The Martian (2015)

'The Martian’ is definitely in the creative wheelhouse of filmmaker Ridley Scott whose Science Fiction sensibilities are grounded in colorful futuristic fantasies that tiptoe in grand whimsy. The veteran auteur responsible for such pop cultural high-minded spectacles in ‘Alien’, ‘Blade Runner’ and even the mixed bag reception of ‘Prometheus’ certainly brings a sophisticated and thought-provoking vibe to the probing aura of ‘The Martian’. As with other Scott-helmed productions, ‘The Martian’ settles nicely in its majestic scope that taps into visual wonderment, humanistic curiosities, technica…

This is a movie that I have to say that I have a bit of a difficulty in rating. Quite honestly I was sorely tempted to remove a star, or even two stars. Why? Because it is full of Hollywood nonsense, scientific errors, it is rather predictable and it did feel a bit like a Apollo 13 rip-off. Why did I not remove those stars? Well, it is rather entertaining even if, at times, I squirmed in my seat. The movie starts of with a somewhat implausible event where a unexpected storm hits the Mars camp which forces the ground crew of the Mars mission to hurry back to the launch vehicle before it tilt…

This is a movie following the lead started with Gravity with the human main character fighting for survival in space. The plot has a good combination of suspense, action, humor and drama. Damon performs well and the rest of the cast does a good job and has been well chosen. It is not a magnificent movie but it is good enough to fill a couple of hours of entertainment.