IELTS Speaking Part 2 – Topic: Describe a film you watched at home or in a cinema

As a frequent moviegoer, I watch a lot of films. One of the movies that I enjoyed the most recently was The Martian.

The movie was based on a novel of the same title by Andy Weir. Just like many other sci-fi films, it was about man travelling in space, however, this time, our main character was stuck on Mars due to a dust storm which nearly killed him. All of the crewmates thought that he was dead, so they went back to Earth without him. But fortunately he was still alive, thus two and a half hours of the movie told the story of how he fought for his life in the brutal environment of Mars, until NASA devised a plan to rescue him.

My best friend is a big fan of astronomy, so she had read the novel before. That’s why she insisted on me going to see the movie with her. After watching the trailer and reading the plot, I was hooked. It was maybe the best two and a half hours of my week so far.

After watching the movie, I was amazed at how ingenious and strong humans can be when it comes to a life and death situation. Mark Watney, the hero of the movie, was a perfect portrayal of a young, humorous, brilliant and skillful engineer cum botanist. Although the hostile environment of Mars threatened his existence many times, he relentlessly refused to quit. Instead, he overcame one problem at a time until he was successfully rescued. The message that I learned from the film is never to give up, however hopeless things seem to be.

– moviegoer: [noun] a person who goes to the cinema.

– sci-fi: [noun] science fiction; based on imagined scientific discoveries of the future, such as space travel or life on other planets.
Example: Sci-fi movies have become more popular since space travel has become possible.

– stuck on Mars: the man was unable to escape from the planet.
Example: we were stuck in traffic and so we arrived late for work.

– dust storm: [noun] a storm that carries clouds of dust in the wind over a wide area.
Example: a lot of plants die after a dust storm passes through an area.

– crewmates: [noun] all the people working on a ship or, in this case, a spacecraft.

– fought for his life: [verb phrase] he made a great effort to stay alive.
Example: The man was badly injured in the accident, but he fought for his life and he recovered later in hospital.

– brutal: [adjective] if an environment is described as brutal this means that it is very dangerous and it is difficult for a person to survive.

– devised: [verb] NASA invented something new to rescue the man.
Example: a new system has been devised to control traffic in the city.

– astronomy: [noun] the scientific study of the sun, moon, stars and planets.

– trailer: [noun] a series of short scenes from a film or programme, shown in advance to advertise it.
Example: after watching an exciting trailer, I decided to go to see the film.

– plot: [noun] the events which form the story of a book, play or film.
Example: the book has a plot about a prisoner who escaped.

– hooked: [adjective] enjoying something so much that you want to see or do it.

– ingenious: [adjective] very clever at inventing new ideas.
Example: many ingenious researchers are working on ways to combat cancer.

– portrayal: [noun] the act of describing or showing something or somebody in a book, play or film.
Example: the actor gave a fantastic portrayal of a clever detective in the film.

– botanist: [noun] a person who studies plants.

– hostile: [adjective] a hostile environment is unsafe for humans, because there are many dangers.
Example: in the hostile environment of the desert, you must take a lot of water with you.

– threatened his existence: the many dangers and difficult conditions on Mars were a danger to his life.

– relentlessly: [adverb] in a way that continues strongly, without giving up.
Example: the soldiers relentlessly pursued their enemies after the battle.

– hopeless: [adjective] without hope
Example: after searching for the lost plane for many days, the situation seemed hopeless and it seemed that the rescuers would never find it.