To put it bluntly, The Martian pretty much rocked. Sci-fi movies set in space by big name directors seem to be back in a big way, with Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, and now Ridley Scott’s foray into the genre The Martian.  Ridley Scott is definitely not an outsider to sci-fi having directed Prometheus earlier this decade and late 70’s and early 80’s sci-fi classics Alien and Blade Runner.

Given the slow methodical pacing, and dark understated tone of his previous sci-fi films, I expected The Martian to be a depressing, grueling, and lonely story of one man alone on Mars for years (which I would have been fine with because I’m sick and twisted). This is not at all however what The Martian turned out to be. The film is actually quite inspiring, upbeat, and humorous save a few disturbing moments involving removing shrapnel from someone’s body. This is mainly because of the optimistic, charming, and bold character of Mark Watney portrayed beautifully by Matt Damon who might have given the best performance of his career thus far.

The acting all around is great and the cast is massive. From Jessica Chastain to Donald Glover (aka extremely popular alternative rapper Childish Gambino) it’s definitely not a one-man show like I was anticipating. Apart from the acting; the direction, editing, and score make the film tense and lonely when it needs to be, and fun and inspiring when the plot permits. The writing was solid, witty, and felt natural for the most part (save a few moments of the film obviously trying to hurry the plot along with dialogue). I haven’t read the book but on it’s own merits it was a well written story relying more on character than plot which is always a plus in my book.

Cinematically the film is impressive, showcasing beautiful cinematography and effects, which are perhaps not quite on the level of Interstellar or Gravity but service the story and help to make Mars, feel massive, dangerous, lonely as well as beautiful.

Overall the film is a well-oiled machine, brilliant from a filmmaking/performance standpoint as well as resonant from and emotional standpoint. I found myself cheering for Mark as the film went on and got emotional at certain points, particularly when a certain David Bowie song starts to play.

I would strongly recommend The Martian to everyone, especially those interested in NASA and space travel.

8.5/10

I could see this score growing with more viewings and more time but for now I’ll just say that I loved the film and I think it’s one of the best movies of the year so far!