Runtime: 114 minutes
Directed by: Brian De Palma
Starring: Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen, Jerry O’Connell
From: Touchstone/Studio Canal/Spyglass Entertainment
I got my ass to Mars. There was a choice of seeing a Brian De Palma movie new to me and mainly because it gives me a chance to tell stories from the past, I went with one that even the director himself wasn’t ultimately satisfied with. What a time 2000 and 2001 was; among many other things, there were three big release Mars movies: this, Red Planet and Ghosts of Mars. None were successes either critically or commercially, although this did better at the box office compared to its budget than the other two… or Supernova, for that matter.
Mission was the only one “suggested” by a Disney theme park ride, also known as Mission to Mars. I actually experienced that attraction once, either in 1990 or 1993 on family vacations. I have faint memories, so thankfully a YouTube video shows the entire experience of animatronic figures in a control room then you’re seated in a circular auditorium w/ screens where your seats move around during some major moments. It closed in late ’93… so I’m not quite sure why a movie based off of that was made in 2000?
Your familiarity with that ride is irrelevant to the movie as the two share nothing besides the title action & the presence of peril. In the summer of 2020 (oh, if only they knew) there’s the first manned mission to the Red Planet but there’s an accident so there’s a rescue mission, which has its own complications. What happens in the third act… the comparisons I heard to 2001 suddenly made more sense. Now THERE is an unenviable task—trying to be as good as an all-time great piece of cinema. I appreciate thoughtful sci-fi that at least attempts to address heady concepts and theorizes important concepts when it comes to our humanity. Unfortunately, this misses the mark there.
De Palma came in at the last moment because original director Gore Verbinski was unhappy that much of the budget went to the effects-BTW, some of those have aged horribly-and was worried that he wouldn’t have enough money. What we got was some stylish flourishes-De Palma cinematography in zero gravity is actually pretty rad-but otherwise it didn’t seem like something from him-not a surprise, considering that most of the work in pre-production was already done by the time De Palma came on board. He wasn’t happy with what Hollywood had become so that’s why he hasn’t made anything in America since.
As for Mission to Mars the movie, the result was something meh to me; it’s not horrible yet I can’t say it was good for me despite the nice camaraderie between the characters (complete w/ dancing to Van Halen in one scene), a few heroic moments, and an interesting Morricone score. This wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it could have been. Incidentally, some props for the movie have been seen by me: they are in the queue at the Epcot ride Mission: Space. That is also a ride where you get your ass to Mars, this time via time spent in a centrifuge; it’s wild so some will feel nauseous-not me, though. Mission: Space doesn’t have much to do with this movie either.
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