Movie Review: The Martian

Yes. I watched The Martian without having read the book. Don’t look at me like that! I did the same thing with The Scorch Trials, too and I was perfectly fine.

Here’s the trailer for The Martian, in case, for some reason, you have no idea what I’m talking about:

While I was hoping for beyond great things for this movie, it ended up being pretty good. Not great, just pretty good. The astronaut who is stuck up on Mars, Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) is a sarcastic little bugger. Well, I guess he’s not really that little, but he’s still sarcastic. I was constantly laughing during his scenes. However, the time jumps he had—when he went from Day 189 to Day 500 or whatever—made me a tad irked. I just wanted to see more of the in-between. I understand jumping from Day 1 to maybe Day 45, because we don’t have to see every boring moment, but missing 200+ days is a little much. I’m not sure if the book does this or not, someone should let me know.

I did love the “on Earth” scenes almost as much as Mark’s scenes. I was constantly rooting for those smart people to get their crap together and save Mark. I also liked the dynamic between the astronauts of the Mars 3 mission team. What I didn’t like, though, was that the only character of diversity on the team was a Hispanic guy. Which is totally fine, but there could have been some more diversity there. However, this could be completely contrary to the novel, so, again, someone should let me know. (I've tried looking it up and I haven't gotten a straight answer, but I have heard some iffy things about casting the ground people.)

All in all, The Martian is a must-see for any sci-fi lover out there. Just prepare for your emotions to get all topsy-turvy. You’ll be cringing, laughing, crying, what-the-f-ing, and much more, all during a span of a little over two hours.