Mr. Salty

Loved it. It sticks pretty close to the book, with just enough minor changes to keep things interesting for those who have read it. The 3-D was very well done (shot in 3-D, not just post-converted), and the casting was just about perfect.

Patman

I thought it was a solid film, with some odd casting (yes, the Wiig casting was simply odd, she didn't really bring anything to the table, I'm probably stereotyping her, though, but I didn't feel as weird with the Donald Glover casting.

I thought the pacing was fine for a 140 minute film, never felt it slowed down much at all. The characterizations were a little skimpy, but it's mostly Watney's plight anyway (Matt Damon).

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+

(I saw it in 3D, pretty good in 3D).

Sorraffy

I gotta say, they did a REALLY good job of trying to get you to feel his pain when he's doctoring up his shrapnel wound

Decker

I saw it with the family last night. They did a good job with the adaptation. Matt Damon was absolutely the right guy to play Mark. You really do end up rooting for the guy. It was well cast all the way around and I thought the Mars landscape looked really convincing.
They cut out a few things for time. In the book he fries Pathfinder and has to spend almost half his time without contact with NASA and almost wanders into a massive storm he doesn't see coming. Guess they dropped that for time, but it robs the story of third act tension.
Also there was a bit with the Hermes crew where Probably too morbid for the film, but lead to a hilarious joke from Martinez afterwards.

I agree about the scene where Mark removes shrapnel from himself. Was tough to watch, but really looked convincing. This makes the second movie in four years from Ridley Scott where the protagonist performs surgery on themselves while in space.

BTW : Having Sean Bean explain what the Elrond Council is?

TomOpus

Saw it in 3D and enjoyed the hell out of it. The 3D wasn't too bad. Gave a lot of depth to the Martian landscape. Loved the humor, especially when referring to the music. Nice touch on the credits song. Special effects were almost perfect. Good job to Ridley and the cast. I will check it out again.

Solid Snake

I think I was the only person who chuckled at bit in my theater. I'm not even into LoTR all that much but I loved that moment.

Raul3

It was great. I'm a big fan of the book. That I read after watching the trailer in the theaters LOL!

The 8:55 pm function was packed! They should easily win the weekend. And I think it can have long legs.

Not 3D, but after reading the posts here I want to watch it. And in a bigger screen than the one I watched.

RichC2

Right now it's poised to make about $55m for the weekend (easily #1), #2 is looking like Hotel Transylvania 2 with about $32m.

The big question for the number types is if it can perform as well as Gravity ($55.8m opening weekend, $274m domestic gross, A- cinemascore (the Martian got an A))

All I know is I'm enjoying this recent rebirth of big budget space movies, and that Matt Damon should probably stop keep doing things that require him to get rescued.

Defiant1

Saw it last night and loved it. It wasn't as ambitious as Interstellar (and shares two cast members) but it was executed so much better. Very solid all around on all fronts. Matt Damon gives a very likeable performance as the titular character, infusing him with charisma, intelligence, and a sense of humour.

Mike86

I saw this last night and overall liked it a lot. Probably one of the best films I've seen this year and definitely one of Scott's better films. Damon did good and I agree that the humor worked really well overall with balancing the situation he was in. Probably my only slight complaint is that I felt like it was a bit longer than it had to be. Towards the end I still wanted to watch it but I felt like there was some unnecessary filler that padded out an extra fifteen to twenty minutes that weren't really needed.

wendersfan

I thought it was just awful (mainly because of the script.) Way too long, and descended into silliness at the end. Seems I'm by far in the minority with this view.

stingermck

Saw it, loved it. Went to a 4:15 show and it was a near sellout.

Dr. DVD

Saw both this and Sicario yesterday. While Sicario was definitely the better movie, this was more entertaining. Very faithful to the book, though they omitted a lot of the language for a PG-13 rating (although I was surprised they allowed to F-bombs with the rating) . Damon did a great job of conveying Watney's wit, but a lot of the wise cracks were also omitted as well it appears. Definitely the most light hearted Ridley Scott movie I've ever seen.

Loved the Lord of the Rings joke with "Boromir" sitting at the table. Disco soundtrack got a bit annoying at times, but I think that might have been part of the intention. 3D worked at times, but was mostly superfluous.

Why So Blu?

That was quite cool considering Sean Bean was fucking there!

Why So Blu?

I saw this yesterday and thought it was cool enough. I don't know if I'll buy it on BD, because I don't feel it will have the same playback value as Scott's other films. Hell, I can re-watch Prometheus over and over but something like this? I don't know.

I'd be curious if they released Scott's Unrated cut. I just read an interview he did with Yahoo and he said that there's 15 minutes that were trimmed for the TC that would be restored for the DC. I'd be down for that.

Michael Corvin

Saw it last night. Loved it. Laughed at the Elrond Council bit (also probably the only one in the theater that got it). The casting was great save for Wiig, she was very out of place. Daniels was fantastic. Glover was great in his little role. I look forward to more drama from him. Also the blonde with the short hair kept tripping me out, her voice was a dead ringer for Cobie Smulders, so much so I was convinced it was her in a wig.

The film was beautifully shot. The drama with Damon was good, I was never quite sure if it was going to have a happy ending

Other than that, very solid all the way around.

I only noticed the one in the first 5 minutes. I thought to myself, well, there's the one and only out of the way. They found lots of creative ways around it though.

Morbid? Maybe. I haven't read the book but it just sounds ridiculously stupid to me. Glad they left it out.

Why So Blu?

She's in the Halt and Catch Fire TV series.

gryffinmaster

I was actually pretty excited to discover that Wiig was cast as the PR spokesperson, because the character brings a little (vulgar) levity to the NASA content in the book that she could easily pull off. Unfortunately, her character was one of the few true casualties in translating the book to the screen, which resulted in her just feeling kinda there. Bet there's some cut content involving her (and her filthy mouth) lying around somewhere.

Decker

I think in two years, we'll be seeing Michael Pena in everything, kind of like Kevin Hart is now. He is certainly a star on the rise.

Shannon Nutt

Well, I never read the book and once I found out they were making a movie out of the book, I intentionally avoided reading it, because I wanted a "pure" movie-going experience for this one...

This is my favorite (so far) movie of 2015, and probably the best movie Ridley Scott has directed in at least two decades. It's the rare film that is both smart and extremely entertaining at the same time. A lot of people are going to be comparing it with Gravity and Cast Away...but it's better than both those movies. It's more favorably compared to Apollo 13, in my opinion. If you liked that, you'll love The Martian.

"Who'd have thunk" we'd ever get a movie from Ridley Scott with so much joy and inspiration involved? It looks and feels like nothing he's done before, and it's awesome. I gave it a perfect 5 stars - I think it's a wonderful film that we're still going to be talking about years from now.

Michael Corvin

Interesting, that would have helped but if it was always gonna be PG-13, I'm not sure how much vulgarity they would have actually filmed.

EctoCooler

Just saw it. It was good, nothing more. Competently made from top to bottom but still never once approaches greatness, and therein lies the disappointment. As with the book, the comedy entertains but to a significant extent also undermines the drama and supposed hopelessness of the situation and the story at hand. I totally understand why they decided to cut out the destruction of the Pathfinder late in the story and any mere mention of cannibalism. Money is the factor here, not art, and thus this thing is sure to rake in a boatload. In the end, The Martian is indeed a good ol' time at the movies. A terrific Hollywood production. But ultimately forgettable. I see no reason to ever revisit this once you already know that Matt Damon makes it back to Earth alive. For such a positively astounding story, the whole thing ends up feeling very slight.

Shannon Nutt

Is anyone going to see this who DOESN'T think Matt Damon will make it back alive? Doubtful.

TomOpus

I never read the book and I figured he would make it back. Just like I knew the Titanic would still hit that ice berg.

Vipper II

I've seen other people make this argument and I think it's ridiculous.

I know the Titanic sinks, but I still watch Titanic.
I know Roger Maris will break Babe Ruth's record, but I can watch 61* more than once.
I know Tom Hanks makes it off the island, but Cast Away is re-watchable.
Dorothy makes it home from Oz, but...well, you get the point.