The Martian | Teen Ink

The Martian

December 17, 2019
By Anonymous

 The Martian proves to be an exhilarating adventure that combines together science fiction with enough realistic science to create a truly complicated and captivating roller coaster ride. The movie revolves around a group of astronauts that take the journey of a lifetime when they go to fly to Mars, which has become a treasured destination by NASA. As a planet that many scientists have been intrigued by, especially due to the potential prospect of the surface once containing forms of water, suggesting that life may have once existed, the astronauts flying there are in store for the ride of a lifetime. Upon arriving after a long and treacherous ride through space, all of the astronauts on-board decide to get off of their space shuttles to safely explore the land of the new planet. Quickly, all of the scientists decide that this terrain truly is as incredible as predicted, if not more so. However, things quickly take a sour turn when an unexpected and violent storm forms and begins to near the astronauts. Deciding that aborting is an absolute must, and failure to do such could result in severe consequences, including death, all the members of the space crew rush back to their shuttles to return back to Earth with the data they already have successfully obtained. Despite this, things don't go as initially expected, and all of the members of the crew make it back to the ship, with one exception. This one exception, Mark Watney, gets torn by the storm and thrown away from the ship, causing his fellow crew members to make the difficult decision of leaving him behind. As they do such, Mark Watney finds himself abandoned on a new planet, with nothing but a few scraps of the resources that the crew left behind. While presumed dead, Mark is very much alive while on Mars, and must now figure out a way to maintain enough food resources and oxygen to be able to keep being alive. With his knowledge of plants and botany, Mark attempts to achieve the impossible and become one of the first people to survive on the planet alone, all while he does his best to make his mark on the new world. In the process, NASA does its best to come up with a plan to save the crew, as well as Mark Watney. As NASA attempts to deal with the conflicting possibilities of what to do next, made all the more difficult by the fact that the decisions will certainly result in affecting reputations, business and astronauts' lives, it seems like Watney's death is all but inevitable. That is until a risky plan is formed that might just be complex enough to work, but if this plan is going to ever work, Mark Watney is going to need to do whatever it takes to stay alive on the marginal provisions that he still has. 
 The Martian proves to be a truly enticing adventure that combines together the very best features of fine story-telling methods with riveting science to form an epic tale. Through the utilization of complex, and yet realistic science, the movie showcases a world in which reaching Mars isn't all that difficult, and this makes the plot of the movie far more intriguing. With the ability to reach Mars, the wondrous possibilities of the universe and solar system become all that much more achievable, and this adds an even heavier emphasis on Mark Watney's attempts to stay alive. At times it feels as though Mark isn't just fighting for his own life, but is instead attempting to represent all of humanity in the process. As much as Neil Armstrong's landing on the Moon was a symbol and representation of the power and capabilities of mankind, Mark Watney's determination to colonize a planet by himself feels to be in a similar class. The mercurial nature of such actions results in Mark Watney being torn to the very limit, both physically and emotionally, as he deals with problems that no other human being has ever fought. 

 The Martian is a truly fantastic choice for a wide variety of viewers, and with its combination of wit, stupendous visual effects, and ability to feel crazy realistic, audiences will definitely be rooting for Mark Watney the entire time. Not to mention that this movie is extremely exciting and interesting to watch throughout, this is easily one of the best science fiction movies to come out recently. With aid from a brilliant performance from the always reliable Matt Damon, Mark Watney becomes a compelling and charismatic character that sucks viewers into a world of scientific possibilities. This is, without any shred of doubt, an absolute must-see. 


The author's comments:

"I admit it's fatally dangerous, but I'd get to fly around like Iron Man." - Iron Man


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