Review of Mission to Mars (2000) by J_Thom123 — 29 Aug 2013

So, this movie earns the five stars that I gave it entirely through its beautiful (and fairly accurate) portrayal of near-future space exploration technologies. The ships used and the problems (like micro-meteorites) encountered by the ships illustrated fairly plausible space exploration scenarios. The films ancient humanoid progenitors-to-mankind where visually interesting both in their appearance and the majestic appearance of their technology. However, where it loses stars is in its treatment of ethics in the storyline. As the movie progresses towards the great revelation of mankind's (and all Earth lifes') extraterrestrial origin the gruesome deaths of the astronauts in the first quarter of the movie are all but forgotten.

To me this would have brought up some grave concerns about the ancients. For one, the fact that they built a security system which triggers a bloody, Jigsaw-esque booby trap after one incorrect response to a query that people are unlikely to understand over a billion years after the security system was created makes them either a) incredibly inept or b) horrifyingly cruel. In either event the fact that they only want to explain their history to their direct descendants makes them xenophobic to the extreme.