'Hello darkness my old friend...'

Rating: 9/10 (10 October 2015)

I will explain the title further on in the review.
So "The Martian" is about Mark Watny, a botanist. He and his crew members were on a mission, the Ares III mission. But at sol 18 (one sol is a day at mars), there happens something bad, there is a storm. Due to this storm Watney and his crew have to abort the mission and get of off Mars. While the evacuation takes place Watney gets hit by an antenna, and is impaled by it. His crew thinks that he is dead, and leave him behind. Alone at Mars. But Mark didn't die by the antenna, he survived. Now he has to 'sience the 'Beep' out of this' to stay alive, and wait for rescue.
"The Martian" is directed by Ridley Scott. This man has directed some classics and good movies (e.g. "Blade Runner", "Alien", "Gladiator"), but also some bad ("Exodus: Gods and Kings", "The consoler", "GI Jane"). I think that this movie should be on his 'good movies' list. The film was beautifully shot. The effects were stunningly beautiful. Scott did an amazing job at directing this movie, and I am glad that they chose him to direct "The Martian". The landscape the used the recreate the landscape of Mars, was also very well chosen, it really felt like you were on Mars. You could see the landscape really wheel, when there were some aerial shots, who looked beautiful. Like I just said, the effects were stunning, you just couldn't see when they used green screen. You obviously knew it, but you couldn't see it. What I also liked was the costume design. The space suits used on Mars looked nice, but also practical. The suits made me think of the suits in "Prometheus", also a movie by Ridley Scott. On the 'trivia' section on IMDb I also read that it is inspired by it. The sound in the movie was very surprising. It was well edited and chosen, it felt very realistic. What also helped to keep this movie so realistic, is the science behind it all. The science is mostly correct, and that is what I liked the most about the movie. Weirdly enough there were enough tense moments throughout the movie, but it is a good thing.
The acting is handled very well. Matt Damon was amazing as Mark Watney. He plays Mark as a positive, funny guy, who sees the best in almost every situation. But he also has his breaking point. Sometimes he just finds the most weird ways to laugh with somebody, but it is still funny. He was just like I imagined him in the book. Jessica Chastian played Lewis. Lewis was the leader of the mission. She is a caring leader who doesn't want to leave a man behind, and when she has to leave Mark behind, she is devastated. Chastian did a good job at portraying her. Some other crew members are Kate Mara, she played Johanson. She definitely redeemed herself after "Fantastic Four". You also have Sebastian Stan, he plays Beck, who turns out to be a love interest for Johanson. He did a good job as well. There is Alex Vogel, he is played by Aksel Hennie. He played a German astronaut. He was also pretty good. And the last crew member is Martinez. He is played by Michael Peña. I very much liked his character. He and Mark were both hilarious, and it was just fun when they had a conversation. He acted very good. This movie doesn't only focus on Mark and his crew, it also focuses on NASA's side. Here you have Jeff Daniels, he plays the head of NASA and is very good at it. There is also Sean Bean, who plays Mitch Henderson. He did a good job at portraying him. In case you wondered he doesn't die at the end. Vincent Kapoor is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, I have nothing really to say about him. And my favorite character of NASA's side is Rich Purnell. He was played by Donald Glover. He was very convincing as a smart, but messy boy.
I very much liked the writing of the movie, this was maybe even the best part of the movie. It was funny at times, but also clear when they explained the science stuff. It had its emotional moments, and I liked that. You also cared about Watney and didn't want him to die, that was due to the script. I was glad that Andy Weir, the writer of the book, could help writing the script of the movie. I didn't really like that they left out some funny moments from the book (I have read it) for example: The aqua man part. And what I didn't get was why they cut away at the part where Watney is trying to anger NASA.
But as I said in the beginning of my review, I am going to explain my title for this review. With 'Darkness' I was talking about Ridley Scott. This is because he has made a bunch of had movies lately. This is why I symbolize him with the 'Darkness' part. But also with the 'Old friend' part, this is because he made a bunch of good movies back in the day, that is why the 'Old' part.
Thank you for reading this review, I hope you think that it is useful. I would recommend this movie to everyone who liked "Gravity", but with a bit more science. I would also recommend it to everyone who has read the book, and if you haven't read the book, then go read it! The movie is a very good movie, and I hope you will see it.