it is what it is

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2015)

The Martian tonight. have not read the book, so there's no reference point there.Overall entertaining movie. what you might call typical Hollywood fare.
--spoilers--
basic gist: astronaut team has to hastily abandon their mars mission. during the evacuation, botanist Watney (Matt Damon) is believed dead and left.
only he isn't.
remainder of film is a) him figuring out to survive b) everyone else figuring out how and whether to rescue him.
suffers a bit of suspense kill once it becomes apparent they are not going to exchange Watney's life for one of the others. you have this vibe all along, but not too far in you can start guessing what's coming next.
not sure on some of the science. I won't nitpick anything specific. a lot the scenes may remind you of Apollo 13 where people on the ground try ideas on duplicate equipment, they relay directions to Watney.
I actually like the humor, but I know others did not. And for some reason a few IMDb reviewers really wanted Watney to lose his sh** and deep dive into depths of despair. why couldn't he be a problem solver as well?
I gave it 8/10. it is what it is. a glitzy Hollywood bacon cheese burger. not supposed to be a gourmet five course meal.
it's a story about the moral dilemma (not to mention financial) the space programs have faced, and will continue to face if and when we ever go back out there.
I wonder if NASA PR had anything to do with this?