Mars will come to fear my botany powers

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2015)

Not on par with Ridley Scott's masterpieces (Alien, Blade Runner), but still his best work in years, The Martian is a neat sci-fi movie which (unsurprisingly) looks amazing and (surprisingly) has a strong script (by Cloverfield's Drew Goddard, adapted from a novel by Andy Weir).
Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, astronaut / botanist stranded on Mars after his crew left him for dead during a freaky storm. Cast Away meets Apollo 13, Watney must figure out how to communicate with Earth AND survive until a rescue mission.
Cast is great (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean...), with Damon carrying the bulk of the movie with a charismatic performance; visuals are fantastic (Mars has never looked better in movies); Goddard's script is brisk, neither portentous nor dumb, the technological stuff at least *sounds* plausible, and a few clichés are bravely avoided (i.e. no teary-eyed love interest rooting for him at home).
Overall, The Martian feels at times a little too cute and upbeat to achieve true epic (Alien and Blade Runner, again!). Although humor is used well, it could have done with a little more gravitas too - you never get the sense of harrowing psychological drama Watney's ordeal should have.
Still, this is fine entertainment. Let's give Ridley a break - maybe with his first sci-fi masterpieces he just set the bar too high for himself to reach again.
7,5/10