The Martian (12A)

Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kata Mara, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig,

Thrilling return to space for Ridley Scott as Matt Damon's astronaut is left stranded on Mars after an accident. With space missions taking literally years to plan and carry out, how can he survive? With lots of improbable ingenuity of course, as we visit with the NASA team trying to help and (eventually) his colleges led by Jessica Chastain who left him behind.
Based on the popular book by Andy Weir, screen writer Drew Goddard does a great job that for me hangs together much better than Christopher Nolan's daft Interstellar that also featured Damon as a straned astronaut!
Take a touch of Gravity, add a splash of Apollo 13 and a pinch of Interstellar and you have this very enjoyable film. I'm not a huge 3D fan but here I really felt I was with Damon on the red planet. I also love films that assume the audience is smart and can keep up with the science, that show smart people being smart. Great adventure and for a space nut like me, brilliant fun.

8/10

September 2015