“The Martian” landed in theaters this past week and soared to the top as the No. 1 movie of the weekend.

A small group of astronauts are exploring the surface of Mars when an unexpected storm prompts them to leave the planet and head back to earth early.  In the turmoil of the storm, they think one of their crewmembers, Mark Watney, (Matt Damon), is killed from stray debris, so they make the decision to leave him behind on the planet. What they don’t realize is that Mark is in fact alive and stranded alone on the vast and remote Red Planet with little resources and communication. The movie follows his fight to survive and draws curiosity to not only if he will be found, but also how can he possibly get home with more than 100 million miles between him and Earth.

This movie is well crafted. There is great suspense and even a bit of humor to make the story very human.  It recalls the themes of a strong mix of movies like “Cast Away” and “Interstellar” with the film’s protagonist stranded on his own with limited resources. 

The dynamic of the story isn’t your typical hero movie featuring one man trying to save the world — rather, the world is trying to save one man. The movie is compelling, charming and rich with intriguing spectacle.

The film has a certain levity to it as well. Its director, Ridley Scott, said this reflected his own sense of dry humor.

“Because ‘The Martian’ was a more optimistic view, I thought [that] was kind of interesting,” Scott told Wired. “I like the dry humor, the gallows humor, that you can joke about having nearly died.”

Damon told Discovery News that he went into “Martian” casting with some doubts — he liked the script, but told Scott, “My only hesitation is … I love this script but I just did ‘Interstellar’ and I played a dude who was stranded on a planet, and it might be weird if I take a year-and-a-half off and play a dude who is stranded on a planet.’” 

However, Scott was able to persuade Damon that the premises were “totally…different” and Damon was, quite literally, onboard.

“The Martian” is a film adaptation from a bestselling book with the same name by Andy Weir. The book is heralded not for its existential reflection on the desolation of being stranded in space, but rather the resourceful optimism of the desire to survive it. The book’s movie rendition has been highly anticipated for quite some time and is expected to see big numbers at the box office. It was predicted for a $108 million dollar budget and is expected to vastly exceed that. 

The realism of the film’s story and effects is what makes it such a fascinating viewing. It is engaging with multiple spontaneous events and sequences you won’t see coming. Damon gives a great performance and does the role justice. The nature of “The Martian” is science-focused with a good blend of mystery, action and drama. The visuals alone can win over audiences, but the script and cast push it beyond acceptable and toward remarkable.

The movie’s cast features a strong ensemble of actors such as Jeff Daniels (“The Newsroom”), Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”), Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids”), Michael Pena (“Fury”) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”).  Look for this movie during award season, as it is favored to get a lot of nominations.

This movie hit theaters just days after NASA announced it has discovered water on Mars. There are preparations in the works to someday send a manned mission to the Red Planet, such as the Mars One mission, so the discovery has helped surround the movie with positive and relevant media coverage.

“The Martian” hit theaters Oct. 2 and is now showing everywhere.