Rating: 
Summary: Completely forgettable.
Review: I'm not afraid to admit it: I genuinely loved Mission to Mars, one of the most enthralling sci-fi adventures I've ever seen and the film I'd point out as the most underrated of all-time. That film was a magical experience, inspiring a sense of awe that I thought would never be achieved after Robert Zemeckis' even more wonderful sci-fi drama, Contact. Now we have Red Planet, a similarly plotted film that's admirable in its simplicity and lack of flash, but it's dull, uninteresting, and unexciting. The visuals are good, but none of it is compelling, the story is basic and predictable, and except for an interesting little subplot about life on Mars, this film fails to do anything different. True, it does harken to the style of 80's sci-fi thrillers, something I do enjoy, but when we've got a movie as boring as this one, what difference does it make?
Rating: 
Summary: "Red Planet"
Review: Red Planet (PG-13) ***/5
Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker.
Directed by: Anthony Hoffman.
Synopsis: A group of astronauts head to Mars, but something goes wrong.
Special Features: Deleted Scenes, Filmographies.
Review: A group of astronauts are sent to investigate the terraforming project on Mars, but lots of things go wrong and they crash, are stalked by a robot, and find life on Mars. This film tosses its interesting premise out the window to go for the disaster flick vibe. All in all it isn't great sci-fi, but it is entertaining. All the actors turn in great performances which elevate the film a notch. Hoffman shows a lot of stylish directing in this film. It looks good, it's fast paced, it isn't all it could be, but it is a good turn your brain off film. As for the DVD? Weak squared if you liked the film get it. If you were indifferent nothing here to tip the scales.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Angle
Review: The idea of sending man to Mars stirs man's innermost imagination, and since in the next thirty years such a journey may be launched, films such as 'Red Planet' have interesting relevance. While 'Mission to Mars' is a better film, 'Red Planet' is more exciting, and certainly scarier. Thus my own reservation with the film- portraying Mars in the most hostile terms. Even from what we know of Mars today, such pernicious parasites are possible, but not likely. In short, if you watch this as pure sci-fi, you will enjoy it. If you start deconstructing, however, you will be disappointed. As we prepare to colonize Mars, films such as this may one day be looked at (from bubble homes on Mars) as true 'classics'. So enjoy, amigos, its a fun movie.
Rating: 
Summary: NO BETTER THAN ''ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS''.
Review: This was a bad movie. Mission To Mars is way better! The film has bad special effects,bad acting(except Tom Sizemore),bad dialogue, and a weak plot.I love Mission To Mars but I hate Red Planet. This is the worst sci-fi movie ever. Stay away from this movie!
Rating:
Summary: Antony Hoffman's Red Planet
Review: In 2057, our planet is dying, choking on man made pollution (and you thought recycling your soda cans would help). A misfit ragtag crew is sent to Mars. We have been sending unmanned probes there in the past. These probes have been depositing algae on the planet, which expels oxygen and will allow man to breathe. The crew consists of five actors and Carrie-Anne Moss. Moss opens the film with some narration introducing the crew and talking of their differences. Except for Terence Stamp, who is old and thereby gets the thankless role of sexless voice of reason, all the other guys are chauvinist jerks. Val Kilmer, Benjamin Bratt, Tom Sizemore, and Simon Baker all have long complicated titles, but really do not do anything in the film to differentiate themselves from each other. They do lust after Moss and can throw out a lame one liner with the best of them. Things go wrong as soon as their ship gets to the red planet. A space storm renders the ship useless. The guys are sent down to the surface and find no algae. The crew begins to die one by one. Stamp is dispatched before he can convert everyone else's faith from science to something cosmically bigger in the universe. Baker makes an oopsy and pushes Bratt off a cliff. A malfunctioning robot is also along for the ride, deciding to take out the crew for wanting to use it for spare parts. The planet station they were to use when they got down to the surface is destroyed by unseen forces, possibly another life form. Finally, how come everyone can breathe when all the algae is missing? You might be thinking: cool; a killer robot, a flipped out murdering scientist, alien life forms, and a cosmic being that may or may not be watching over the crew. Throw in Moss back on the ship trying to hold everything together and this is going to be one suspense filled, action packed ride...negative. As the film progresses, and more of the crew is dispatched, I came to the conclusion that three or four plotlines were fighting for my attention. None were succeeding in holding it. You could make a film that stands alone on any of the robot/psycho/alien villains, yet when thrown together they did not yield exciting chaos but inattention to each individual plot thread. The cast is very capable, pulling off lots of scientific jargon and rewiring of impossibly damaged equipment without a hitch, but so much more is left up in the air, and some characters acknowledge that! How do the life forms make oxygen? Don't know. How is an indestructible robot so easily dispatched? Don't know. How is Kilmer able to survive huge explosions that seem on the same scale as Nevada desert nuclear plumes of the 1950's? Don't know. Why is Terence Stamp in this picture? Don't know. Stamp's little quiet philosophical conversations amount to absolutely nothing, as God does not swoop in at any point here to save the boys (at least in an obvious way). Throw in the dull romance between Moss and Kilmer, and you have some definite script problems. While the special effects are lovely and a wonder to look at, they are set to a Graeme Revell musical score that is equally schizophrenic. At some points, I heard the old theme to "Star Trek," at other points, a tabernacle choir takes us through the action. The film makers could not make up their minds, and neither could Revell. In the end, "Red Planet," like its competitor "Mission to Mars," is pretty to look at and shows technical triumph. The film makers seemed to get the future right, but they forgot to serve the base human emotions of excitement at the proceedings and caring for the characters. I do not recommend this angry "Red Planet." This is rated (PG13) for physical violence, some gore, profanity, brief female nudity, and some sexual references.
Rating:
Summary: Better than you'd expect
Review: Red Planet could have been much more; it had a great cast. It's a cool movie, but don't expect any aliens. Instead, you have a very cool looking robot that goes on a rampage and starts hunting down the men stranded on Mars.
When I say it could have been much more, for instance Val Kilmer and Carrie Anne Moss have great chemistry, but they don't have enough scenes together to really make something out of it. Plus, everyone seems too calm, considering they're being hunted by a badass robot; they seem more concerned about what their next conversation should be. There's too much talking and not enough action.
Still though, it is a lot better than Mission To Mars, which could be pretty painful to sit through at times. Val Kilmer's wit is a lot better than listening to Gary Sinise grieving over his dead wife throughout the whole movie. Plus it doesn't have the corny B-Movie ending that Mission To Mars has either. Red Planet isn't really anything special but I wouldn't call it bad either because it's not.
Rating:
Summary: Competition for "Plan 9"
Review: Okay, I will make no comparisons. This movie is bad enough without using good ones to illuminate its failings.
First, the cliches: We have the Survivor, the Ultra-competent Woman, the Expendables (Buddy, Arrogant Jerk, 2 Miscellaneous), and the Villain. We even have a mystery. Except that the Mystery is actually just a plot device to allow the beat-the-clock plotline.
Science-fiction fans will NOT forgive Red Planet's flaws because the movie is not "reasonably intelligent." There are so many painfully glaring errors of science and internal logic that explaining them would almost amount to writing the novelization, but here is a taste:
The beginning voice-over explains that the terraforming had been proceeding well, then the oxygen levels dropped. Later it is discovered that oxygen is present in breathable amounts. Oops.
In order to be breathable, Mars's atmospheric pressure at ground level would have to become almost one THOUSAND times denser (not common knowledge, I admit, but easily found). This change would be visible to Earthbound astronomers, but apparently nobody actually looked at the planet. Oops.
It goes on and on. Good Lord, this movie is pathetic. I bought it, unwatched, because I like Mars that much. Had I known it was even worse than Starship Troopers, I would have saved my money.
It does have neat special effects, though.
Rating:
Summary: The most unbelievable science fiction film of our time!
Review: Everybody knows to ask me questions about Science when we are playing Trivial Pursuit. After all, I never even took biology, let alone chemistry or physics, in high school. But even little old ignorant me knows that there are some major mistakes that needed to be corrupted in "Red Planet," a film which will make thousands of viewers stop laughing at 1950's science fiction movies about traveling to distant planets. No, I will not start ticking them off for you, simply because "Red Planet" is one of those incredibly bad movies that you can still have fun watching, although it is certainly not the "Plan 9 From Outer Space" for the 2001 generation. Of course, you do not need to know anything about hard science to find the flaws in this film. As soon as you find that Carrie-Anne Moss is the space babe in charge of the mission and Val Kilmer is the guy she really does not want to have along, the possibilities of how bad things can get become painfully apparent. Then there is the cute little navigation robot that goes big time bad just to make things even worse and add some splatter flick elements to the mix. Add to this the fact that the screenwriters never met a coincidence they did not like and you have to believe that Terrence Stamp's character made up that bit about the ruptured spleen just to get out of this film as quick as possible. Now, I am open to the possibility that there are those who will actually like this film as a piece of "serious" science fiction, and I mean besides the producers of this film. My suggestion would be to go for the obvious double-feature, screening "Red Planet" and "Mission to Mars" back-to-back and decide for yourself which is the more fantastic (i.e., unbelievable) science fiction film. Not since "Babe" and "Gordy" came out at the same time have we been given the chance to split the film viewing audience into such clearly divided sides. Remember to make lots of popcorn so you have something to do other than yell "Oh, give me a break!" at the screen over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: 3.5 Stars - Decent story, but no real action
Review: It starts off with a good story, but the action leaves a little to be desired. Especially after seeing the movie trailers. Val does a pretty good job. The whole cast does ok. But the actual action and the final climax... Leaves a little more to be desired. I think that with a little more money and a redo on the script, this could be a very good film. The "life" that finally finds the explorers, is not what you have been anticipating. The real action resides around the military robit that they bring along. It proves to be defective... Worth watching, but I will leave it up to you on whether or not it is a good addition to a DVD library.
Rating: 
Summary: Kilmers Performance Worth the Ticket
Review: This is by no means a Matrix or Alien! Now with that out of the way it is a much better flick that I thought. The plot is meaningless but provides a nice canvas for some suspense, style, romance and effects. The standouts are: Val Kilmer - beautifully underplayed cool geek. Anyone who is aware of the mystique that geekhood can hold will see how well he nailed this role Amee - Cool, loving and frightening dog/robot. She deserves an acadamy award (or a least a golden globe- *grin*) Carrie-anne Moss - Tough and oh so sexy Nice pace - never slows down and has lots of cool toys. So it is not benchmark cinema but is certainly worth a look in. M
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