Review: Damon Charms As Stranded Astronaut In 'the Martian'

Alone on screen for most of his scenes as an astronaut stranded on the red planet, the Oscar-nominated actor is the winning heart of Ridley Scott's epic space adventure, "The Martian." Seeing his efforts through various camera perspectives — the helmet cam, a bunk cam inside his sleeping quarters, a dashboard camera inside his space rover and the video diaries where he appears to talk directly to the audience — adds visual interest, though Damon would probably be just as magnetic talking to a hand-held camera in an empty room. There's life on Earth, set inside NASA's sterile Houston headquarters and the lively Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and life on Mars, a dusty, red, rocky expanse where nothing lives (which filmmakers actually found in Jordan). [...] there's life aboard the film's elegant spacecraft, from the rugged rover Watney uses to explore Mars to the Enterprise-inspired ship that carries his fellow crewmembers and their commander, Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain). Even though it's a big Hollywood production, Watney's survival really does seem in question, and audiences will want to join the international crowds on screen in cheering for his rescue. The Martian," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "some strong language, injury images, and brief nudity.