Release Date: March 10, 2000
Starring: Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Connie Nielson, Don Cheadle, Jerry O'Connell, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Directed by: Brian De Palma
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG (sci-fi violence, language)
It becomes apparent while watching Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars that very few filmmakers ever attempt to set a movie in space and do it strictly as a drama. Most tend to fall to either side of the spectrum -- either full-blown science fiction on par with Star Trek and Star Wars or an out-and-out action-adventure popcorn flick a la Armageddon. The only recent bread and butter space drama that springs to mind is Ron Howard's Apollo 13, which dabbled in both science fiction (or nonfiction, as the case was) and action but stuck to its dramatic guns to reap the benefits of a powerful story told well.
Mission to Mars isn't nearly on that level -- it may be years before anyone does a high-powered space drama as good as Apollo 13 -- but it plays with many of the same thoughts and ideas, and for the second go-round, it's not that bad. It begins in the year 2020 with the first manned mission to Mars, in which astronaut Luc Goddard (Don Cheadle) lands his crew in the planet's Cydonia region and promptly discovers a strange outcropping of metal inconsistent with the surrounding geology. Investigating further, the crewmembers are suddenly wiped out by a vicious dust storm.
On to the scene come senior astronauts Woody Blake (Tim Robbins) and Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise) as the heads of a rescue mission to the Red Planet. Also on board are Woody's wife Terri (Connie Nielsen) and mission specialist Phil Ohlmeyer (Jerry O'Connell). Minutes before entering Mars orbit, though, their spacecraft is bombarded by micrometeoroids that damage the main engine and force the crew to egress. They make their way to a nearby supply module and use it as a landing craft; once on the surface, they seek out the original Mars base and begin to investigate the catastrophe that occurred there.
At various points throughout the story, Mission to Mars borrows from several films of its own or nearby genres. Although it stays away from such obviously dramatic scenes as spacecraft launches and Martian landings, it does bear several similarities to Apollo 13. The Global Space Station, seen in Earth orbit, has the classic rotating ring of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. And the repeating radio signals which draw the Mars crews to the strange metal deposit inside a mountain induce memories of Robert Zemeckis's Contact.
Given that all of these similarities are bound to exist with a film that is a modern rendition of the space drama, though, Mission to Mars and its director, Brian De Palma, do well with them. De Palma's style is very present, and he makes frequent use of extended takes. The first of these comes during the opening scene -- a backyard barbecue -- when the camera weaves in between partygoers for at least three or four minutes without cutting away. These long sequences are more noteworthy during the film's middle and end, when they're used to develop dramatic tension and suspense. The meteoroid shower that occurs just minutes before the crew must fire the main engine to prevent their spacecraft from shooting by Mars and the goings-on immediately afterwards are particularly exciting because of this technique.
Another facet of the drama that heightens the suspense is the fact that Mars is about fifty million miles from Earth -- which means that all communication between the Mars crews and Earth takes long periods of time to elapse. Near the beginning, Luc's crew sends a message back to Earth that they're going to investigate the strange metal formation, but by the time the controllers on the space station receive the transmission, Luc's crew has already been obliterated. De Palma plays this up by cutting back and forth between the message playback on the space station and the events transpiring on Mars.
The film does lack in some spots. The Ennio Morricone score is very uninspired, except for a patriotic theme which eventually becomes overused in the long run. Morricone does hit a high note with the music that accompanies the meteor shower scene, but unfortunately it's only one scene in a movie that's about 110 minutes long. Also lacking is the film's finale, which, although desperately charged with soaring music and grand special effects displays, takes the wind out of the sense of immediacy that has theretofore pervaded the plot.
But Mission to Mars is cloaked in outstanding special effects. The Martian terrain is well done, and the peaks and valleys which dwarf anything on Earth are created in splendid fashion. The various spacecraft displayed throughout the film are inventive as well, building on the Space Shuttle's current motif while adding practical elements for interplanetary travel. Fortunately, they're not too futuristic so as to remove any link between the audience and the characters in the film. The zero-G sequences leave a bit to be desired, but the hitches are only barely noticeable. (Another reason why Apollo 13 was so superb -- the filmmakers made use of real microgravity environments to produce a genuine weightless effect.)
It is quite possible that the film will be disliked for its melodramatic tone, but those who found 2001 and other films of an epic nature watchable should be impressed by this one (the last half-hour or so not included, which, as stated, is inconsistent with the rest of the film). Also, any audience members who like a science fiction tale that's not too far removed from the present should find Mars engaging. Yes, a large part of the film is eye candy, but it never really takes itself ultra-seriously and so it finishes well above the bar.
all contents © 2000 Craig Roush