Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'The Martian'

​WRITTEN BY JOHN EDWARD BETANCOURT

Thankfully, few of us have ever been faced with a situation where we are forced to live off the land and survive until help comes. Granted, we've likely all given it thought because hey, you never know. A drive out in the woods can turn into quite the nightmare if the car was to run out of gas and the battery on our cell phone was depleted. 

But even in those extreme situations, some rudimentary survival knowledge comes in handy so that we can build a fire, eat and do what whatever we need to do in order to make it either home alive or subsist long enough for help to arrive. But what if we were in a situation where help was either going to arrive slowly or never arrive at all, and we were taxed with limited supplies. How would we survive? Well it is a question that is explored in depth in The Martian.

The plot is fairly simple, sometime in the future, manned missions to Mars are a regular thing and when a horrific storm forces the crew of Ares III to evacuate the planet, astronaut Mark Watney is lost in the storm and presumed dead when his vital signs disappear. But as it turns out, Mark survived the storm and is now alone on Mars, with no way to communicate with his crew or Earth to let them know that he is okay, and it will be up to him to find a way to reach out to humanity and survive on a dead planet where nothing else is alive, save for himself. 

This is a film that received all kinds of praise upon its initial release and that's because of one simple fact, this is a damn good motion picture for so many reasons. First and foremost, it's a phenomenal story. You're instantly vested in Mark's journey because the odds are truly against him. He's millions of miles from home, with no help, no support and well, you want to see the man survive and the film does a great job of raising the stakes because Mars is one hostile world where anything can happen to Mark at any moment and while one might think that would make the plot dark and brooding, it is anything but, since there's actually plenty of laughs to be found alongside inspiration. 

Much of the comedy comes by way of Matt Damon's portrayal of Mark Watney since his video journals on Mars are absolutely delightful to watch and provide levity exactly when needed. But the inspirational part of this film comes from a pair of story elements. First from the fact that Mark never gives up. He goes through quite a harrowing journey but never once does his belief in salvation or rescue waver and there's something to be said for that. Second is the fact that everyone rallies behind this man once the world and his crew discover that Mark is alive and well. No one wants to leave this man behind and to see that kind of value put on a single human life is refreshing to say the least.  Either way, this is truly a marvelous little film, one filled to the brim with wonderful science and wonderful heart and one that is simply not to be missed.

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