Basically it's "Cast Away" set on another planet

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2016)

I saw this movie with friends and enjoyed it, although I found it to be strangely reminiscent of CAST AWAY, staring Tom Hanks.
The best parts are when the stranded Astronaut uses his scientific knowledge growing potatoes to stretch his food supply and his calculations in seeking out and finding/reactivating the Pathfinder lander. Those scenes illustrate the kind of psychology one would need to survive while being stranded on Mars with limited resources. Damon does a fine job in these moments. The rest of the movie is kind of melodramatic, even thought Jeff Daniels made a convincing NASA Administrator. The ending is a bit silly, as tearing his spacesuit would have killed him rather quickly, not propelled him far enough to reach the ship commander. A lot of that was just the melodrama to make it more exciting. I understand the book ending was much different.
Overall a decent movie and an excellent one for planetary colonization enthusiasts to watch. There is a good bit of science fact mixed with the fiction part. It's basically CAST AWAY, except on Mars.
For movies of this genre, I prefer the setting of MOON as a more possible scenario with the mining operation. Just my personal take.