By Lucan Franzblau ’20, Staff Writer 

“The Martian,” a film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, drops you into the center of an expedition to research Mars gone wrong. It is not made clear whether this is one of the first manned Mars missions; then we are shown there is an unexpectedly large storm coming. The crew has to leave behind Mark Watney on Mars because they presume he is dead when they attempt to make it back to the aircraft to perform an emergency escape to leave Mars.

    The constant surprises of the movie, such as Mark Watney actually being alive, and how he’s able to survive in a hostile environment, left me with my mouth open just long enough to have my jaw dropped again by another twist in the plot. The film makes scientific progress and explores the idea of humans being able to survive on Mars…as long as said humans have PhDs in botany, and can use their heads in ridiculously stressful situations.

    Matt Damon’s performance is not much short of flawless; his accurate portrayal of intense physical pain and emotional disconnectedness is hard to take your eyes off of. However, I would argue that some of the film is a bit too slow for my liking, such as when Watney is just living life on Mars while he is trying to figure out the best solution–and the best chance–for him to survive. During this time, not all that much is going on except him waiting for NASA to try to save him.

I do happen to be sort of a bone picker with predictable movies, and this one is no different than many others, in the sense that there is a recurring feeling that everything will turn out okay, even if it takes a miracle. The scientific solutions to the never-ending problems in the movies seemed outlandish at times, but usually comprehensible. My opinions about the movie are both negative and positive but the positive outweighs the negative for me. If I were you, I would get up and go see “The Martian” soon!