Ridley Scott took Andy Weir’s award winning science-fiction novel about one astronaut’s fight for survival to the big screens on October 2nd. Matt Damon stars as the lone astronaut accidentally left behind on a Mars mission and forced to devise a plan to contact Earth, in hopes of coming home. The Martian has already killed the box office, bringing in $54 million on its opening weekend, and over $232 million worldwide. The two hours and twenty one minute film is fully-packed with space travelers dreams. The Martian, in my opinion, is this decade’s movie of the future.

The film opens with a group of astronauts collecting rocks and data from the small red planet. A storm that is heading towards the site forces the crew to prepare for an immediate evacuation. The dense winds and low visibility separates Mark Watney (Matt Damon) from his five other crew members. He is hit by flying debris from their tilting spacecraft and left for dead as his team heads home, thinking they lost a friend.

NASA reports the news, sure of Watney’s death. It isn’t until a member of Mars’ satellite team at Mission Control realizes erroneous movements of materials from images that people begin to believe Watney survived the storm. Immediately, members of NASA and international scientists devise multiple plans in an effort to bring him home.

With limited supplies, Watney is forced to create food (and hope) in order to survive. As a botanist and experienced scientist, he uses applied knowledge to grow food to last a little longer. With basic survival needs met, Watney now focuses on how to contact Earth. A sudden remembrance of another mission’s crashed landing sends him on a cross-Mars expedition to possibly power up a communication device from 1997. Those following Watney’s every move note his efforts and regenerate the matching machine functioning on earth.

When Donald Glover is not in the studio, you can find him pursuing NASA to use his scientific method to send Ares III back to save their last member. The news that their friend is still alive comes after great delay so they could focus on getting home safely, along with NASA’s belief that without any prompt support, Watney will perish. Once they are given the news, they work closely with creating a mid-flight refuel for their approximate 500 day extension.

Every idea to bring Mark Watney safely aboard is a gamble. Time is quickly running out and rationing is forcing his supplies extremely low. However, Watney grasps at every ounce of hope and never faces defeat. The odds seem always to be stacked against his favor, but Watney is capable to turn his mastery of science into a method of survival. The exhilarating moments of rescue are suspenseful, and the magnitude of one small error could kill all six lives.

The amount of time the mission took is extremely condensed. The many months of travel and the loneliness experienced by Watney spent on Mars could do damaging effects to any human’s mind. However, the fortune of having some classic 80’s tunes available and a jovial attitude provides Watney with limitless potential.

The effort of the world to bring Mark Watney home is enormous, and drives home the simple message of teamwork, and how a team works for all its members in all circumstances. With space travel slowly, but surely expanding every year, who knows how realistic this movie could become.