'The Martian' Is 10 Years Old. Looking Back at Sci-Fi's Answer to 'The Shawshank Redemption'

10 Years Later, Ridley Scott's Hard-Sci Fi Movie Feels Like Fantasy

20th Century FoxMartian colonies are a ubiquitous sci-fi image, but the reality of making one actually happen is complicated. It would be ludicrously expensive and extraordinarily dangerous. The logistical headaches are endless — you can’t exactly pop back to Earth if you forget your toothbrush. Navigate all that, and you’re left with big questions about the physical and mental impact of living in such an isolated and hostile environment. There …

'The Martian' is 10 years old. Looking back at sci-fi's answer to 'The Shawshank Redemption'

How Ridley Scott's third sci-fi masterpiece proved there is life on Mars after all, by telling a deeply human, and oddly familiar story.

Matt Damon's 10-year-old sci-fi masterpiece The Martian could have been way darker

Andy Weir’s science fiction novel The Martian became an instant bestseller when it was published in 2014, but despite its popularity, it was an odd choice for a big budget film adaptation. Originally self-published by Weir, the novel relies extensively on the internal monologue of astrobotanist and mechanical engineer Mark Watney as he goes into painstaking detail about how he survives after being stranded on the red planet by growing potatoes a…