Steely Eyed Missile Man

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2015)

Greetings again from the darkness. With this week's NASA announcement of the discovery of water on Mars, it seems necessary to point out that director Ridley Scott's latest was not actually filmed on the red planet, but rather in the Jordan desert. OK, maybe not necessary, but it does serve as a reminder that the film (based on the popular book from Andy Weir) may be filled with science  but it's also fiction – hence the label Science-Fiction. If you were one of THOSE who actually paid attention in science classes and read the optional material, then you will probably find much fault in the details. For the rest of us, it's a pretty fun ride.
Space has long been a popular movie topic, and a key to such favorites as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Aliens, The Right Stuff, Contact, Space Cowboys, Armageddon, Moon, and most recently Gravity and Interstellar. And of course there are the immensely popular franchises of Star Wars and Star Trek, which both chose a different path than the "grounded" nature of the others. This latest film may actually have as much in common with Cast Away as it does with any of the space-based films.
Commander Lewis (Jessica Chastain) and her crew (Matt Damon, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Askal Hennie) are hard at work on their Mars mission when a severe storm causes them to evacuate in panic mode. When the storm hits, Damon's astronaut Mark Watney is lost and presumed dead. Once it's realized that Watney survived and has every intention of being rescued, the film kicks into gear.
There are three separate stories we follow: the ingenious and spirited survival mode of Watney, the politics and brilliance of the NASA organization, and the crew who now believes Watney's rescue is their responsibility. The NASA group is led by director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) and includes support work from Chiwetel Ejiofar, Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, MacKenzie Davis, Donald Glover and Benedict Wong.
Taking the approach of an adventure film with the MacGuyver of all Botanists, Damon's charm and humor stand in stark contrast to the annoyances of the two leads from Gravity, and provide a mass appeal that should make this entertaining for most any viewer. This approach allows us to imagine ourselves stranded on Mars, and whether we would panic or consider ourselves Space Pirates. There is also a lesson here for all students out there  pay attention in Science class! For the rest of us  "get your a** to Mars"!