Settling in to watch The Martian, because optimistic speculative fiction is what I need right now.

The opening visuals are beautiful. And I love the banter between Watney & Martinez.

I love how the pre-mess scene establishes the relationships between these people.

Setting the stakes and making us care about them right from the jump.

And then it all goes pear shaped.

And then you realize it's worse than you thought.

Oops.

The prospect of performing surgery on yourself is daunting, to say the least.

I always wonder what paramedics/ EMTs think of this scene. I know my mother (she was a nurse) would have had thoughts.

I like that he spends a few days listening to the storm and brooding a bit before getting it together. Packing everyone else's stuff and processing. And then deciding that he's not gonna die.

Literally takes inventory, gets an idea in the bathroom, and boom.

IDEA.

They really give him time to set up the farming before presenting the next problem to solve. We forget that farming is water intensive.

And then he blows himself up! I love the bit about JPL starting the same way. Science is wild, folks!

Potato! Woohoo!

Meanwhile, on Earth ... funerals and politics.

Even in speculative fiction, with a manned space program going to Mars, Congress Yanks on the budget. Because of course.

The switch back to Watney and disco music is funny.

And shortly thereafter comes quite possibly my favorite bit in the entire movie. Not even kidding.

Really good look at problem solving in this movie. The steps are laid out pretty clearly:

1. Identify problem.
2. "Do the math."
3. Create & implement solution.
4. ADJUST AS NECESSARY.

And looking at each problem in order of importance AND time needed.

I LOVE that he digs up Pathfinder.

The notion that the various probes and exploration bots we've sent out can still do a job with a bit of love and attention just tickles me.

Who's a good rover?
You are! You are!

The montage of figuring out how to communicate is an outstanding example of what standardized training, depth of knowledge, and professionalism can get you.

You're talking geometry, hexadecimal, asce tables, transmission time, and having to know exactly what he has in hand.

The conflict over what to tell the crew, and when, is a big part of grounding this story, imho. It'd be so easy to fall into nothing but techno-babble and all the survival drama. Like, so easy.

Real life means making decisions. Decisions that have consequences for other people.

The amount of overplanning that goes into NASA's decision making process makes sense here. When you're talking about months to prep a rocket launch, you want big margins the unexpected.

This movie is really good at showing why redundancies and overlap and cushions are good.

And Watney? Takes a hot second to get it together, then moved in to clean up.

The scene of counting potatoes to get through the storm is something else. I'm not sure if that's a depiction of early stages of PTSD, but it seems like one to me.

Watney complaining about rationing is on point. Hunger isn't just about feeling hungry, it actually hurts. So the vicodin thing makes sense.

The probe launch going bad is a real gut punch. And they let us sit with that for a while. It slows things down again and sets up the Taiyang Shen reveal. Gives it that "oh thank gods" relief it needs here.

And then we get the secret Lord of the Rings meeting comedy!

Rich Purnell is a nerd of beauty, btw. I love him deeply.

"You know I'm your boss, right?"
"Teddy, director of NASA."

Small roll, but friggin brilliant.

And then we get to see the crew making a big decision. They discuss it like grown-ass adults and consider all the angles.

I really like the conversation between Mitch & Teddy about the potential fallout of the decisions that were made in terms of "someone" sending the maneuver to the crew and the crew's choice.

They're both right, of course. They usually are in the biggest disagreements.

The preparations to leave the HAB montage is another nice moment to settle back in. Though the "weight loss body double" image is unsettling. Still, it gives us the visual reminder if time passing and the impact it's having on Watney.

Plus, space pirate!

The scene describing what they're going to have to do to the MAV to get Watney into space is lovely.

"You haven't even gotten to the bad part."

"Do you want to hear the rest?"
"No."

Lol.
But it sets up the stakes for the launch of the MAV.

I'm glad they let Watney be emotional in the immediate lead up to launch. It's a little thing, but it resonates.

Seeing teamwork problem solving is awesome. Astronauts spend a long time training for problem solving, of course. You have to be that good when NASA is that far away.

I love seeing the world waiting breathlessly for updates. Also worth noting, no Covid!

I know, I know. The movie predates Covid. Shush.

Maybe one of the best things about the movie is that it doesn't end with Watney coming aboard the Hermes. It doesn't even end with him getting back to Earth. How does it end?

Watney teaching new astronaut candidates and the launch of the Ares V.

There's always the next step.