I’m sure it’s been said before but this is Castaway on Mars. And it absolutely works. I would’ve liked a little more time on Mars pre-accident, but you get to know the characters pretty well anyways. There were sufficient twists and turns and while the movie is about 10-15 minutes too long, it still keeps you locked in. Matt Damon does more than keep your attention, he entertains and makes you actually care. Surprisingly, the ensemble cast shines without knowing much about them on the NASA side. Wish we could’ve got to know them and their roles a bit more beyond a quick title card.

A sudden and violent storm causes the team of the "Ares" mission to hastily abandon their camp and return to the relative safety of their orbiting spacecraft and a journey home. Giving the command to leave, their commander "Lewis" (Jessica Chastain) is informed that one of their number has been killed. Thing is, once the dust has (quite literally) settled, we discover that "Watney" (Matt Damon) is anything but. Impaled by an antenna needle he is alive and alone. Now a sort of space-bound "Robinson Crusoe" adventure ensues with "Watney" trying to ensure he repairs the damage to his body the uses his training - as a botanist - to find a way to survive. Everyone back home assumes he is dead - it is only when an eagle-eyed scientist notices that some of the equipment is moving that they try to re-establish contact. Now, with NASA Director "Teddy" (Jeff Daniels) and "Mitch" (Sean Bean) it's a race against time to cobble together a rescue plan before poor old "Watney" turns into one of his life-sustaining potatoes! I found this at it's most effective when it is just Damon using his guile to find innovative ways to survive. I can't swear to the plausibility of the science, but peppered with some pithy pieces-to-camera in a video diary style and his favourite (not) disco music Damon ensures that the film builds nicely allowing us to invest in his survival. I began to lose interest once the political melodrama kicked in, though, and but for the last exciting twenty minutes, I felt the film lost it's way as the scientific responses all just became a little too predictably convenient and oddly enough for a science fiction film, far-fetched! Some spectacular visual effects are put to great use complementing a strong, visionary and speculative, story of a man using his wits to survive and the all but 2½ hours really does fly by. It's even got a bit of ABBA too!

I feel like this science fiction movie was a stunning achievement, for at least a couple of reasons. Firstly, for much of the time it is a one man show, and that can be risky in a feature length film. It worked with acclaimed actors Tom Hanks in Cast Away, and with Robert Redford in All is Lost, but could it work with Matt Damon in a sci-fi flick? Well, I answer that question with a resounding ‘yes.’ The movie does cut away to planet Earth and the spaceship returning home without him, so it isn’t all Damon all the time. And some humor is injected here and there to offset the character’s grim situation. I liked the line where he referred to himself as the greatest biologist on the planet. As the only current resident on Mars at that time, he was also the worst biologist on the planet! Another reason this film is remarkable is because there is a lot of science here, which drives the plot as he has to solve continuous problems that arise, not with brute strength or other physical,skills, but with his analytical mind. And yet the details don’t get tedious or overly technical. Oddly enough, it is not a movie I will watch multiple times, as I have lesser robust sci-fI entries such as Super 8 or Monsters, but I plan to watch it at least one more time, just out of appreciation for the solid job that was done in adapting what much must have been a very challenging story to film and have it be both entertaining and informative, both scientific and an amazing adventure.