The Martian did so well at the box office its opening weekend, with a $55 million take, that it fell only slightly behind the all time record for the month of October. That was set by another space film, 2013?s Gravity, which made $55.7 million domestically. (It’s still possible that The Martian will surpass Gravity once the final numbers are in.) The Martian also made an additional $45.2 million internationally this weekend.

The Martian has been lauded by audiences and critics, and should continue to perform well in the coming weeks. Based on the novel by Andy Weir, the film uses real science and math to explain the trials of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon), who gets stranded on Mars after being separated from the rest of his crew. Director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien) and screenwriter Drew Goddard (Lost, World War Z) collaborated with NASA to ensure authenticity and were allowed unprecedented access to NASA facilities and technology.

Of course NASA just announced last week that water was found on Mars, and this surely boosted interest in the film. The timing of that announcemenet was likely planned by NASA, considering how much they’re benefitting from cross promotion. Director Scott recently said that he knew there was water on Mars “months ago” but by that point it was too late to work that detail into the film.

Warning: spoilers for The Martian follow
This was a thrilling, fast-paced film that had me wringing my hands and trying not to cry at key moments. Despite all the tension, there were moments of real levity. The characters were unique, the dialogue was clever and even the secondary characters, like Donald Glover’s eccentric scientist, were highly watchable.

Watney is a hard working go-getter with a sharp sense of humor and the ability to power through with ingenuity and skill. He managed to entertain himself by keeping busy and giving video confessionals, never losing his sense of purpose or determination. Damon turned in a sublime performance that kept his wiseass character relatable, his boasting and bragging a necessary coping mechanism to the life or death situation he faced daily.

My only complaint is that everything was tied up with a bow at the end. No one died, there were no villains and everyone seemed highly competent. Even when the crew committed mutiny to save Watney, there was hardly any blowback. At some point you knew that that everyone would survive. In the entire film there was only a brief moment of human error, a calculated 5% risk that was overcome when the Chinese government stepped in with classified technology. The conflicts within NASA were minimal as everyone had the objective to bring Watney home.

There was a glossy sheen to The Martian, the presumption that most people are logical and solution-oriented and that peril can universally be overcome with the application of knowledge. If this were true in reality, we would already have colonies on Mars.

The Martian may bring Damon his first acting Oscar, and it could also break the Oscar losing streak for sci-fi films.