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Exceptional sci-fi drama from Ridley Scott about an astronaut (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars and the efforts made to rescue him. As others have pointed out, there's more than a little bit here that reminds you of movies like Apollo 13 and Cast Away (particularly the former). I fail to see how that's a knock on it but it's being presented as such by some. We all come to movies with our own expectations and baggage. I'm not a Scott fanboy expecting him to wow me (his last two films were not great). I just wanted to be entertained and this did the trick. It's a movie aimed at the masses that is smarter than your average movie aimed at the masses. Maybe it's not for all nerds (a quick glance at some of the reviews shows a lot of inane nit-picking from people who seem to have no concept of dramatic license), but I didn't find the movie dumbed-down at all. I also want to say how much I appreciated that this managed to stay remarkably light and positive while still maintaining the tension, proving once again that you don't have to be depressing to be good drama. If you haven't seen The Martian yet, you should. It's a great film with a first-rate cast, good direction, and stellar effects. If you're just looking for a quality movie to entertain you for a while, this should be something you'll enjoy.

I heard a lot about this film regarding its scientific validity as a piece of fiction. Perhaps as a result of this I assumed that the film would be a dry affair – an impression sort of confirmed by the longer than normal running time. As it happens, this is not the case at all because The Martian has much more in common with the entertaining blockbuster that the starry cast list and presentation suggest it will be. The story wears its science very much on its sleeve, but yet makes it accessible and fun – with the slick presentation making it so. As a result everything seems to be explained with everyday objects, and even the most complex principles are presented in simple terms (references to Iron Man for instance). As a result the film gets to have its cake and eat it – although the film is helped by the knowledge of a lot of this being possible (eg hitting a point near Pluto recently with very tight tolerances on a journey of years).

The film itself doesn't really play up the drama in a heavy way, but rather does enough to invest the viewer in it without making it too much of a downer or serious. The soundtrack is hugely upbeat, the content is mostly light in tone, and the science is delivered in a very user-friendly fashion – essentially in the service of the tone and the entertainment value, nothing more than this. The starry cast add to this feeling, and use their screen presence well. Damon is consistently likable, which is just as well since he is alone in the vast majority of his scenes. The ensemble cast has a lot of depth to it, all of which are solidly watchable – Chastain, Wiig, Daniels, Eiofor, Peña, Bean, and so on. The Chinese aspects of the plot serves as another reminder that this film is a blockbuster out to make money, but it doesn't seem too out of place. Technically it looks great and it impressive how convincing the surface of Mars looks.

In the end we get to the fist-pumping mission control scenes that we all knew were coming, but along the way the film is slickly packaged and entertaining as a result; even if the oft-mentioned scientific validity of it all is not something it ever seems concerned with itself.

If you've ever wondered if Tom Hanks went even further adrift in Castaway then this could be the answer you're looking for.

An Earth team are on Mars carrying out tests on the surface of The Red Planet, a message comes through from Earth warning of a huge and fast approaching storm. The team quickly assemble and flee, unfortunately Mark Watney is caught in the storm, loses his communication device and presumed dead. Watney has survived and has a harsh realism that he's abandoned on Mars with precious little supplies, no company and little chance of survival. Being 50 million miles away and 4 years away in terms of rescue life seems bleak. Watney has to defy the odds in order to survive.

Ridley Scott is responsible for so many wonderful films, and for many The Martian will sit among them.

This is a beautifully made film, it looks incredible, I love the realisation of Mars's surface, truly brilliant, wasn't going to be otherwise with the budget they had. The music is interesting, the score itself is quite subtle, but the tunes from Abba, Gloria Estefan etc are so random.

The pacing of the film is very cleverly done, never does it feel rushed, and on very few occasions does it feel slow or padded. If i'm honest at twenty minutes I was questioning how the film was possibly going to last over two hours.

Matt Damon shows his class, he carries the film on his shoulders, he gives a stellar performance as Mark, cannot be faulted. Some of the others in the film were a little hit and miss, I enjoyed Chiwetel Ejiofor very much. Jeff Daniels was fairly good. Kristen Wiig seemed an odd choice, but she was good too.

It was better then I expected, I enjoyed it a lot 8/10

Seeing that the movie was over 2 hrs long, and knowing that the person was going to be stuck on the planet by their self for the majority, I didn't have high hopes for it. Usually these types of movies are boring. Not a lot of writers can pull this off. This movie was really good tho. A group of us watched it and really enjoyed. There were some things they failed to explain, that we collectively came up with our own answer for. Other than that, it was great. I never felt bored or left waiting for more. Overall, I feel it was very well written, produced and acted. Well worth the watching. Some people on here have griped that it was 'predictable', but then, most movies are. Who ever watched Star Wars with the thought that Vader would ultimately win??? Who ever watched Star Trek thinking that Kirk wouldn't find a way to save the day? And frankly, who grew up watching Scooby Doo thinking that someone would actually kill Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne or Velma???

Strong, well-executed, moving. Classic Scott-style directing, with its fast pace, yet never leaving emotion behind, keeping you glued to the screen throughout the runtime. Reminiscent of the original Alien, yet clearly proving the director's overall increased maturity and experience. My thoughts on the cinematography are mixed, from the one hand side the movie features a particularly bland color palette, most sequences however are nice, vivid and well-balanced. What strikes me the most is the fact that they didn't account for the reduced gravity on Mars, however not only is the price cut behind this clear, but also you forget it surprisingly easily in the first 10 minutes or so, since everything else is so gripping. The visual effects are simply flawless, realistic to the maximum and beautiful at the same time. The story itself and the characters are simply masterful, not at all out-of-this-world, or should i say the way facts are presented combined with the pacing makes you believe it's all happening at the time you're watching the movie. Though i am probably not meant to make this comparison, it leaves (in my humble opinion) Nolan's "Interstellar", a great movie on its own, completely in the dust, simply proving the effect Scott's experience has had on his work. A must-watch.