Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is on a mission to Mars when he is cut off from his crew during a storm and they are forced to abandon the mission, believing him dead and leaving him behind on the planet. When his crew finds out that Mark is indeed alive, they have to mount a rescue mission that could be just as dangerous for them.

It sure is a breath of fresh air to see a Ridley Scott movie that isn't him churning out an Alien prequel that nobody asked for. A couple of years ago it seemed like movies set on Mars were box office poison. Can you remember a Mars movie that was actually any good? I know I can't. It looks like Ridley Scott and everybody else involved managed to pull it off. It helps that you have a likeable lead in the form of Matt Damon. I do have to pick fault with Watney's disdain for disco music. That sort of thing is my jam and I wouldn't mind being stuck on Mars with only disco music to listen to. Then again, I probably would have been long dead before I ever got a chance to rifle through my crew's stuff in order to survive.

The movie is also surprisingly funny for something that is supposed to be 'proper' science fiction. Watney's first reaction when he finds out that he is alone on Mars is one quiet swear. He has a proper foul-mouthed tirade when he finds out that NASA decided not to tell the rest of his crew that he was alive in order not to distract them from their mission back to Earth. We never actually get to see what he says, but it doesn't take a genius to guess that it wouldn't have been pleasant.

The rest of the movie's cast is great as well. Jessica Chastiain is the commander of the mission, Lewis . Sebastian Stan is another one of the crew, Beck. It just amuses me that the Winter Soldier was in space. Another amusing fact, Matt Damon would go on to play the phoney Loki in Thor: Ragnarok. Other Marvel actors to keep an eye out for are Chiwetel Eijofor (Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange) as NASA's Director of Mars Missions Vincent Kapoor, Benedict Wong (Wong, also in Doctor Strange) as director of the Jet Propulsion Lab Bruce Ng, Donald Glover (Spider-Man: Homecoming) is one of the guys working at JPL Rich Purnell and Michael Peña (Luis from Ant-Man) as the pilot of the Mars mission Martinez.

There are plenty of non-Marvel missions to keep an eye out for as well. Jeff Daniels (Dumb & Dumber) is the Director of NASA Teddy Sanders, and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) is the director of media relations Annie Montrose, but the one non-Marvel actor that I most got a kick out of was Sean Bean as the mission director Mitch Henderson. It amused me that his character had to be given an explanation why a part of the mission was named after Lord of the Rings. One does not simply send a rescue mission to Mars, after all.

My rating: 4 stars.