From The Martian’s opening scenes Mars’s desert vistas and dunes look stunning. This precedent that the movie sets is consistent throughout the film. When in space or on the red planet the CGI is top notch and really makes Mars feel real and grounded.

After showcasing the planet the movie introduces us to it’s main characters, scientists from NASA who are there of course to do research. Everything is going as planned with the crew exchanging witty banter until the team leader Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) spots a incoming storm. When the storm hits the team heads to the rocket but Botanist and main character Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is struck by debris is left behind.

This puts us into the real meat of the movie watching Watney try to survive while everyone at NASA and the world thinks he’s dead. The next few sequences are all held up by Matt Damon’s performance as he video logs how he’s going to survive on Mars. Through the movie Watney encounters various huge struggles with food,oxygen,water, and time. Matt Damon excellently shows Watney’s anger but also his happiness when he makes progress in something. He also gives Watney some levity with a lot of good one liners and jokes that humanize his character. What’s great about all this is that the science of how Watney tries to make it is all grounded in reality. This makes seeing Watney struggle more interesting and life threatening.

The other parts of the movie takes place back at NASA as the government grasps with telling the public the truth about Watney after they find out he’s alive. The acting in this portion is also fantastic with great actors like Jeff Daniels playing NASA’s director and Donald Glover playing a genius that tries to help bring Watney home.

The Martian is one of Ridley Scott’s best movies and is a great representation of real science and the success of the human spirit. Through Matt Damon’s and many other great actors performances the idea that we could go to Mars dosen’t seem too far off.