Elfscribe's Den

I went to see The Martian last night. Thumbs all the way up! It was smart, well-acted, beautifully filmed with amazing special effects, had great touches of humor, and was an exciting edge-of-the-seat story even if one could kinda figure out it would turn out all right in the end. Ridley Scott did a great job directing this and cutting scenes just right so the story was told without dumbing it down, but also without letting the technical details bog it down. I was reminded of the movie Apollo 13, which I also loved in that the "enemy" (aside from some political stupidity) was really man against the laws of nature. The heroes are the MacGyver scientists who use an ability to solve problems in an unorthodox fashion, as well as teamwork with a common, altruistic goal. I was also so pleased to see a story in which "doing the math" and understanding real world physics and engineering was key. The solutions to the problems were amazing! There was a message there for all the people these days who are science-deniers, that in the end, the numbers don't lie and that the world can unite to do something good. Oh, and for us Tolkien geeks, there is an actual Tolkien reference in a scene with Sean Bean. Funny! And yay for a smart movie that doesn't rely on machine-gunning the bad guys at the end. Highly recommended.