I don’t really like films about space very much. Space, like the sea (a comparison which is also made in this film), is pretty scary. Generally a lot of “space films”, especially recently, like to play up that angle. And, when such a film is rooted in a lot of scientific fact, it makes it all the more chilling. This is how space really is and space is scary. I won’t say that The Martian completely eschews that angle — it doesn’t — but tonally it presents in aunique and somewhat humanist way....