I am a lone vessel in this vast void of nothingness. One man stranded on Mars with only his wits, spirit and science skills to accompany him.

The Martian (directed by the one and only Ridley Scott) is a very unique film, and it delivers on so many levels. As a science-fiction action-adventure film there are plenty of jaw-dropping and intense moments in which the fate of the protagonist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is at risk of death or injury surrounded by the hostile environment of Mars’ surface. However there isnÔÇÖt a lacking of funny and comical moments either. Ridley Scott has excellently approached the very serious life or death situation in which this astronaut is stuck in and been able to make the audience actually laugh out loud.

The plot for The Martian is that a group of NASA scientists are conducting a mission on Mars, of which we arenÔÇÖt exactly enlightened to what it involves, when suddenly the crew is ambushed by a violent storm leaving Mark presumably dead. The commander of the crew Melissa (Jessica Chastain) makes the difficult decision of leaving Mark behind whilst she and her crew escape into space. After recovering from the storm Mark decides to make work on utilising his abilities paired with leftover equipment from the mission to survive the harshness of Mars. At first it may sound unbelievably boring but the technique of filming and time lapses makes the ordeal a lot of fun. This is enriched by MarkÔÇÖs beautiful witty comments (turns out being stranded alone on a planet canÔÇÖt hurt this guyÔÇÖs charm) which are excellently performed by Matt Damon.

The casting for The Martian is littered with big names such as Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels and many, many more. The added stardom makes each scene enjoyable to watch; thereÔÇÖs no signs of bad acting here. The film is quite long so make sure you have a couple of hours to kill, very similar to Interstellar and any other space film, it takes quite a long time to explain space mumbo jumbo. Although I think The Martian is the best at keeping me on edge, entertained and rooting completely for the protagonist to survive the challenge.

The Martian is an intense and action-packed film with plenty of comedy to keep anyone from falling asleep at the first dialogue of science-talk. ItÔÇÖs an immense journey in which the audience share with Mark and his friends and colleagues at NASA in order to rescue him. If youÔÇÖre even partly a fan of sci-fi adventure, or maybe you liked Interstellar, you should most definitely watch this.

Alexander Jones