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.
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.Written by
20th Century Fox
One of Mars's panoramic shots shows Olympus Mons, the largest discovered volcano in the solar system. It is almost three times larger than Mount Everest and covers an area about the size of Missouri. It is also twice as tall as Everest, extending to a height well beyond that of the atmosphere. See more »
Goofs
At various points in the movie, the "head up display" of Watneys space suit is shown, giving environmental and suit data on the atmospheric pressure and oxygen content.
There are two major problems with this:
The suit value is around 4.7 PSI and 21% oxygen. That gives a "Partial Pressure" for oxygen of only around one PSI, which is not sufficient to support life - the minimum for survival is around 2 PSI, with nearer 3 PSI to allow normal levels of exertion.
4.7 PSI is a standard for NASA, but at that pressure almost pure oxygen is used.
By comparison, the HAB pressure are shown as around 12.5 - 14 PSI with 21% oxygen, giving around 2.5 - 3 PSI oxygen, roughly "earth atmosphere" range.
This gives the second problem - dropping from 12.5 or 14 PSI to 4.7 PSI pressure requires a progressive decompression sequence each time, which takes over two hours by the NASA protocol.
The astronaut must pre-breathe pure oxygen to purge nitrogen from the body for this time, plus a period of "vigorous exercise" at the start of each pre-breathing and decompression sequence.
Without this, the astronaut will get "the bends" due to nitrogen in the body tissues forming bubbles. See more »
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?
See more »
Crazy Credits
During the first half of the ending credits, the names of the cast members (with the exception of Matt Damon) corresponds with their character in the film. See more »
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. See more »
Don't Leave Me This Way
Written by Kenny Gamble (as Kenneth Gamble), Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert (as Cary Grant Gilbert)
Performed by Thelma Houston
Courtesy of Motown Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises See more »
Strong, well-executed, moving. Classic Scott-style directing, with its fast pace, yet never leaving emotion behind, keeping you glued to the screen throughout the runtime. Reminiscent of the original Alien, yet clearly proving the director's overall increased maturity and experience. My thoughts on the cinematography are mixed, from the one hand side the movie features a particularly bland color palette, most sequences however are nice, vivid and well-balanced. What strikes me the most is the fact that they didn't account for the reduced gravity on Mars, however not only is the price cut behind this clear, but also you forget it surprisingly easily in the first 10 minutes or so, since everything else is so gripping. The visual effects are simply flawless, realistic to the maximum and beautiful at the same time. The story itself and the characters are simply masterful, not at all out-of-this-world, or should i say the way facts are presented combined with the pacing makes you believe it's all happening at the time you're watching the movie. Though i am probably not meant to make this comparison, it leaves (in my humble opinion) Nolan's "Interstellar", a great movie on its own, completely in the dust, simply proving the effect Scott's experience has had on his work. A must-watch.
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Strong, well-executed, moving. Classic Scott-style directing, with its fast pace, yet never leaving emotion behind, keeping you glued to the screen throughout the runtime. Reminiscent of the original Alien, yet clearly proving the director's overall increased maturity and experience. My thoughts on the cinematography are mixed, from the one hand side the movie features a particularly bland color palette, most sequences however are nice, vivid and well-balanced. What strikes me the most is the fact that they didn't account for the reduced gravity on Mars, however not only is the price cut behind this clear, but also you forget it surprisingly easily in the first 10 minutes or so, since everything else is so gripping. The visual effects are simply flawless, realistic to the maximum and beautiful at the same time. The story itself and the characters are simply masterful, not at all out-of-this-world, or should i say the way facts are presented combined with the pacing makes you believe it's all happening at the time you're watching the movie. Though i am probably not meant to make this comparison, it leaves (in my humble opinion) Nolan's "Interstellar", a great movie on its own, completely in the dust, simply proving the effect Scott's experience has had on his work. A must-watch.