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The Martian is effectively Matt Damon as Mark Watney, an astronaut who, during a manned mission to Mars, is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet.
With only meager supplies – having to somehow make 31 days’ worth of rations last four years until NASA can reach him, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
The film also stars Kate Mara, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Mackenzie Davis, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Donald Glover, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Chiwetel Ejiofor, plus Headhunters‘ Aksel Hennie and Jonathan Aris from BBC2’s The Game.
Directed by Ridley Scott, from a screenplay by Drew Goddard, based on the book by Andy Weir, I loved Scott’s last venture into space for Prometheus in 2012, which looked outstanding in IMAX 3D.
The Martian also marks a return to space for Matt Damon as well as Jessica Chastain, who were both in Interstellar – one of my favourite films of last year, even though neither of them shared screen time. That said, with Damon up in space and Chastain back at mission control, there’s something very familiar about all this…
The Martian is released in the UK on November 27th and I’m sold on this already… but I would like Prometheus 2, please!! (so far, that’s due out next year on March 4th, but Ridley Scott seemingly isn’t directing this time, staying on as producer instead. In fact, no director has yet been confirmed).
Check out the trailer and click on the poster for the full-size image:
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.