The Martian

I guess you can tell about now that I like my sci fi, right? I think at least nine tenths of what I've posted here have been about some kind of science fiction. This is no exception. The Martian is about a man surviving on Mars for as long as he can as he awaits a rescue mission to collect him.

Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) is an astronaut botanist who is wounded in a severe dust storm on Mars and is presumed dead. His crew leave for the orbiting spaceship as it is too dangerous for them to look for his body. They barely get out alive themselves. Presuming their crewmate is dead, they begin to make their long journey home to Earth.

But Mark wakes up hours later, only suffering from minor injuries. His spacesuit tells him that he is low and oxygen and he makes his way back to where the crew were living before they took off and left where he can treat and heal his injuries.

Cut off and stranded the only hope Mark has of surviving is the next expedition to Mars which takes place 2000 miles from where they currently are in 4 years time. The immediate concern for him though is how will he manage to have enough food, air, and water to survive for four years, let alone have enough fuel to take him 2000 miles.

Luckily, Marks' skill is a botanist, and he manages to create a garden with edible plants that nurture the supplies of food, water and oxygen. This film really grinds home how central trees and plants are to humanities survival. I had never really thought about it further until I watched this film.

Mark also finds himself communicationless. He's shut off from the outside world, no one to talk to, no-one to message the outside world that he's still alive. Currently everyone thinks he is dead. And that's when he goes on a mission to revive and repair the old technology that lets his shelter communicate with earth.

I'll stop here because I don't want to spoil the rest of it for you. This isn't a film brimming to the top with action, it's more so a deeply woven storyline about one man's survival in a cruel and unforgiving wasteland. It's way more like the film "Passengers" than anything else.

I loved this film, but not for the reasons you may think. I've always fantasised about being the lone survivor (with my family) on an abandoned planet with only our tools, our knowledge and mod cons to survive. I've always been a bit of a recluse and were there a mission to a far away planet to start a new human colony I'd probably try and convince the wife and the son.

There's something deeply pulling about being alone, with only a few people in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I'm just a hermit, I don't know.

But this is one film that I can watch again, and there's only a few of them in my inventory that I can do that with. I could probably count them on both hands.

Definitely one to watch, and if you haven't seen this already, and you like sci fi, then I really urge you to give this one a try. Expertly acted by Matt Damon.

A pleasure to watch.