"Ridley Scott"

2015 · Ridley Scott · 142 min · Sci-Fi / Drama

The Martian is a crowd-pleaser in the best sense. Matt Damon is magnetic as a stranded astronaut who refuses to give up, and Ridley Scott directs with a confidence and lightness of touch that he hadn't shown in years. The humor works, the science is engaging, and the ensemble cast makes every subplot worth following. It doesn't dig as deep into isolation and despair as the premise could allow, and the final act pushes credibility further than it needs to. But as a celebration of human problem-solving and stubborn optimism, it's one of the most satisfying sci-fi films of its decade.

2012 · Ridley Scott · 124 min · Sci-Fi / Horror

Prometheus is a film at war with itself. Ridley Scott's return to the universe he created in 1979 delivered some of the most stunning science fiction filmmaking of its decade, anchored by Michael Fassbender's unsettling performance as the android David. The ambition is real, the visuals are extraordinary, and the questions it raises about human origins are deeply compelling. But the script undermines that ambition at nearly every turn with characters who behave like they've never encountered basic danger before. It's a frustrating film precisely because the gap between what it reaches for and what it achieves is so visible.