The Martian may be the best science fiction movie based on real science we’ve seen since 2001: A Space Odyssey. Based on the book by Andy Weir, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, it’s the story of an astronaut left for dead on Mars. The story can be summed up as “MacGyver on Mars.”
What can I say. The film adaption is well nye perfect. It follows the book quite well, albeit with the “science porn” trimmed down to a manageable level for non-scientific audiences. Some scenes were added to help explain things, some modest dialog changes to make it PG-13 compatible, yet overall possibly the best movie adaption I’ve ever seen, surpassing even The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
If I had one complaint is was that some of the funnier bits involving the Nasa PR representative didn’t make it into the theatrical cut. I was so looking forward to seeing those scenes in live action, so I’m crossing my fingers an extended edition will have them.
If you haven’t seen it, run to the nearest movie house showing it and sit down for 2+ hours of thrilling story telling that is awe inspiring, breathtaking, emotional, and beautiful to watch.
Best movie of the year, bar none.
