Guest Review: Mission to Mars (2000) vs. Red Planet (2000)

By ScottDS
With Mars in the news once again, I thought it might be a good time to take a look back at the two Mars films that graced the silver screen in the year 2000: Brian De Palma’s Mission to Mars and Antony Hoffman’s Red Planet. Neither film is very good but Mission to Mars is the bigger disappointment, having set its sights far higher. One thing is certain: the definitive Mars movie has yet to be made. Let’s start with Mission.

In the year 2020. . . when the first manned Mars mission goes wrong, a rescue attempt is made. The rescuers include Blake (Tim Robbins), McConnell (Gary Sinise), Fisher (Connie Nielsen), and Ohlmyer (Jerry O’Connell). Unfortunately, during the rescue, the ship is damaged and the crew must abandon ship and make their way to the resupply module orbiting the planet. Blake overshoots his approach and floats away. Knowing he can't jeopardize the mission and the crew, he removes his helmet and dies instantly. The rest of the crew arrives on Mars and finds the stranded astronaut, Graham (Don Cheadle), who has been living in a makeshift greenhouse.

He explains that a weird noise his crew had heard was actually a map of human DNA using XYZ coordinates, but it’s missing a pair of chromosomes. They transmit the information at which time a mysterious opening appears in the side of a large structure. They venture inside where a Martian appears and (silently) reveals that Mars was once covered with water but was hit by an asteroid. The Martians evacuated but one craft went to Earth where it deposited a strand of DNA in the ocean. Over millions of years, the DNA evolved into fish, then land mammals, and eventually humans who one day would voyage to Mars and be recognized as its descendants. An invitation is offered to follow the Martians to their new home. McConnell volunteers and as the others return to Earth, McConnell’s spaceship sets sail for points unknown.

[sigh] Oh, this movie. . . so much potential wasted. 2001, Apollo 13, Contact. . . these are just some of the superior movies you might be thinking of as you watch Mission to Mars. I give De Palma and his crew credit for thinking big and for trying to make a serious film and not a simple shoot ’em up. But it’s an overall unsatisfying experience. But before I go into detail, let’s now look at Red Planet.

In the year 2056. . . Earth has been ravaged by eco disasters. Automated missions have been seeding Mars with algae as part of a terraforming operation, but the amount of oxygen produced by the algae has dropped so a crew is sent to investigate: mission commander Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss), Gallagher (Val Kilmer), Burchenal (Tom Sizemore), Chantillas (Terence Stamp), Santen (Benjamin Bratt), and Pettengill (Simon Baker). Their ship is damaged on arrival by a solar flare so the crew abandons ship while Bowman stays behind. The crew is tasked with locating a habitat that had been set up earlier but their landing craft is damaged during descent. Chantillas suffers a ruptured spleen and stays behind and they’ve also lost track of AMEE, their robot assistant.

They find the habitat destroyed. Pettengill and Santen wander off where the former accidentally kills the latter during an argument. With their oxygen running out, Gallagher removes his helmet but is surprised to find the air breathable. They’re reunited with a damaged AMEE, who now perceives them as a threat. It cripples Burchenal before retreating. Bowman instructs them to use an old Russian probe to launch into orbit, except it can only hold two people. Pettengill later flees with the radio but is killed by AMEE. Gallagher and Burchenal discover a field of algae, along with indigenous insects. It’s revealed that these “nematodes” were dormant until the algae growth: they consume algae and excrete oxygen. The nematodes attack Burchenal, who promptly sets himself and the creatures on fire. Gallagher reaches the Russian probe and uses AMEE’s guts for a power source. Bowman recovers the probe and they set sail for home.

Unlike De Palma’s film, Hoffman’s film (this is his only feature credit) doesn’t set its sights so high and the crew has a more natural camaraderie, such as it is. Compare the meal scene in this film with the opening barbecue in Mission to Mars. The former comes off as natural (if somewhat stilted) while the latter reeks of artificiality: an alien’s idea of what a backyard barbecue is like. Robbins, Sinise, and Cheadle have almost no chemistry, whereas Carrie-Anne Moss – who has a wonderful air of authority and no-nonsense vibe – fits in perfectly with Kilmer and Sizemore’s shenanigans. Red Planet has characters who are actually funny and pleasant whereas Mission has one comic relief character but Jerry O’Connell comes off as an unqualified manchild. His Mission co-stars Cheadle and Nielsen are fine, Sinise is his usual likeable self, Robbins overacts (to the point where I can't even take him seriously), and Armin Mueller-Stahl plays the head of the Mars program like an old Jewish uncle! And in Red Planet, Kilmer keeps his weirdness in check, Sizemore is great as usual, Baker and Bratt don’t really register, and Stamp is entertaining as always (but terribly underused).

Mission to Mars also has some horrible exposition. It’s never a good sign when one of your lead actors has an entire paragraph of dialogue laced with “Remember when. . .” and “If X hadn’t happened. . .” etc. At least Moss’ opening voice-over in Red Planet is quick and painless. Mission comes off as much smaller than it should, but maybe that was the idea: for the first manned mission to Mars, there’s absolutely no fanfare, no sense that this is a momentous event, no reaction from the world. We’re on Earth, then we’re on Mars. Done deal. Red Planet doesn’t have that “small” vibe. In Mission, they make a big deal about training and simulations and we briefly see the astronauts’ families but it’s all so self-contained. Red Planet is nothing but self-contained. There are no other characters you wish you could see since they’re never introduced in the first place. It’s all business. Mission also has an abundance of obvious clichés and when Tim Robbins says, “Let’s work the problem!”, you think to yourself, Did he just say that with a straight face?

The story of Mission has been done before and I’m not a fan of the Chariots of the Gods? concept that early human civilization was influenced by extraterrestrial beings. Personally, I think it’s pseudo-scientific crap and I feel it does a disservice to our accomplishments as a species. To quote Gene Roddenberry: “. . .ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids – human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard.” Regarding Red Planet, I used to think the inclusion of AMEE was gratuitous. A mission to another planet wasn’t dramatic enough so they had to throw in a killer robot, too? But it works. There are also a couple of interesting discussions about faith but they don’t amount to much. Terence Stamp has a nice scene with Kilmer where he says, “Who knows, I may pick up a rock and it'll say underneath, ‘Made by God.’ The universe is full of surprises.” I’m not a religious man but I really wish the film had dealt with more of this. It’s referenced a couple of times but never pays off in any meaningful way. We also don’t get to explore Pettengill’s guilt as much as I would’ve liked. It’s hinted that the others are suspicious of him but I was waiting for a big showdown that never happened.

Graeme Revell’s score to Red Planet barely registered with me, except when it was bad. I’m not an expert on the famous film composer Ennio Morricone but his score for Mission to Mars doesn’t quite work, to the point where I’m taken out of the film because I’m actually noticing the music, and that I don’t like what I’m noticing. I’m not saying he should’ve taken the Williams/Goldsmith/Horner route and maybe I should applaud him for doing something different. But different doesn’t always = good. And this leads to what I think are some of the biggest arguments among film music fans: Should film scores be noticeable? Should they blend in? Should they only serve the story? Should they also work as a standalone experience? I can't answer these questions.

The art direction and costume design in Mission are top-notch. The spacecraft and spacesuits all look like believable extrapolations of what we have today. The visual effects (by ILM and the late Dream Quest Images) still hold up, but the CGI Martian looks like a videogame character. Per usual for a De Palma film, the cinematography is excellent and, not surprisingly, there are some visual nods to Kubrick but I’ll let it slide! As for Red Planet, the production design is also top-notch but some of the effects don’t hold up. Ironically, the CGI AMEE animation is perfect but simpler things like the Martian surface haven’t aged well. I could be wrong but, watching Red Planet, one gets the impression that there was a lot of footage left on the cutting-room floor. The crew’s introduction is rather rushed and a couple of times during the film, we flashback to earlier conversations (along with snippets we missed the first time around). I wonder if this was intentional, or if the filmmakers were trying to save their own asses.

Like I said above, I believe the definitive Mars movie has yet to be made. But it will be made one day, by a filmmaker with a singular vision. (If it’s James Cameron, I hope he brings in a co-writer!) And hopefully, unlike Mission to Mars, it will give humans a little more credit and, unlike Red Planet, more humans will actually survive the trip!

“F--- this planet!”

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Film Friday: Impostor (2002)

Impostor is a little-known movie staring Gary Sinise, Vincent D’Onofrio and Madeleine Stowe. It’s an enjoyable film for the most part, with excellent acting, good sets, and an engaging enough story. But it has a serious flaw that bothers me to no end, a flaw that is common to much science fiction: failure to think practically.

** spoiler alert **

Based on the Phillip K. Dick short story of the same name, Impostor is the story of scientist Spencer Olham as he struggles to prove he’s human. The story is set in the near future at a time when the Earth is at war with an evil alien race. Oldham (Sinise) is developing a super weapon. The story begins as Oldham recounts his weekend get away with his wife to his best friend and fellow scientist Nelson (Tony Shalhoub). His wife Maya (Stowe) runs the local military hospital.

As Oldham and Nelson go about their business, which includes preparing for a formal visit from the Prime Minster, a security team shows up, led by Major Hathaway (Vincent D’Onofrio). Hathaway claims his security forces intercepted an alien transmission, which revealed that Sinise is a replicant, i.e. he’s an organic machine that has been grown to think, act, look and feel like Oldham. Moreover, these machines don't even know they're machines, they actually think they're the people they replaced. And deep inside each replicant is a nuclear bomb waiting to go off when the replicant comes into contact with their target -- though the bombs can't be detected until they are ready to explode. Essentially, these replicants are unsuspecting, nuclear suicide bombers.

Hathaway’s job is to catch these replicants before they activate and explode. Thus, he plans to cut Sinise open to remove the bomb before it can explode. But Sinise isn’t down with that plan, so he escapes. The rest of the movie involves Sinise running from Hathaway, trying to enlist the aid of his wife, and trying to get a full body medical scan done of his body so he can prove he's human. Along the way, he befriends Mekhi Phifer, who lives outside of the dome in the ghetto and who wants to steal medicine to help the people the government forgot.

I won’t tell you the ending because I think you might enjoy the movie and some of the twists and turns near the end. Sinise is a great actor who gives his all. D’Onofrio isn’t far behind. The effects are good, and interestingly, many of the ideas in this story also appear in Minority Report, another Phillip Dick story made into a movie in 2002.

So what’s the problem? The problem arises when you start thinking about how the aliens are using the replicants. Ostensibly, the aliens are using the replicants because they have no other way to reach targets on Earth because the Earthers built domes around their cities as soon as the war began. By replacing people with these suicide-bombing replicants, however, the aliens can destroy targets on Earth. And that’s the film’s hook.

But it’s also kind of stupid. These aliens have found a way to replace anyone and smuggle nuclear bombs anywhere on Earth. So they come up with an elaborate plan to replace Sinise, let him wander around for a couple days until he meets the Prime Minister and then blow up? Hello! These are nuclear bombs! Are these aliens stupid? Why not just replace a couple hundred janitors. Tell them to report for work. The moment they all clock in at 9:00 am, POOF. . . no more cities.

This is a problem that is particularly common to science fiction. Too many times, the writers focus on their one really cool idea and they never really think about the world that surrounds it or how rational people would use their idea. It’s Rube Goldbergian. It’s like the idea that the government does secret scientific testing at midnight on animals belonging to unsuspecting farmers in Montana. . . when they could just as easily buy a dozen cattle and do the same test in the comfort of a private lab. It’s like the idea that brilliant James Bond villains need to invent elaborate ways to kill Jimmy B. . . when they could just shoot him. Yes, it creates a plot point, but not a valid one.

I’m not saying the idea of nuclear replicants isn’t a good one. I think it is. It just didn’t make a lot of sense how the aliens used it.

Think rationally people, you’ll make better movies.

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