The Martian (2015)

The Martian - 2015 

Coming next on the list of films is 2015's "The Martian" starring Matt Damon.  The film explores the possibility of what would happen if someone should be stranded on Mars.

The supporting cast includes Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Mackenzie Davis, and Donald Glover.

The story opens when our team of astronauts on Mars evacuate due to an approaching storm.  Everyone gets safely aboard the shuttle except for one person, Mark Watney (Damon).

Watney gets blown away after being struck by debris.  A piece of metal gets stuck in his suit and also into him.  After cutting himself lose and performing an emergency operation on himself at the space station set up on Mars, Watney must now figure out how to remain alive until someone can get to him.

He starts recording almost immediately so there will be a record of what happened just in case he doesn't make it.  Luckily, Mark is a botanist.  As he says, "Mars will come to fear my botany powers."

Mark finds a way to grow potatoes, using human waste as fertilizer.  The food helps him to supplement the rations left behind by the crew.

The filmmakers utilized some amazing shots of the locations they used as Mars.  The Wadi Rum in Jordan served as Mars for the exterior scenes.

Mark makes contact with NASA and they put together a supply probe to bring food while they figure out how to get him home.

It doesn't go well, and Mark must face the possibility of dying alone on an isolated planet.

An enterprising young man working in Astrodynamics named Rich Purnell comes up with an ingenious plan to get Mark off of Mars.  This scene in the movie is very entertaining and utilizes some of the supporting cast well.

After months alone on Mars, Mark is rescued after a somewhat harrowing jettison from the planet's surface.

Cast rundown:

   Matt Damon............................................Mark Watney

   Jessica Chastain.......................................Commander Melissa Lewis

   Kristen Wiig.............................................Annie Montrose

   Jeff Daniels..............................................Teddy Sanders

   Michael Pena............................................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

And that's a wrap on The Martian.  After returning to Earth, Mark Watney goes back to work for NASA, this time teaching an astronaut training course.  When he asks for questions, every hand in the class shoots up.

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