Review of Mission to Mars (2000) by Kevin D — 09 Jun 2010

A movie with great special effects, a great musical score from Enino Morricone, and great cinematography (the beautifully constructed opening shot that was done in one take and the space stuff). Furthermore, this movie had a great cast including Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle, and Jerry O'Connell.

It was also directed by one of my favorite directors, Brina De Palma (Carrie, Blow Out, Body Double, Carlito's Way). So what went wrong, you ask? The screenplay. The narrative was pretty useless, the dialogue was abysmal, and the characters were terribly unwritten.

This is still a watchable movie, but it could have been better. Instead, it's a poor man's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Don't get me wrong, this movie has its fair share of good scenes like the Tim Robbins scene in space and the scene near the end that visualizes the history of the earth.

This movie was just unable to sustain interest for its entire running time due to the mediocre script. I was also surprised to see that this movie was rated PG since most of De Palma's movies are hardcore R-rated, but oh well that's pretty irrelevant.

This is merely a good movie to pass some time.