scientists (geeks) trying to bring him home. The characters at NASA are brilliantly portrayed. This is a book written by a geek for geeks, in a world where clever scientists rock, but it also strikes a chord in the heart of anyone who loves storytelling and heroics. As to the cinematography...this will leave you speechless and forgetting it's actually just a movie. Quite wonderful. Do not miss this movie on the big screen.