Ridley Scott: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best

3. The Martian

Scott's best film in over 30 years sees him surging back to the sci-fi genre with a soulful, visually incredible, beautifully acted and unexpectedly hilarious survival film. Seeing out its 141-minute run-time with surprisingly little bloat and deriving plenty of humanity from Matt Damon's stellar central performance not to mention the sublime work of an insanely decorated supporting cast, The Martian is never less than totally convincing thanks to superb production design and near-flawless visual effects work. Capturing the wit, humour and nerdiness of Andy Weir's novel, the film proves what Scott can do when a great script lands on his desk, and so far it's without question one of the year's best movies. It probably won't land Scott the Best Director consideration he certainly deserves, but it's simply jaw-dropping to see the near-80-year-old director making movies filmmakers half his age wish they had the zeal for. Between him and George Miller, who says directing is a young man's game?