By Megan Werden ’17

In the action and sci-fi movie “The Martian,” Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, a determined astronaut who is presumed dead after a storm hits Mars while he and his fellow crew are on a mission there. Some debris hits Watney during the storm, and he suffers a gruesome injury. The rest of crew escapes from the planet and leaves him behind.

Turns out that Watney is alive and now has to figure out how to live on Mars by himself, without contact with NASA. He learns how to grow potatoes using his crew’s stored waste, and rations his food day by day to keep him alive as long as possible. He also searches the surroundings of his new home on Mars, and he finds some very surprising but helpful technologies that will help him survive. Using advanced technology, NASA discovers that he is still on Mars and spends more than 500 days to find a way to bring him back home.

The crew, Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), Rick Martinez (Michael Peña), Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara), Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan), and Alex Vogel (Aksel Hennie), does not know that Watney is alive until two months after NASA first figures out he is still on Mars. They are at first furious with NASA, but then they regret leaving their fellow crew mate behind. Lewis is especially distraught because she is the commander who ordered her crew to leave him behind. Once they find out he is alive and are able to communicate with him, they are determined to do anything they can to help him return home, even if it means risking their lives. The movie, directed by Andy Weir and based on a sci-fi novel with the same title, soars thanks to its realistic special effects and an outstanding performance by Damon.

The special effects make the movie very realistic, creating an entire world for Watney on Mars. Since this movie is sci-fi, the fact that the special effects are real-looking make the movie stand out in its genre. Damon had to go through vigorous training for the film. This is very evident as he does many of his own stunts throughout “The Martian,” including when he is shaken around quite a bit in a space-simulated scene. As Watney is living on Mars, he has to travel throughout the planet to find different resources. At one point while Watney is searching the planet for resources, a fiery explosion throws him back. Such scenes are gripping to watch and utterly believable looking.

The dramatic visuals are complemented by Damon’s fantastic acting. He portrays Watney as brilliantly smart (as one would expect of a NASA astronaut) but also smart-mouthed. Damon adds a lot of comic relief to tense scenes, as his character is able to find the humor in the most trying of circumstances.

The balance of suspense and comedic levity separates “The Martian” from other films about a lone survivor trying to make it out alive. It’s not too often that a film successfully provides much-needed laughs during dire circumstances.