The Martian: 8 Ways It Shows Hollywood How To Do Science Right

Okay, I've been lauding the scientific accuracy of The Martian, but this is sci-fi and there are a couple of instances that don't quite match up with the real-world science - the most talked about of course being the dust storm that kicks the whole thing off.

As I'm sure you will have read in almost every other piece about this film, the Martian atmosphere is only about 1% the density of Earth's, meaning that a tornado-strength storm on the surface of Mars would feel like no more than a bracing breeze. Andy Weir, the author of the original novel, addressed the criticisms of his storm saying, “I needed a way to force the astronauts off the planet, so I allowed myself some leeway [...] Plus, I thought the storm would be pretty cool.”

Although those dust devils dotted around the landscape are real.

Another inaccuracy being brought up is the effect of the radiation that Watney would have been bombarded with on the surface of Mars. Perhaps, in the intervening 15-20 years or so, NASA has managed to come up with a material that will protect the Mars astronauts from the dangerous levels of radiation.

As far as I can tell, this wasn't so much an inaccuracy as an omission and, to be fair, it is quite difficult to convey damage to one's DNA on the big screen. I actually thought that this is what the painful looking rash that covers Watney's body after a while on Mars was all about, but that may have just been a malnutrition thing.

The lower gravity on Mars is also an issue that has been raised, but, quite frankly, this one doesn't bother me. The true-to-life movements of a human on Mars would be a sort of comical half-skip that would have been a ballache to shoot and would frankly detract from a lot of the film's impactfulness.