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Christopher Nolan'sThe Odyssey just hit theaters and it's already being called his magnum opus, with plenty of critics floating it as the best film of the year so far. A big part of that conversation is Matt Damon, who leads the film as Odysseus in what's being praised as a career-defining performance. And whenever a Damon performance starts generating this kind of buzz, one particular film from his career always finds its way back into the spotlight. It's widely regarded as one of his best movies, and once again, viewers are rediscovering what made it such a hit. And no, this time it isn't one entry from his The Bourne films that made him say no to Avatar.
The film pulling focus is directed by Ridley Scott, the filmmaker behind Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down, and Gladiator, among plenty of other genre-defining hits. It's also based on a novel by Andy Weir, the author whose work became one of this year's other big novel-to-screen success stories with Project Hail Mary. Long before that adaptation hit theaters, though, Weir's very first novel got the big screen treatment, and that film is the one suddenly climbing the charts again.
That film is The Martian, and more than a decade after its original theatrical release, it's trending on streaming. The movie was just added to Prime Video this month, and according to FlixPatrol, it has already cracked the platform's Top 10 in the United States. It ranked as the #10 most popular movie on the service yesterday and has since jumped up to sixth place.
‘The Martian’ Is One of the Greatest Space Movies Ever Made
Much like Project Hail Mary, The Martian follows a man stranded far from Earth, except this time it's Mars instead of deep space, and there's no Rocky around to keep him company. Damon stars as astronaut Mark Watney, who is mistakenly presumed dead and left behind by his crew during a violent dust storm on Mars. Alone and with limited resources, Watney uses his scientific know-how to grow food and stay alive long enough to make contact with Earth, which sets off a rescue mission unlike anything attempted before.
The film holds a strong 91% score from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and it even won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. There aren't many truly great space movies out there, but The Martian earns its place in that conversation alongside Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gravity, and of course, Project Hail Mary. Seriously, if you loved Project Hail Mary and have been looking for something to scratch that itch, The Martian is the closest thing out there. Watney has all the classic Weir-isms that made Dr. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) so lovable. The sciencey problem-solving, the dry humor, the wholesome emotional beats, the "well, this situation is terrible, but let's try and figure it out anyway" attitude - it’s all here and works just as well as it did in Project Hail Mary.
The Martian is available to stream on Prime Video. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
