'The Martian' - Movie Review

Andy Weir's "The Martian" was one of the most successful science fiction books of the last decade: it tells the story of Mark Watney, an astronaut on Mars whose crew leaves him behind when he's thought to be dead and a storm forces their departure. Awakening alone on Mars, he struggles to extend his own life expectancy in the harsh surroundings.

The movie stars Matt Damon as Watney, and a bevy of other A-List actors as the other Martian astronauts and NASA staff. The thing about Watney is that he just keeps fixing the stuff that breaks and never gives up, never resigns himself to dying. Damon is very good in the role. And one of the things that the movie truly succeeded at was getting geeks right: the genius, the eccentricity, and the dedication. Geeks are usually considered an easy target for comedy, and they do raise a few laughs here, but it comes naturally from the plot without distorting their behaviour. (Can you tell I'm tired of being shown "the geek" as the butt of jokes?) It's a good movie.