The Martian: 8 Ways It Shows Hollywood How To Do Science Right
5. No Hero Moments
One of the things that I really wasn't expecting from The Martian is its relative lack of "epic" set pieces.
The visuals are epic. The concept is epic. The movie as a whole is epic - but there is a serious lack of "Hey look, all of the heroes are walking into battle in slow motion. How does this make you feel, are you excited yet?". In fact, this is by far one of the most understated epic movie blockbusters I've ever seen.
Much of this comes from Damon's brilliant portrayal of a cornered but clever man and much of it comes from the diligent scientific realism.
Watney isn't a hero, he's a scientist. Despite what you may have learnt about Archimedes in primary school, in science there is rarely one "Eureka moment".
Our "hero" in The Martian is too busy figuring out how to survive to make some kind of dramatic speech whilst gazing ponderously over the landscape. This is a movie trope that really winds me up - everybody's inability to just get the hell on with it.
But that's just what he does: He just starts. Not only that, but he then just carries on and, whats more, he shows his working.