The Martian (2015)

Film and Plot Synopsis

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring ‘the Martian’ home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return.

‘The Martian’ Movie Summary

The Martian starts with six close-knit NASA Aries astronauts on the fourth Mars mission the past few weeks when a sudden monster sand storm threatens to blow over their only transport off the planet.

As the team walks blindly through the storm to make an emergency launch, one of them, botanist Mark Watley, is suddenly hit by debris, disappears into the darkness and his life support flatlines. The entire crew thinks Watley is dead. They leave the planet, not realizing Watley has survived the wound, and is now abandoned without communication to the Aries crew or NASA, nor has enough supplies to survive until a rescue team can arrive in two years even if he somehow relays his dilemma to Earth.

NASA believes Watley is dead and has a large funeral to commemorate him. Watley decides he doesn’t wanna die on the planet so he begins making plans with current rations, as well as reinvents growing potatoes on Mars soil with a manufactured water source, and methodically advances the Rover further and further to one day make the 1,500 kilometer trek to a future launch site set up for a future mission in two years.

NASA realizes Watley is alive through aerial photography as Watley heads off to locate a long-forgotten communication beacon abandoned and buried by a previous mission to Mars. NASA begins building a rescue rocket with supplies and links up with Watley’s communication beacon to give him instructions on survival, although Watley has been doing just fine by himself.

After several months of advances, Watley’s crops come in and he has enough food to last him several more months. Unfortunately, an unseen rip forms outside the survival Hab that keeps him alive and an explosion destroys much of the Hab and all of Watley’s future food supply. So NASA speeds up the rocket launch, only to watch it explode on takeoff, leaving NASA and Watley despondent.

However, China has been creating a secret rocket and offers a space truce with NASA to hook up the Chinese supply rocket with the original Aries crew who have just found out Watley is alive. The crew disobeys NASA’s specific orders to land and instead uses pirated telemetry instructions to slingshot around Earth while retrieving the Chinese supplies and heads back to Mars to save Watley.

Meanwhile, Watley has rationed his food down to the absolute minimum and loses eighty pounds in the process. He finally leaves the Hab on his 1,500 kilometer trip to the launch site in the formidable Rover, which he has modified with NASA’s help to make the journey. Once at the launch site, NASA informs Watley he must downsize the rocket so much that he ends up being remote launched by the Aries crew as well as is basically launching into outer space in a convertible.

As the Aries team arrives, they must set a bomb off on their ship just to slow down enough to be able to catch Watley. Will Watley survive the launch? Will the Aries crew survive the self-inflicted dynamite blast to their own ship? Will NASA and China finally work together for the good of mankind? Watch The Martian to find out.