Brian De Palma directed this science-fiction suspense story. When the United States sends its first manned mission to Mars, hopes are high for new scientific discoveries, but many of those hopes are dashed when the Mars crew meets an unexplained disaster; three members of the mission are killed, and a fourth (Don Cheadle) loses all radio contact with the Earth. A rescue mission sets out to bring back the one survivor; in the process, they discover that Mars may not be a dead planet after all,
and uncover some startling evidence about the fate of their predecessors. The rescue crew includes Gary Sinise, Jerry O'Connell, Connie Nielsen and Tim Robbins. The screenplay was partially by award-winning playwright Ted Tally, who won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay of The Silence of the Lambs. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Whatever's shoddy or limp about Mission to Mars, however conspicuous while the film unfolds, all becomes admirably pale as the full viewing experience recedes and the good stuff emerges in proud bas-relief.
Typically, while a good screenplay only requires a single author, this unimaginative, derivative dreck required at least four, even with the massive cribbing from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
There's some throwaway fancy camerawork at the beginning and a repeat of his shock-shot trick from Raising Cain, but otherwise De Palma's own ride appears to be largely on autopilot.
It's the waste of the impressive ensemble cast on cheap, pedestrian dialogue and a tabloid-style hypothesis of Martian civilization that makes this Mission impossible to watch.
An interplanetary mission is launched to the red planet to discover the fate of an scientific team stationed there. Directorial hack Brian DePalma once again cack-handedly fails to conjure any sense of wonder or tension in this half arsed space adventure that's all dry techno babble at the start, giving way to
ludicrous alien encounters at the end. The first half is basically Apollo 13 but even more dull, full of clumsy melodrama and absurd flag waving while the second tries desperately (and fails miserably) to create the kind of wonderment of 2001 or Close Encounters. Basically you have to endure an hour of space bound boredom just to find out that the pay off is really weak CGI and some unbelievably patronizing dialogue. It's a shame that a decent cast got involved in this simplistic nonsense, mainly because it's what duped me into sitting through it. Zero suspense in zero gravity.
March 12, 2007
xGary Xx
Super Reviewer
With a better budget and access to special effects, it would have been a great film. However, I donâ??t think weâ??ll ever get to see what Brian De Palma envisioned when he started working on this project. The performances are really what make it a compelling and interesting space movie, but itâ??s just a visual
disaster. Some things look very good, but donâ??t even come close to something like 2001: A Space Odyssey. I also really liked the idea and I think it would have been extremely effective had things worked out.
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