Good Story. Fantastic Visuals

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2016)

Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead on Mars when a deadly surprise storm comes upon the crew and they are forced to leave without Watney. However, Watney does survive the storm and must find a way to subsist and contact NASA.
For some unknown reason this is billed as a comedy. This is not a comedy. There are some good lines spouted by the characters but they do not a comedy make. See? This is a drama.
This is okay, a little long perhaps, but the rescue mission near the end is loaded with hopeful anticipation and tension. The visuals including the Mars landscape and inside the ships throughout are spectacular. The cinematography and photography are truly fantastic. Since Mark Watney is a Botonist he is able to feed himself by growing potatoes and he finds a way to communicate with NASA to let the world know he is alive. Everything Watney does is recorded by him for posterity. And it's also a way to keep himself occupied without going mad. His dialogues are concise and logical. The pacing is very good. We don't see Whatney having many "down moments." There is always hope and work to be done to survive. Matt Damon as Watney does a very good job in this survival mode and we don't get bored watching him Gerry-rig many things and sometimes making humorous comments. Kudos.
Back on Earth there are plans to rescue Watney. They talk of a future Mars mission that will land the ship 3200 Kilometers away from where he currently is. This part didn't make sense to me. Why not have this Mars mission recalculated to land where he is and not so far away? Huh? Why make Watney make a 3200 kilometer trip when something bad can happen on this planet? Remember the storm that caused all this in the first place? And - by the way - we never see a storm like that again after all the time Watney spends on the planet. Was that one storm an anomaly? A one-time thing? Huh? (it's only a movie, Bob)
Also, the Chinese say they will help with supplies using their new secret super rocket to give the supplies to the Hermes, the rescue ship. However, we never see this exchange between the Chinese ship and the Hermes. The cutting room floor did thisor maybe it was a given and we didn't need to see it. (ya think?)
Dialogues back on Earth debating how to do the rescue are good, real and made sense.
Notables: Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Jeff Daniels and they all did credible jobs.
Yes, this is somewhat long, but It's the fantastic visuals, Watney's survival work and dialogues and the rescue mission near the end will keep you engaged. (7/10)
Violence: No. (well, the storm). Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, a male backside briefly. Language: Yes, not spoken but written on computer screens and not much of it.