Mission to Mars

Starring: Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen, Jerry O'Connell, Peter Outerbridge, Kavan Smith, Jill Teed
Directed by: Brian De Palma
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction
2000

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: When a team of astronauts on the surface of Mars disappears, a rescue team is sent to the Red Planet to discover what happened to them- and to see if there are any survivors.

Review:

Tim: I probably shouldn't like Mission to Mars. It's a flawed movie, and one that could be easily criticized. While I definitely have some issues with certain aspects of the movie, I couldn't bring myself to hate it. Maybe I'm crazy, but I kind of had fun watching it. Perhaps this is one of those "guilty pleasures", but I found this film to be fairly enjoyable.

The whole Mars thing was pretty high in 2000, and this film has an interesting premise- astronauts land on Mars to explore the mysterious "face". The biggest hurdle this film faces is having audiences believe the face could be real, especially when it has been overtly shown to be not a face at all. That myth has been exposed as false. But, let's just say the face is more mysterious than we expected. This movie attempts to answer the questions- what is the face? Where did it come from? That is a fun intellectual exercise, even if the real-life implications are almost completely nonexistent.

The cast is the main reason I was able to enjoy this film. Gary Sinise is one of the most criminally underrated actors out there. I really enjoyed him in this film. This isn't his first space-related film, but it was fun seeing him in the lead role for a change. His performance is a bit bland, but overall, I liked him. Tim Robbins was also a nice addition to the cast. He is clearly an intelligent guy, and was believable as an astronaut. I also loved the casting of Don Cheadle. Cheadle is always good. It was great fun seeing Sinise, Robbins, and Cheadle together. Jerry O'Connell was a fine addition to the cast and provided some moments of levity. The rest of the cast is pretty forgettable.

It's pretty obvious that the "science" of this film is completely crap. That is a huge hurdle for most viewers, and I understand that. If you can look past that, though, there's some intriguing scenes in this film. The revelation of the face and what is inside was actually pretty interesting. It's a bit controversial and easily criticized, but it was fun to think about. The end of the film is kind of cool, but is also a little disappointing. Still, even amid the disappointment, there were some suspenseful moments.

The movie does have some very cool scenes. The initial mystery of what happened to the original Mars crew of astronauts is pretty intriguing. I loved the catastrophic descent of the rescue crew, and unraveling the mystery of the face was fun. These scenes weren't classics, but they were fun to watch.

I admit that Mission to Mars isn't the most memorable movie. I actually forgot almost everything that happened in between my first and second views. It's definitely a flawed movie, but it has a really good cast, and it was fun watching them together. I get that many people hate this movie, but for me, there was enough to like that convinced me this was a worthwhile film.


Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Red Planet, Impostor, Sunshine, Apollo 13