"Help is only 140 million miles away"
The Martian - Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this.
— Mark Watney
Context:
Spoken to the camera in a video log after Watney assesses his meager supplies and realizes the impossibility of his situation.
Meaning:
The film's thesis statement. It encapsulates the refusal to give up and the reliance on knowledge rather than luck or force to solve problems.
Technically, I colonized Mars. In your face, Neil Armstrong!
— Mark Watney
Context:
Spoken while looking at his potatoes successfully growing in the Hab.
Meaning:
Highlights Watney's humor and the historical significance of his survival. By growing crops, he moves from a visitor to a settler.
Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out... This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception.
— Mark Watney
Context:
Voiceover at the end of the film as we see the montage of the rescue operation and the world watching.
Meaning:
This quote serves as the moral core of the film, explaining why billions of dollars and international efforts are spent to save just one person.
Project Elrond... because it's a secret meeting where the fate of the world is decided. Also, his name is 'Glorfindel'.
— Vincent Kapoor & Mark Watney (referenced)
Context:
During the secret meeting where they discuss the Rich Purnell maneuver, explicitly referencing Lord of the Rings (with Sean Bean present).
Meaning:
A pop-culture bridge that humanizes the scientists. It frames their high-stakes meeting in the language of geek culture, bonding the characters and the audience.