Every human being has the basic instinct to help each other out. If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people coordinate a search. If an earthquake levels the city, people all over the world send emergency supplies. This instinct is found in every culture, without exception.
This is the optimistic voiceover delivered by Matt Damon as the first trailer for Ridley Scott's The Martian begins. We get a glimpse at all the major characters, played by big stars, as pictures of press conferences are juxtaposed with gorgeous shots of the vast Martian landscape.
Mark Watney, played with the usual charm and biting wit by Matt Damon is caught in an accident during an expedition on Mars. His crew, believing him dead, leaves. Watney, a biochemist, is left to fend for himself on a planet where nothing grows. His supplies are scheduled to run out in 31 days and by his most modest calculations, a rescue mission by NASA will take at least 4 years. If he can find a way to contact them, that is.
Mark Watney, played with the usual charm and biting wit by Matt Damon is caught in an accident during an expedition on Mars. His crew, believing him dead, leaves. Watney, a biochemist, is left to fend for himself on a planet where nothing grows. His supplies are scheduled to run out in 31 days and by his most modest calculations, a rescue mission by NASA will take at least 4 years. If he can find a way to contact them, that is.
Ridley Scott's grand return to the genre with which his name is synonymous looks thrilling. Just like the book on which it is based, written with breathtaking pace by Andy Weir. Scott has assembled an excellent cast and seems to be harkening back to his Alien days, going by some of the spacecraft production design.
The Martian looks like a nail-biting survival thriller: Imagine Gravity meets Armageddon. It is also, in a refreshing change of pace from the norm, greatly optimistic about humanity, something most modern movies tend to dismiss, focusing instead on our transgressions and dystopian tendencies. Mark Watney's predicament brings the whole world together as everyone's energies are focused on only one thing: bring him home (also the tagline).
The Martian stars Matt Damon, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan and Daniel Glover. It is written by Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) and is expected to be released, bullishly, in the middle of awards season on November 25th.
Here's the first poster,