Great combination of Sci-fi and Entertainment

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2016)

The Martian starring Matt Damon. He plays Mark Watney. He's a botanist-astronaut on the crew of what appears to be a workaday mission to Mars, one of many on the NASA schedule. Beginning into the film, where we notice when a massive dust storm descends on their operations base and living quarters. In the chaos, a piece of satellite equipment breaks loose, hits Watney and flies off with him attached. Assuming he's dead, the rest of the crew takes off. Though of course he's not dead. But he knows he will be, and soon, unless he figures out how to survive using only the stuff the crew left behind. His mission now is to solve a series of problems.
What make the film great is how director Ridley Scott makes use of Damon's character. We see him how he records his efforts on video, which he assumes will be found after his death by the next crew to land on Mars. It's a useful and mostly credible narrative device that allows us to follow Watney's thoughts without the deadly intrusions of voice-over. The film is roughly over two hours and twenty minute long, but it is an exciting ride and the pacing is great. Matt Damon certainly delivers one of his finest performances, which gave him an Oscar nomination. The Martian will most definitely be considered a classic and future classic.