This wasn't really what I expected. Turns out, "The Martian" wasn't entirely about a man stranded on Mars. Sure, there was a lot of that, but there was almost as much time spent back on Earth with NASA, planning and plotting the rescue of Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon).

This was also quite funny. I'm not a Matt Damon fan, but he was really easy to pull for and there was nice chemistry between him, NASA, and the crew that had accidentally left him stranded on Mars.

It's gotten to the point where a lot of special effects are so good, you just forget about them and lose yourself in the story. "The Martian" was one of those instances. The red planet was incredible.

I did think that the world coming together, pulling for Watney's rescue, was well intended but a bit corny. Maybe that's because I've been reading about the horrors of World War I and the millions of dead that were basically brainwashed into fighting a meaningless war. I've gotten cynical to the point of not believing so many resources would have been brought to saving just one man. Or maybe even more cynical in thinking it shouldn't have been attempted.

Watching what Ridley Scott has created here has made me want to go back and give "Prometheus" another try (almost). And while I was watching, I couldn't help but think how much I preferred "The Martian" over the other most recent near-Earth space adventure, "Gravity".