Went and saw this movie over the weekend. I’m not really a Matt Damon fan, but I am a fan of Ridley Scott’s work, so I ifgured I’d go see it.

The premise, which is pretty obvious from the trailers so there is no spoilage here, is that an astronaut on a manned Mars mission is presumed dead after an accident and his crew leave him behind. He then has to survive on Mars until a rescue mission can be launched…which is well over a year away.

Really, it’s a survival movie of pretty high caliber. Sure the movie gives plenty of technobabble, special effects, and alien landscape…but the real heart of the movie is the attitude of one man, in a hopeless situation, not giving up, and thinking his way through a series of problems. As Damon’s character says in his video log after listing the huge hopeless tasks in front of him, “I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this.”

As Rand said, mans mind is his primary tool of survival and this movie greatly supports that statement. The main character has to McGyver all sorts of systems, come up with ideas for communication, making water, growing food, etc, etc, and do it all while not giving in to the crushing loneliness, hopelessness, and despair. And..they did a pretty good job portraying that.

So..no gun play, no zombies, no cannibalism….but still, I would categorize this movie as a first-rate survival film. If you get the chance, I recommend seeing it.