Mission To Mars

Rating:
Summary: Let's just hope this one doesn't have annoying previews
Review: I love this movie, but as for the DVD, I'm gonna give it one star for now...I mean, don't get me wrong, it could be the biggest DVD since "Fight Club", but it's gonna be 1 star on the offchance it might have unskippable previews like on "The Sixth Sense" DVD, as all customers on this site are aware of. I suspect this because this DVD is animorphic, so I am just praying to God they don't take advantage of the ability to program a section of an animorphic DVD to prevent skipping AGAIN. I'll write another review to the tune of 5 stars if I rent it when it comes out and there are no previews, but if there are, I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll avoid ALL animorphic Buena Vista DVDs.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie
Review: Though a lot of movie critics said Mission to Mars was awful, I strongly disagree. I really enjoyed the movie. The landscape was realistic looking. The actors gave excellent performances, especially Gary Sinise. I really cared about what would happen to the characters. If you like sci-fi, you will like this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Mars is predictable!
Review: This film gets an extremely low rating, and now you will find out why. One of the most disturbing things about this film is that it is filled with a whole bunch of terrific actors who are vastly overcast in what is essentially a B-movie that should be played repeatedly on the USA network in the middle of the night.

Tim Robbins, hast thou forsaken me? Indeed you have! How could you let such juvenile scripted words come out of your mouth? The dialogue you share with all of the other characters is abominable. As a matter of fact, they all do it too, so I guess I'm not only asking you. Tell me what is wrong with this picture... Opening scene... Don Cheadle says to Gary Sinese "There was nothing you could do. We all know this was YOUR mission. If she hadn't died..." Blah blah blah. This dialogue just reminds me of someone holding a gun to his head in a film. Invariably the next line is always, "Don't do it. It's not worth it." So, this film loses severe pointage for script predictability.

Now, all the special effects were very impressive. Perhaps they could have saved a couple of bucks on the special effectsand given that money to someone to rewrite the entire script. The story wouldn't have to be changed, but the lines sure could have used some retooling. Speaking of special effects... If you are going to shoot the surface of Mars, perhaps you should shoot on a clear day in the desert. THERE ARE NO CLOUDS ON MARS BECAUSE IT IS DEVOID OF WATER!!!! Carl Sagan would be so disappointed, but I presume his son Nick Sagan will be disappointed enough for himself and his father.

I really can't say too much about this film otherwise since its predictability lasted from literally the first scene to the very last line of the movie. "... have a good ride, Jim." Cue the THE END optical. Fade to black, roll the credits, boo at the screen.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time or money
Review: This was one of THE WORST movies I've ever seen. It's not even worth the rental fee. Don't waste your money!

Rating:
Summary: Hmmm... not up to my standards.
Review: I saw mission to mars in the movies and I must say that I really wanted to like this movie. But exiting the movie it just felt as if I just wasted my money seing it. The movie felt as if it was only half finished and not completed yet. Go buy 2001, 2010 instead or perhaps Contact with Jodie Foster wich is a way better film than mission to mars.

Rating:
Summary: Eh...
Review: This movie doesn't amaze me, at all, but it didn't fall short of my expectations either. The special effects were good, in that they didn't take on a role of their own but still blended well with the movie. Now, putting aside the pseudo-realism (after all this is a sci-fi movie), the story was good at heart, but poorly executed. The acting, however, did not seem to be the problem. I thought Tim Robbins was excellent, Don Cheadle was good, and Gary Sinise was also good, if not great. The problem seemed to be the boring, lifeless dialogue and blocking. When they became trapped inside the face was probably the worst part of the movie. "We're Trapped, no don't take off that wait!" If you're trapped in a giant white face who cares whether you die of atmospheric pressure being too low (or high, if it even is a legitimate issue). This film could have been a great film on the level of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but the story and dialogue fell very short. It's a decent movie to watch, but worth buying the DVD? No. If you want to see it, rent it.

Rating:
Summary: Hideously Horrible! 8-(
Review: Why some people gave this stinker four or five stars is light years beyond me, and I love good sci-fi. I thought Red Planet was pretty bad until I saw this movie, and I realized that even Red Planet had some (not much) redeeming value by comparison. The negative reviews here accurately sum up the reasons why this is one of the worst movies ever made. I really struggled to stay with it 'til the end, if only for morbid curiosity.

Absolutely the steaming pile you've heard it is...

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: "Mission to Mars" sets the bar for science fiction movies to an all-time high! From the opening party sequence to the non lift-off sequence to Mars. Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise) is in top form leading his squad of astronauts on a mission to find life on Mars. Even though the year is 2020, the movie feels like a 1950's B-movie. The movie is pure intellect! The squad (Connie Nielsen, Jerry O'Connell, Tim Robbins and the MIA Don Cheadle). A strange face was formed in the sand and water was found on Mars! The explanation for the human species was dumbfounding! What an extravagant piece of filmmaking! Brian De Palma tries to pull a Stanley Kubrick and does better! The CGI is breathtaking, watch the aliens transform into dinosaurs and then people! What an impressive, captivating, enthralling motion picture! Everybody needs to experience this masterpiece!

Rating:
Summary: Slow and unmoving.
Review: What can I say about "Mission to Mars?" Was I anticipatory? Yes. Was I hopeful? Yes. Was I disappointed? Yes. This is classic movie letdown at its highest peak, reaching far above such letdowns as "Hollow Man" and "Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2." There is much to blame for its downfall, most of which lies within the storytelling techniques and the all-too-slow pace that the director brings to the picture, and the soundtrack which contains what sound like leftovers from the score to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." The movie has an overall childish feel to it, which never lets up until the final, anticlimactic ending. The cast must be credited for trying their best, and their efforts are visible and stand out, along with the dazzling special effects, as the elements to pay attention to in this film.

The movie starts out slow, giving us time to warm to the characters, the mission, and the detail involved in the story structure. We're introduced to the crew of the mission to the planet Mars, headed by captain Luke Graham (played by Don Cheadle), who feels a slight sense of guilt for his acquirement of the position over Jim McConnell (Gary Sinese), who lost the chance when he opted out to care for his sick wife, who passed away. After this intro, we find the crew on Mars, wandering around collection samples and data, until they come across a large mountain that seems to have a hunger for unwanted visitors (why didn't they just run away?).

At this point, our appetites are wet enough to stick through more of the film: the filmmakers know we will obviously want to find out the reasons for the crew's demise, so they milk the rest of the story for everything they can get away with. McConnell heads into space with a resue crew (I guess they felt he deserved a space outing afterhis grounding in "Apollo 13"), where they encounter glitch after glitch, cliche after cliche, until finally landing on Mars to find the remaining crew members and discover a secret that none of them ever thought possible.

Touchstone Studios credits this movie as being "enthralling" and "action-packed." For a preteen sci-fi geek who just saw his first sci-fi movie, maybe, but for those of us who want more out of a movie like this, it just doesn't cut it. The movie never gets past juvenile (it's PG, for goodness sake); there is never a moment that seems shocking or unbearable. The only sequence where I found myself willing to hold my breath was in the beginning, during the catastrophic event that crippled the first mission. The movie makes promises that it will build up to more afterwards, but those promises are left in the sun to dry as our characters go through the same old material we've seen done before in better movies of this genre.

The one thing I feel is truly to blame for this film's downfall is the treatment that director Brian de Palma gives this potentially good material. In watching this movie, I kept making references to his filming techniques used in "Carrie," which required a slow, tense buildup to its final showdown. De Palma seems to think that this movie is in need of the same perspective, when the story requires a much faster pace. With movies of this sort, we don't want time to breath: give us the answers in a fast, straightforward manner instead of listening to the characters give five-minute speeches about anything that may seem knowledgeable. The movie would be good with a much speedier pace, but de Palma's excruciatingly slow movement is, at times, agonizing just to sit through.

And the climax isn't any better, either. Without giving away the secrets of the ending, I'll put it like this: it plays like something you would see in a video on evolution in a second-grade classroom while your teacher provides the sole commentary. You can't really consider this a let-down in relation to the rest of the movie because it pretty much stays on par with the rest of the movie's mentality. The music, which is something I rarely comment on, also brings a childish demeanor to the story while also adding to the slow pacing as well. Case in point: the scene in which there are leaks found in the spacecraft of the rescue mission. The music here is full of organ chords and slow strings, which have the feeling that they want to burst into full vigor, but they never do. This, combined with the flaws mentioned above are responsible for bringing the movie down.

This is a shame, because the special effects are some of the best of the year. The movie literally takes us to the planet Mars, creating a visceral and breathtaking world that dazzles the senses while at the same time coming off as looming and ominous. Far away space shots as well as on-planet sequences are seamless in their integration of the actual shot and computer animatics. Character interaction with the planet and its features are magnificent, and not a moment goes by where you will find any doubt lying within the technical wizardry. The cast also aims to please, giving us nice, steady performances even if the material is formulaic at best. The cast, along with Don Cheadle and Gary Sinese, includes Tim Robbins, Connie Nielsen and Jerry O'Connell, all of whom do their best despite the lackluster lines and uninspired tension sequences.

The movie does have good intentions, and for a much younger set, it is sure to be pleasing. There is a nice message about the origins of human life and what secrets Mars may potentially hold, but it plays too much like an educational video in an elementary school classroom to be any fun for those seeking juicy sci-fi on a large scale. The trailer is very misleading, which is one of the reasons so many people were anxious to see it. There is a grand vision of the future and our knowledge of human existence to be had with "Mission to Mars," but it never takes us to a level of intensity that we'd expect from a movie of this sort, and so the mission is a failure.

Rating:
Summary: B Grade Acting destroys the World
Review: I recently rented this movie, and couldn't get through more than the first half an hour. It's truly a tragic thing to see such talented actors as Tim Robbins dragged down to the level of Canadian hack Peter Outerbridge (seen here as a Russian astronaut). The film was a huge disappointed, but it was obvious that the actors spent a great deal of time working out and buffing up for their roles. If only as much time had been spent on developing characters. What was DePalma thinking?