Mission To Mars

This movie had so much potential, but was really let down by some silly plot twists and stunts. I'll discuss them later.

This movie came out in 2000, the same year as Red Planet, starring Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore. It must've been the year movie studios thought we were interested in movies about Mars.

And to a certain point, we were. Well, at least my Mum and I were. We still laugh about this movie.

But I'll quickly admit, this is a much better movie than Red Planet. At least I stayed awake for this movie.

Here's the movie poster.

You can almost hear Tim Robbins saying to you, "Come for the science, stay for the fun."

I have no idea what he's saying here, or what's going through his mind. Do you? Tim plays Woody Blake, assigned to lead a team of astronauts to Mars on a rescue mission.

To get to the point of the movie were the rescue mission takes place however, takes some time. Brian DePalma (The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible) is the director here and takes a fair amount of time going into the particulars about how to actually get a group of astronauts to the red planet and back.

For science-nuts this is very interesting. So interesting in fact that NASA signed off on this movie, approving on all the "science speak" and visual landscapes for Mars. I remember seeing a news report about this and thought it was pretty neat.

Here's Jim O'Connell (Gary Sinise), a widower and astronaut who clearly needs a good night's sleep. Jim is still overcome with grief for the lose of his wife (Kim Delaney in a series of flashback sequences).
Jim does however, get to drive a snazzy car. An Isuzu Vehicross convertible, which was a halo car produced for a very short time from 1997 to2001, selling only 4,153 units in the U.S.. It was never introduced as a convertible in the US. The jet sounds were added to give it a futuristic engine effect.

He also got to hang out with Terri Fisher (Connie Neilsen),

And Jerry O'Connell (who plays the jokster, Phil).

I couldn't find an image of Jerry O'Connell so I thought I'd show you an image of him as the fat kid from Stand By Me.
That was a great movie, wasn't it.....?

But I digress. Here's the reason these guys are on a mission to Mars in the first place. Luke Graham (Don Cheadle) is the sole survivor of the first crew.
The rescue team do not know this throughout the course of the movie. They have little idea as to the situation which is yet to confront them on the surface.

At about this point things get fraught with danger. Maybe because Terri decides to lose the space gear and get into something more comfortable?

I'll bet it's at this time the fellas realised just who they were working alongside, hey? I mean, who could keep their mind on their jobs when this is hovering past you?

Va-va-voom. As the only female astronaut on the crew Terri must've either been feeling very nervous, or very confident in herself.

Or maybe she didn't think too much about it when she realised what really kept the fellas interested.

Yep, a floating DNA strand, made up for M&M's. Hey, who needs a hot chick when you have floating chocolate in space?!?!

At least Tim Robbins took a little time out for some hover-dancing.

Yep, that's the way he rolls.

Oh! Oops. We're on a rescue mission here guys! Things looked a little hairy on the Mars surface, with a dust monster looking to consume the crew.

This scene did impress me, by the way. I've recently giving the film another watch and the special effects certainly do stand up to the test of time.

Alien head sculptures still look good too.

I'll give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's an entertaining movie to sit through on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It's somewhat silly (epecially the space jump from spaceship to spaceship), but this is what makes it so entertaining.

Here's the movie trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8V6jTW3xTQ

For fun, here's the movie trailer for Red Planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIpr0IPMPx0
If you want to purchase the DVD, please do so here.
Mission To Mars
If you want to buy the soundtrack, you can do that here.

Mission To Mars: Original Score

Or you can find this at your local video store. Even though it could be a comedy I'm betting it's in the drama section. Have a look-see anyway, and I hope you enjoy it.

If you have a movie you'd like me to review, or if you have any questions/comments/or queries on this or any other blog please do get in contact with me.
This blog site is as much for your guys' entertainment as it is mine, so please, ask away....

What did you think of this review? Please comment, or email me directly at mgbouw@yahoo.com.au

Til next time!