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 40 wins & 188 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.

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

Help is only 140 million miles away

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Small changes were made to the script during filming, in part to have better scientific accuracy. Producer Mark Huffam said, "We're working with 90% of the script that we started with".

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Goofs

When Mark Witney is seen sitting on a hill looking at the Sun after the pressure door has blown off, the Sun looks the same size as it looks from Earth. However, Mars is 1.52 AU from the Sun, which means the Sun looks about 50% smaller than the scene portrays it.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Trevor Noah/David Cross/X Ambassadors/Glenn Kotche (2016)

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Soundtracks

Happy Days Theme
Written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel
Performed by Pratt and McClain (as Pratt & McClain)
Courtesy of Reprise Records
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

The Martian: "Cast Away" Meets "Apollo 13"

The Martian is a new Ridley Scott classic, featuring his best work in years, the best performance I've ever seen from Matt Damon, an outstanding supporting cast, a surprisingly funny screenplay from Daredevil creator Drew Goddard, and a great narrative that ties the film together beautifully.

As expected with Ridley Scott films, the film itself is visually stunning. The landscape of Mars looks absolutely breathtaking, and the scenes aboard the Hermes and back on Earth are just as sharp in detail and scope. The way he chose to make this film made it almost seem like an exceptionally made biopic. Many times during this film, I legitimately believed that Mark Watney was a real, living person that was actually stranded on Mars for many months alone. It's Cast Away meets Apollo 13, and this marriage is crafted beautifully.

Matt Damon is absolutely brilliant in this film. He plays Watney with so much optimism that it actually makes the depressing aspect of the film not as depressing for me. However, when he has to put on his dramatic chops in certain scenes, he truly commits to the drama of the situation, and that right there is true Ridley Scott suspense for you. The supporting cast, everyone involved, all do great work as well. Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, particularly Chiwetel Ejiofor. He is one of the best actors working today, and this movie and 12 Years a Slave shows how far he's come.

The most surprisingly element about this movie though was the screenplay. The film is hilarious in some parts, in fact I'd argue that it's funnier than most comedies that have come out this year. What makes to movie unique to me was Watney's optimistic point of view. He believes that he isn't going to die on Mars, and this transforms this rather depressing situation into something comical instead. But when you really think about it, this is a very personal film about some people coming together to save somebody. That's it. And in today's world, it's nice to hear an story about people coming together to save one of their own.

I have nothing bad to say about The Martian. It's the best film I've seen all year.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Site

Country:

UK USA Hungary Jordan

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

Gross USA:

$228,433,663

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$630,161,890

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