Ridley Scott is an accomplished director. Matt Damon has the potential to be great. Put the two together and you have The Martian, the sci-fi space film that puts you the viewer on the desolate world of Mars. If for nothing else, The Martian proved two things: Matt Damon is a great actor and space is really scary.

The Martian is the Ridley Scott-directed space film about astronaut Mark Watney (Damon), who is struck by debris and stranded on Mars by his crew, presumably dead. The thing is: Mark Watney is alive. With a lab that was only built to stand for 31 days and little food and water, Watney has to use his brain to survive for 4 more years until he can message NASA and his crew, led by Commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), comes back to get him from Mars. The film also stars Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover and Kate Mara. The film rated PG-13 for some strong language, injury images and brief nudity.

Right off the bat, props go to Matt Damon in this movie. Matt Damon delivered a stunning performance as Mark Watney. Watney was likable and fun, which shows that Matt Damon can actually act instead of being Jason Bourne and nothing else. The rest of the cast was great as well. Ejiofor’s Vincent Kapoor is another great character who is kind of the voice of reason, along with Sean Bean. Jeff Daniels was equally as good as the director of NASA. He portrays a great and hardened leader who does have a soft spot for others. Even the crew was great, with Jessica Chastain and Michael Peña being the highlights of the crew. They all were likable and always fun to see every time they are on screen, so kudos to the screenwriter Drew Goddard as well for writing a finely crafted script with a lot of jokes, science and Marvel references.

Another great part of the movie was the way Mars looks. The film shot in Hungary and mixed with CGI to create an actual living planet. Unlike Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, which showed how scary space can be, The Martian shows how scary it is not only to be in space, but on a desolate planet alone with nobody to come to aid for years. It just felt so isolated and lonely, which it should be, seeing it’s Mars. The way Watney solved every problem in the movie and how he grew life on the planet where nothing grows just proves how smart he is. But when things go wrong, you are literally thrown to the edge of your seat in anticipation and fear. The 3D was very good as well. It helped make Mars feel more like a planet. The depth of field truly helped to immerse the audience into Mars and put you in the shoes next to Watney as he rations and tries to survive on Mars.

The film is truly a masterpiece of space films. With great action, amazing set design and a fantastic cast to go with it, The Martian is the science fiction film that Gravity could have potentially been, but wasn’t.