Good enough that I didn't notice the Over-2-hours movie length!

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2015)

I don't think I have any spoilers here, but now I'm worried because people see things differently, so I'm marking this with at least one possible spoiler. My review is best for those who read the book & are curious about how the movie compares. The movie did a good job of condensing the book so many challenges Watney faced could be felt/seen, even if all the details couldn't be told as in the book. As a science geek, I loved the book. Luckily the movie also did a good job of feeling like it could actually happen - a neat trick for sci-fi. All the tension can be felt in the action of Matt Damon & the direction of Ridley Scott. The great scale of things is well portrayed. (Possible spoiler ahead.) It's Watney's sense of humor that keeps him from going bonkers & Damon did a great job of showing this. But as someone who read the book, I missed some of the tension built by knowing just how dire things really were for Watney on Mars - how little he had to work with & how much mental work/physical exertion he had to expend for the smallest victories. Many of those details were lost in the movie - they must be for the sake of time and story- telling. Overall -Enjoyable!