Red Planet (2000)
Country: US/AUS
Technical: Technicolor/Panavision 106m
Director: Antony Hoffman
Cast: Carrie-Anne Moss, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Terence Stamp
Synopsis:
Sixty years into the future, with the Earth's ecosystems in irreversible decline, NASA sends a mission to Mars to investigate why the vast swathes of oxygen producing algae they had introduced have apparently disappeared.
Review:
Moderately science-aware S-F adventure along the lines of George Pal movies past, this no doubt suffered from hasty release in the wake of Mission to Mars. On the plus side, it breaks with convention by putting a woman in charge of the mission, and then placing her comfortably out of danger for much of the running time to manage the tense conundrum of how to reunite the men with the mothership, but then spoils it by including an awkward shower moment and having her spend much of the time looking stressed-out in a white vest top. More fundamentally, its premise of a breatheable atmosphere tests credulity somewhat, as does its droid run amok (military mode, really?), and the overdetermining device of entrusting the Earth's future to such an unstable bunch of misfits and rogue alpha males. Among the numerous exasperating lines is : 'Once I realized that science could not provide all the answers...' (Chantilas). I mean, what is he doing there?
Country: US/AUS
Technical: Technicolor/Panavision 106m
Director: Antony Hoffman
Cast: Carrie-Anne Moss, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Terence Stamp
Synopsis:
Sixty years into the future, with the Earth's ecosystems in irreversible decline, NASA sends a mission to Mars to investigate why the vast swathes of oxygen producing algae they had introduced have apparently disappeared.
Review:
Moderately science-aware S-F adventure along the lines of George Pal movies past, this no doubt suffered from hasty release in the wake of Mission to Mars. On the plus side, it breaks with convention by putting a woman in charge of the mission, and then placing her comfortably out of danger for much of the running time to manage the tense conundrum of how to reunite the men with the mothership, but then spoils it by including an awkward shower moment and having her spend much of the time looking stressed-out in a white vest top. More fundamentally, its premise of a breatheable atmosphere tests credulity somewhat, as does its droid run amok (military mode, really?), and the overdetermining device of entrusting the Earth's future to such an unstable bunch of misfits and rogue alpha males. Among the numerous exasperating lines is : 'Once I realized that science could not provide all the answers...' (Chantilas). I mean, what is he doing there?
Country: US/AUS
Technical: Technicolor/Panavision 106m
Director: Antony Hoffman
Cast: Carrie-Anne Moss, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Terence Stamp
Synopsis:
Sixty years into the future, with the Earth's ecosystems in irreversible decline, NASA sends a mission to Mars to investigate why the vast swathes of oxygen producing algae they had introduced have apparently disappeared.
Review:
Moderately science-aware S-F adventure along the lines of George Pal movies past, this no doubt suffered from hasty release in the wake of Mission to Mars. On the plus side, it breaks with convention by putting a woman in charge of the mission, and then placing her comfortably out of danger for much of the running time to manage the tense conundrum of how to reunite the men with the mothership, but then spoils it by including an awkward shower moment and having her spend much of the time looking stressed-out in a white vest top. More fundamentally, its premise of a breatheable atmosphere tests credulity somewhat, as does its droid run amok (military mode, really?), and the overdetermining device of entrusting the Earth's future to such an unstable bunch of misfits and rogue alpha males. Among the numerous exasperating lines is : 'Once I realized that science could not provide all the answers...' (Chantilas). I mean, what is he doing there?