There is an absence of a true antagonist in The Martian, well, besides Mars and the red planet oddly doesn’t seem to pose that big a threat. Even perennial bad guy, Sean Bean, is for the greater good. What!?!

So what happens in this film apart from the obvious? A daily video diary with some gentle jabs at disco fill some space but the science, on Earth (astrodynamics) and Mars (farming potatoes), is spectacular and essential for the film’s carry. This, in turn, leads to Benedict Wong and Donald Glover completely out acting their more A-list pals like Kristen Wiig and Jeff Daniels.

The Martian is a high quality picture. However, the last five minutes were really unnecessary and limiting Matt Damon to one F-word (assuring the PG13 rating, see the Philomena controversy) while stranded on Mars was more unrealistic than being stranded on Mars.

Do these nitpicky flaws, plus the lack of conflict, cancel out the Castaway-like “alone acting” brilliantly displayed by Damon? Not really but it does bring the film down to earth and out of the rarefied air of the Film Clas elite. The Martian parachutes in with 4.1 napkins out of 5.