Review of Red Planet (2000) by Jeffrey C — 28 May 2005

Best in Show: Carrie-Anne Moss.

One for the future: Carrie-Anne Moss.

Stand-out scene: Expelling the fire.

Brainer or no-brainer: No brainer (where did that helmet and oxygen canister appear from?).

Stands up to one viewing or repeated?: One.

DVD commentary any good?: n/a.

TV.

Ah Mars, the subject of so much filmic derring-do that the subject matter's almost been exhausted of all oxygen itself. Every single mars movie i've ever seen (bar Total Recall) has had some below surface lethal force unleashed to scupper man's attempts to colonise the planet, and this is no exception. The one Mars movie I've seen that pitched itself just right was John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars; a low budget pick-em-off movie with rudimentary special effects, it never took itself too seriously and bore its predictability like an asset. The pomposity of this effort, however, while not reaching the level of MIssion to Mars, suggests that the cast are taking the preposterousness of the story seriously. There's holes in the plot the size of Gallifrey (a mystery helmet and oxygen supply appearing from nowhere towards the end) and Moss is called upon to do little more than combine her Trinity character from The Matrix with Lt. Ellen Ripley to flesh out her character. Despite this, she's the best actor on board, Val Kilmer exhibiting an air of distaste at having to lower himself to play a techie in the sci-fi genre and Tom Sizemore running his usual gambit of emotions from A to B. That said, some classical music scored special effect sequences are outstanding, but like George Lucas has not learned; special effects alone does not a great movie make.