|
MISSION TO MARS Send This Review to a Friend
This is a mission that makes you want to stay home. Some 32 years ago Stanley Kubrick said it all with "2001: A Space Odyssey," and although the ending of "Mission to Mars" is reminiscent of Kubrick's astronaut heading for uncharted territory in the universe, the results are pitiful by comparison. "2001" was brilliant, "Mission to Mars" is pedestrian. The contemporary high tech stuff is there but uninspired, and the screenplay by Jim Thomas and John Thomas is thoroughly trite.
It is sad to see the waste, whether by the competent cast that includes Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle and Connie Nielsen or the caring direction by Brian De Palma. To be sure, there are moments of tension when the issue becomes life and death in an emergency, but it is hardly convincing to find a husband and wife on the same mission, which sets up a moment of horror when a wife has to make a grim choice.
The truth is that the futuristic story is downright corny, thereby undercutting all of the space trappings involved in a mission to Mars and a rescue trip that follows. The total effect is more numbing than exciting, and one comes away with a feeling of who needed this dumb space epic. Better a visit to the new Hayden Planitarium. A Buena Vista Pictures release.
|