overall enjoyable .. although i kept thinking how much better it could have easily been

Rating: 6/10 (12 October 2015)

The premise had all the ingredients for a great movie. Unfortunately Scott only did a C+ job with it.
What was good in the movie was Matt Damon. His was the standout performance and is the sole reason for coming away with a somewhat positive rating. Just about all his scenes (except the last bullshit rendezvous) had me interested.
What was bad was plenty: Every other character was uninspiring. The schmaltzy ending was nauseating and unnecessary. There was too much scientifically impossible stuff (just as unnecessary). And the slingshot "breakthrough" that a 20-year old geek had was an insult to the basic laws of physics that have been in play since space travel began.
What I really missed was having a longer, slower "tour" of Mars and the space between our planets. This part of it felt overlooked.
We could have had something quite profound, but it was ruined by pandering to the lowest-common Hollywood film-goer. I guess deep-and- meaningful doesn't sell .. and we have the many moriferons out there to thank for it. Shame.