Refreshing, unique, inspiring and highly recommended.

Rating: 7/10 (7 October 2015)

A 6 man crew on Mars is forced to cut all ties to their mission and attempt a quick getaway before all likelihoods of a successful takeoff are completely diminished. Leaving the audience at the edge of their seats within moments following the opening credits the crew led by Commander Lewis (Jessica Chastain) manage to get off the red planet in the nick of time, but one crewmember lighter. Marooned on Mars Mark Watney (Matt Damon) displays the epitome of perseverance and now has to figure out how to survive and make contact with anyone that could come to his aid. Will they be able to bring him home?
Paced fairly slow but never with a missed beat THE MARTIAN gathers pace and flow right from "Go". Well-adjusted with subtle humor, momentary heartfelt banter and an upbeat soundtrack allow the mammoth 132 minutes pass by faster. Ridley Scott once again has resurfaced with a notable project since PROMETHEUS from 2012. This man certainly loves his missions into outer space and he most certainly knows his way around particulars of his Sci-fi. There is never a moment where the audience would question the reality behind his interpretations. The cinematography as always with him is on point. Ridley Scott will in your mind effectively place a man on mars! Ridley Scott isn't the only one who shot back into the spot light with THE MARTIAN. As his Jason Bourne days become a spec in the history of Hollywood Matt Damon hasn't been able to resurface for sometime, not in this magnitude. INTERSTELLAR cannot really be considered a Matt Damon breakthrough although the movie can be spoken of otherwise. With trifling parallels to Tom Hanks in THE CASTAWAY I thoroughly enjoyed watching Damon at work. He was spot on. There isn't anything that will astound the viewer in terms of playing the character, however Damon is adequate and undeniably effective. The poster to the movie makes us feel that Matt Damon is all that is to the movie. Well this isn't the case. Whilst Watney is out there fighting the good fight there is a greater ensemble of people trying to get this astronaut back home. Jeff Daniels stands out in my mind as the director of NASA. His authoritative performance is what made bringing the astronaut back home even more enthralling and I could not stop having flashbacks of Harry.
Is this the best sci-fi of 2015? I think it is. Will it find a spot at the awards in February 2016? Best picture? I think not, however the visual effects are more than worthy of a nomination. While I wouldn't consider THE MARTIAN a must watch and I wouldn't dare to put it up with productions such as GLADIATOR & ALIENS (Both by Ridley Scott), it still is refreshing, unique, inspiring and highly recommended.
TITLE: THE MARTIAN DIRECTED BY: RIDLEY SCOTT STARRING: MATT DAMON, JESSICA CHASTAIN, KRISTEN WIIG, SEAN BEAN, Micheal PENA & JEFF DANIELS. RATED: PG13 RATING: 07/10 RUNTIME: 132 MINUTES