The Martian (2015)

An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Drew Goddard (screenplay by), Andy Weir (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig

Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 37 wins & 185 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Damon	...	Mark Watney
Jessica Chastain	...	Melissa Lewis
Kristen Wiig	...	Annie Montrose
Jeff Daniels	...	Teddy Sanders
Michael Peña	...	Rick Martinez
Sean Bean	...	Mitch Henderson
Kate Mara	...	Beth Johanssen
Sebastian Stan	...	Chris Beck
Aksel Hennie	...	Alex Vogel
Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	Vincent Kapoor
Benedict Wong	...	Bruce Ng
Mackenzie Davis	...	Mindy Park
Donald Glover	...	Rich Purnell
Nick Mohammed	...	Tim Grimes
Shu Chen	...	Zhu Tao

Storyline

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney's safe return.

---

Plot Keywords:

astronaut | space habitat | left for dead | mars | nasa | 

---

Taglines:

Help is only 140 million miles away

---

Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, injury images, and brief nudity.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

2 October 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Martian 3D

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$108,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$54,308,575, 4 October 2015, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$228,433,663

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$629,281,283

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, TSG Entertainment, Scott Free Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min 151 min (extended cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos Dolby Surround 7.1 Datasat SDDS Auro 11.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In comparison to the previous Ridley Scott space epic Prometheus (2012), which was given 34 weeks to have the post production completed, production issues on The Martian (2015) set filming back four weeks, giving the post-production crew a tight 24 weeks to complete the film.

---

Goofs

It is quite amazing how much consumer products are used in the Ares mission: astronauts' shoes by Nike, AOC monitors, GoPro cameras, etc. Significantly, on Hermes Beth uses a very large AOC monitor with touch capability, which AOC does not currently make, and Mark has a regular Hamilton watch on his EVA suit with analog hands and a date window which would be fairly useless on Mars.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Melissa Lewis: All right team, stay in sight of each other. Let's make NASA proud today.
Rick Martinez: How's it looking over there, Watney?
Mark Watney: Well, you will be happy to hear that in Grid Section 14-28, the particles were predominately coarse but in 29, they're much finer and they should be ideal for chem analysis.
Rick Martinez: Oh, wow. Did everybody hear that? Mark just discovered dirt.
[laughs]
Rick Martinez: Should we alert the media?

---

Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the letters of "THE MARTIAN" fade away but as the top of the "T" fades, it then leaves an "I" onscreen for a fraction of a second, reminiscent of Ridley Scott's "Alien," where the letters slowly fade in one at a time.

---

Alternate Versions

In June of 2016, an extended cut was released on Blu-Ray and Ultra HD 4K Blu-Ray that adds 10 additional minutes of footage.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Earth Is NOT a Ball... The Biggest Deception! (2015)

---

Soundtracks

Turn the Beat Around (Love to Hear Percussion)
Written by Peter Jackson (as Peter Jackson Jr.) and Gerald Jackson
Performed by Vicki Sue Robinson
Courtesy of RCA Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Smart, exciting crowd-pleaser

Exceptional sci-fi drama from Ridley Scott about an astronaut (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars and the efforts made to rescue him. As others have pointed out, there's more than a little bit here that reminds you of movies like Apollo 13 and Cast Away (particularly the former). I fail to see how that's a knock on it but it's being presented as such by some. We all come to movies with our own expectations and baggage. I'm not a Scott fanboy expecting him to wow me (his last two films were not great). I just wanted to be entertained and this did the trick. It's a movie aimed at the masses that is smarter than your average movie aimed at the masses. Maybe it's not for all nerds (a quick glance at some of the reviews shows a lot of inane nit-picking from people who seem to have no concept of dramatic license), but I didn't find the movie dumbed-down at all. I also want to say how much I appreciated that this managed to stay remarkably light and positive while still maintaining the tension, proving once again that you don't have to be depressing to be good drama. If you haven't seen The Martian yet, you should. It's a great film with a first-rate cast, good direction, and stellar effects. If you're just looking for a quality movie to entertain you for a while, this should be something you'll enjoy.