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The Martian will be out in American theaters before the seats from its Toronto International Film Festival screenings are even cold. Honestly? The sooner the better. Ridley Scott’s film is a massively entertaining blockbuster for people who like to watch smart people being resourceful and funny instead of … you know, Minions. It’s also the best Ridley Scott movie in a VERY long time. At least as far back as American Gangster, maybe even farther to Matchstick Men or Black Hawk Down.

From the premise of the film, and the looks of the trailer, it seemed that Matt Damon would be putting the whole film on his shoulders as an astronaut stranded on Mars and assumed dead. What we get instead, though, is about 65% Damon and 35% the NASA team at home trying to find a way to get him back. And the cast that’s been assembled to play Damon’s support system is really something. And since life is a competition, we’re ranking the 12 highest-billed cast members in order of how impressive they were in the movie.

(Some very mild spoilers follow. Just thought you’d want to know.)

Matt Damon

Obviously. Even if the film isn’t two and a half hours of him alone on Mars sciencing the shit out of a way home, Damon is still shouldering a huge portion of the film, and he uses his massive movie-star charisma to optimal effect. In the film’s first half, he’s smart, sarcastic, even cocky, but in the stretch run of the movie, there are a few emotional beats that Damon just totally nails.

Jeff Daniels

As the head of NASA, Daniels is the head decision-maker on the ground, and Daniels makes the most of his post-Newsroom gravitas to sell it.

Chiwetel Ejiofor

More than almost any other character, Ejiofor picks up the responsibility of getting Damon home, and those stakes play out on his face at all times. But he’s also good with a sneaky, deadpan joke. Drew Goddard’s script is a lot funnier than you’d expect a film of this sort to be (it’s funny to compare this to Interstellar, last fall’s big outer-space event picture; that movie had maybe one joke?), which is part of the reason the supporting cast gets to shine as much as they do.

Jessica Chastain

Easily the most serious character, Chastain plays the mission commander on the Mars mission where Damon gets presumably killed. What she lacks in wise-cracking, she makes up for in steely determination.

Michael Peña

After stealing scenes in this summer’s Ant-Man, Peña once again gives great best-pal in this one, as one of Damon’s crew members.

Donald Glover

After nearly ruining Magic Mike XXL, Glover rebounds with a strong, quirky, funny performance as a NASA employee with one particularly bright idea.

Sean Bean

He’s basically the guy in charge of the astronaut team from the ground, and he has a few great head-to-head scenes with Daniels as they argue about what to do. But Bean really earns his slot here for being the subject of the best inside joke I’ve seen in a movie in a very long time.

Kristen Wiig

Even though the trailers made it seem like all Wiig had to do in the movie was look worried, she actually gets some good moments in as NASA’s public-relations expert.

Sebastian Stan

He’s one of Damon’s fellow crew members, and he gets points for his reaction to Damon being left behind, devastated but with a job to do.

Mackenzie Davis

The Halt and Catch Fire star plays a NASA tech, but she gets to participate in the unexpected Big Jeff Daniels/Chiwetel Ejiofor/Kristen Wiig Comedy Hour.