Rating: 
Summary: Soporific space opera
Review: Every astronaut on NASA's team must have blushed with shame at seeing this pitiful rendition of their abilities. Set on a partially "terra-formed" Mars, so that the stranded team doesn't have to wear EVA helmets for the length of this tedious film, five men - quickly pared down to three, then two, then . . . struggle to survive. As if the lack of food, water and story line weren't enough, there's a rabid rover that strives to do them in. In a sense, the rover is the only one with any acting ability. Its quick-change mode of operation, baleful countenance and dedication to destruction at least provide it focus. The humans, by contrast, fumble about the landscape, perform feats of derring-do, sink into sloughs of despair and surrender to base instincts. All the while trying to convince us they are real people.Is there one heroic figure? Ah, yes! Far above struggles [what else] the heroinic commander [i'm not making this up!] of the expedition, Carrie-Anne Moss. Not reachable by AMMEE the Rampant Robot, C-AM must emulate Sigourney Weaver's role in her efforts to subdue a recalcitrant space ship. C-AM has the help Sigourney lacked in the voice of the ship's computer. Sultry, soothing, empowering, this computer voice REALLY communicates. What its technical abilities are remain a mystery throughout the film. Perhaps the best dialogue of the film is C-AM and the computer arguing. Sigourney would be as embarrassed as those NASA astronauts. There's little chance this review can give away much about the plot. There's so little of one, and the elements are cadged from a multitude of sources any SF fan will recognise in moments. To call the performances wooden is to insult whole forests. Speculative Fiction has enough of a quest achieving mainstream acceptance without disasters like this setting back the genre further. There are countless stories out there awaiting filming - a Canadian author's work comes immediately to mind. Come North, Hollywood, where real plots abound. But please don't take our lumber, put in front of a camera, and call it acting. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 
Summary: Above average movie.
Review: Reasonably above average movie with Val Kilmer and Carrie Moss as a misson goes to the red planet on a mission to save Earth's dying enivorment from final destruction. Kilmer pretty much carries the whole movie with his honest acting and for once, the CGI effects are not bad, the script is manageable and the rest of the cast are pretty good also.
Rating: 
Summary: Bashful's DVD Summary #002
Review: Best: 1) Carrie-Anne Moss is great at tomboy-type action roles like this one and shines here.
2) They waste little time on unneeded character development and get right into the action.
3) The recreation of Mars' surface was realistic and spooky.
4) The bouncing ball landing craft scene was hilarious.
5) The overall Mars pre-colonization mission (and what they eventually discover with an algae experiment) is imaginative.
6) A high-tech robot runs amok and starts killing. I always love that (ha). Worst: 1) The narrative exposition and dialogue is often VERY dorky.
2) The special features included only deleted scenes. Recommendation: The going price is fair. If you're a science fiction and/or space TV series fan - get it. It has a high rewatch value.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable though not gripping
Review: With over-population and pollution threatening the future of the human race by the middle of the 21st century, NASA turns to Mars as a possible avenue for colonization. (Robots sent ahead build Hab-1, a condo for the crew on Mars; they also sprinkle lakes of algae meant to convert Mars's CO2 atmosphere into breathable oxygen). Led by the ultra-competent Commander Bowman (Carrie Moss), and including a philospoher (Terrence Stamp), the hot-shot (Ben Bratt), the existentialist geneticist (Tom Sizemore) and a terra-former named Pettengill (Simon Baker) whose selfishness borders on paranoia, the team nears Mars full of anticipation. The only crewman not quite awed by the prospect if Gallagher (Kilmer) the wisecracking janitor. When a gamma-energy burst cripples the ship before it can make a planned landing, the crew (sans Moss) escape and make landfall (Mars-fall, I guess) before they've had time to scout the planet from orbit. Big mistake - something has wrecked their habitat, stranding the team on Mars. With the mothership barely able to do more than either fall-out of orbit or head for home, Kilmer and crew are forced to rely on each other, with little more to do than watch the oxygen levels of their spacesuits drop. Surprise - they find the Martian atmosphere now loaded with oxygen - condemning them to death by starvation instead of asphyxiation. Also, they must now guard against AMEE, their survey robot run amok. A CGI wonder, AMEE morphs between different predatory poses - human and panther. AMEE was actually designed for the military - and a hard landing on the planet only brings up her darker side. On the team's own side (barely evening out the odds) are a few surprises - mostly involving salvaging barely usable technology from the few probes that mankind successfully landed on Mars. This is a pretty good film - Val Kilmer plays a surprisingly likeable guy, though the film is pretty much paint-by numbers. There aren't that many surprises here (like the order in which the team members die off). The film actually does less to surprise than simply suspend your belief (you'd think that with the money they'd spent on the mission and its importance for the survival of humanity, the planners would have screened out nut-jobs like Pettengill; with all their high-tech, none of the team detect oxygen until they crack their visors and find out they can breathe). It would have been cool to expand on the teams use of all that old earth-junk, but the script was obviously hobbled by the fact that so few missions actually made it to Mars (whether you're counting in metric or otherwise, the number is pretty small). Mars itself gets too little exposure in the script - with the planet approximating little more than a big desert with harsh weather - even though the red planet has much to offer. (Oxygen aside, what about the missing ozone layer that's supposed to shield our heroes from deadly UV rays? Even an oxygen-rich atmosphere means little when the atmospheric pressure at sea-level is thinner than what you'd get half a mile over Mt. Everest.) The flick works on its stars, mainly Kilmer, but also Carrie Moss and especially Tom Sizemore playing (again) the tough but tender no. 2 man (seen in "Private Ryan".) Definitely good for a Saturday night rental around February, when there's nothing spectacular enough to spend real money at the Multiplex.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Sci-Fi At Its Best
Review: It has been a question plagued by humanity through out the eons: on a peaceful, cooperative, scientific mission to a distant planet...why bring a killer android? "Red Planet" could answer that, but instead it just kind of stinks more and more. So Mars is being investigated by a crew made up of good and bad actors, and as usual some thing goes wrong. Most of the crew crashlands on the planet, and then for the next hour or so they just kind of wonder around. They think their air is running out, and just as the audience is clapping during the final moments...it turns out that they can breath on Mars after all. Wah wah waahh... They could explain it right away some how, but instead they cut to AMEE, who is the killer android in question. Not only can she kill things, but she is well versed in the tactics of guerilla warfare and military logistics. Again.......why the hell do they have this android with them? Oh yeah, then it drags on for another hour as they find the Mars land rover sent in 1997 (yeah...right) and use it to communicate. Then bugs come out of no where and...then you lose all interest in the movie. Its not exciting, its not romantic, its not even ground breaking in its backstory...why did I watch this?
Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable movie.
Review: I can't really find any problems to hate this movie. Let's face it, you can't expect every movie to be the Lord of the Rings. You know there are tons of movies, some of which aren't as popular as others but are still alright movies. Why watch these movies? Because they are entertaining. This movie is entertaining. I like movies that entertain me and don't try to be the number one flick of the year or all time for that matter. Val Kilmer is a great actor, I love all his movies, and this movie is no exception. He plays a pretty cool mechanic. I dislike Carrie slightly in this movie because of her stupid journal entry thingies. You know, "Gallagher was the mechanic, Jimbo was the weapons blah blah blah." Get on with it. After the beggining, and the stupid journal entry at the end, I like the movie. I saw it in theatres when it came out, and it has a cool atmosphere. I was slightly bored because I had homework to do, but the movie was still enjoyable. The robot is awesome. It flips and ... does stuff with a hover thingy, and even employs some crazy tactics. The bugs are fine, and the plot is great. "No it isn't. Mdizzio." Yes it is man, it is great. There is oxygen on a planet, some guys were going down to like check the colonization or something, i forget. But still, they were there for a reason, they found out there was no algae, and soon the plot comes down on you. Killer robot, killer firefly-bees, a spaceship, and a little space-shiperooni. I like the special effects. If I watched it a third time, I would still be slightly intrested because I wasn't paying too much attention to the movie, but I still like it. In the dark with nothing to do but watching Red Planet would be cool. The atmosphere, combined with great special effects really makes the movie worth-while. Stop saying it is a "B" movie, because it is a pretty good movie, and I don't really think anyone could justify that it was a bad movie. Seriously though, what is bad about it.
Rating:
Summary: For B movie fans only
Review: "Intelligent" is not the word one should use anywhere near a movie where the "geneticist" says DNA is made up of A, G, P, and T nucleotides. It's G, not P. "Intelligent" is not the word one should use anywhere near a movie where the computer voice tells the heroine to stand up the hero - in zero gravity. The computer, at least, should know better. Those are just examples of the "science" in this fiction. Unless you want a good laugh, look elsewhere. If you like B movies, and like to laugh at silly ones, then this is right up your alley. The story is absurd, the science nonexistent, and the most interesting character gets abandoned early on, never to be seen agian. That said, I had a good laugh, although I am quite sure the directors never intended this as a comedy.
Rating:
Summary: Vastly under rated Sci Fi adventure
Review: This is a great and exciting story with many, many excellent moments in it. The special effects are spectacular and well motivated. The cast and characters are just about perfect. AIMEE is fascinating. I am not a big collecter of DVDs, but I had to have this. See especially the chapter featuring the solar flare. I watch it over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Best and most intelligent space travel film in decaces!
Review: It is almost an iron-clad rule in sci-fi films to base plots on the flimsiest of 'scientific' premises. In most cases there is no attempt whatsoever in even acknowledging proven foundations and principles of physics and other sciences. Poetic license runs amok in violating such foundations. (Tele-transportation? warp speed? ... P-L-E-A-S-E! Give me the scientific citation!) This film does not insult your intelligent in that it offers a very tight, exciting and coherent plot that is based on proven scientific principles, while evoking conjectured missions of exploration of Mars currently being investigated. (Please refer to the Mars Society website.) And yes, the plot also includes well fleshed-out characters, and inspiring themes of personal faith and redemption - along with a terrific cast!
Rating:
Summary: Solid.
Review: Red Planet is a fairly entertaining and, likewise, fairly well made. Normally for me, being just, 'fairly well made' would probably get at most 2 stars, however, as it happens, I am a sci-fi fan, and truely decent sci-fi movies are about as rare an occurance as the truely decent western during the last decade (excluding anime, of course ^_^). Ok action, good acting, and a few good visuals are the high points of this movie. Unfortunately, this film does fail to deliver beyond the level of 'truely decent sci-fi movie' and has several rough spots - first, the narrative is a bit loopy which tends the film towards several bouts of action scenes rather than several bouts of dialogue, etc... Second - it refuses to allow immersion by constraining the visuals mostly to mediocre action sequences and somehow manages to make space disappear and mars to look like a windy desert. Last, it doesn't capitalize on the potentials of the script - romance, pseudoscience, and the behaviours of stranded men (although the actors themselves to well in their roles). Red Planet would have been a much more satisfying movie if it had focused on using a more open style to make room for the broad story and character interactions. Visually and plotwise it should have focused on persenting the film in a fantastic manner true to the vastness of space and the obscurity of the situation (such as more of the expansive fields). Despite its faults, it is a decent film and worth a rental.
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