Seeing Matt Damon in an astronaut suit may evoke bad memories for Interstellar fans, but forget Dr. Mann, for in Ridley Scott’s Oscar-tipped space oddity The Martian, the actor is playing an intrepid explorer cast astray on the Red Planet.
With no option but to “science the shit” out of his surrounding supplies, Damon’s lone astronaut is forced to carry out a mini-terraforming mission, growing food on a hostile environment that is designed for anything but. First off, his Mark Watney will be forced to send out an SOS signal from the sun-scorched planet, before hunkering down for a gruelling 4 years as the Ares 3 crew return for the man they left behind.
Lifted from the pages of Andy Weir’s eponymous best-seller, there’s already a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding The Martian following its spine-chilling first trailer. With a cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Michael Peña, Naomi Scott, Kristin Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Donald Glover, Kate Mara, Aksel Hennie, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sebastian Stan, you can color us cautiously optimistic.
Besides, with Gravity and Interstellar releasing in the last two years, moviegoers with a burning desire for the heavens have been somewhat spoilt for choice, and we’re holding out hope that Ridley Scott’s return to the sci-fi genre can stand alongside each of those aforementioned greats.
Ridley Scott will assemble the crew of Ares 3 for a space mission like no other when The Martian enters near-Earth orbit on October 2..
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) 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.
