Mission to Mars «««½
PG, 114m. 2000
Cast & Credits: Gary Sinise (Jim McConnell), Tim Robbins (Woody Blake), Don Cheadle (Luke Graham), Connie Nielsen (Terri Fisher), Jerry O’Connell (Phil Ohlmyer), Peter Outerbridge (Sergei Kirov), Kavan Smith (Nicholas Willis), Jill Teed (Renee Cote), Elise Neal (Debra Graham), Kim Delaney (Maggie McConnell). Screenplay by Jim Thomas, John Thomas and Graham Yost. Directed by Brian De Palma.
The worst times of the year to see movies is usually after the summer months and the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays are over. I find the early spring and fall to be the times where there aren’t a lot of pictures to choose from. Most of the titles studios release during these months are either up for the current year’s Oscar nominations (January through March) or are vying to be considered for next year’s award ceremonies (September/October).
The year 2000 started out as a slow one when it came to films. There was nothing out there that interested me other than Fantasia 2000 which I saw on one of two IMAX screens in Dallas last January.
The only preview I had seen that got my attention but wasn’t, however, going to be out until early March was Mission To Mars. I knew, judging from the previews I saw, that even if I didn’t like it, I would still consider the film a curiosity piece. The reason being is it is directed by Brian De Palma whose movies up until now, had come in the forms of horror (Carrie – 1976), and murder mystery, suspense thrillers like Blow Out (1981) and Body Double (1984), controversial remakes of classic gangster movies (Scarface – 1983) and old television shows (The Untouchables - 1987, Mission Impossible - 1996).
I find the idea of De Palma venturing off making a science fiction movie kids can see (Mission To Mars is rated PG) is like Steven Spielberg going from making action adventure movies such as the Indiana Jones trilogy (1981-1989) and Jurassic Park (1993) for kids to doing serious minded, thought provoking, historical epics like Schindler’s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998) for adults.
I have always considered most science fiction films to be “popcorn movies.” The kinds of pictures where i don’t have to think much less care if what I am watching on the big screen is actually inspired by something better or makes any sense. These days most everything Hollywood makes is inspired by something else. I can’t say they are original.
Mission to Mars falls into that same category of other fun sci-fi fare as The Black Hole (1979), Event Horizon (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Armageddon (1998) and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999) which got their ideas from previous disaster, horror and science fiction movies.
The film opens with a scene like the one in The Right Stuff (1983) where Air Force candidates for the space program got together with their families at barbecues and talked about being “Buck Rogers.”
The astronauts dream they are either Flash Gordon or use their profession as a means to turn women on. The event is a good-bye celebration for Mission Commander Luke Graham (Don Cheadle) who will be leading NASA’s first manned expedition to Mars in 2020.
The scene is a combination of emotions as wives hope their husbands come back, kids upset their fathers are leaving and one of regret felt especially by Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise) who along with his wife (NYPD Blue’s Kim Delaney) had hopes to also go to Mars but is now mourning her untimely death.
When NASA loses contact with Graham and his crew, another mission is dispatched led by McConnell, Commander Woody Blake (Tim Robbins), Dr. Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen) and scientist Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O’Connell) to find out what happened.
The film combines realistic ideas from Alien (1979) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in that the roar of the ship’s engines in space (with the exception of the explosions that occur) cannot be heard. There is also a climax where the astronauts meet an alien who is a cross between the drawings seen in books about UFOs and and the ones from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
What De Palma brings to Mission to Mars are shots he’s done in his previous movies that reveal to the audience future predicaments the characters will soon face though they don’t know it yet. There are also scenes shot as though the camera was placed on the ceiling to give an aerial view of things going on inside various parts of the space capsule. When small meteor rocks hit the spaceship causing an air leak, the quest of finding it is just as difficult as finding a sniper in a crowd of thousands at a boxing match as in De Palma’s previous film, Snake Eyes (1998).
There’s a lot of things I liked about the movie such as the intriguing idea the writers incorporated into the story about how life began on Mars. I didn’t mind the somber musical score Ennio Morricone provided whose best works today are still the ones heard in Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1967).
The film kept me interested from start to finish wondering what became of those colleagues from the original mission and whether or not the second one would be a success.
As the words “The End” flashed across the screen, a number of people in the audience to my surprise applauded. I am not sure if the reason they cheered was because most of them were kids out on spring break who just wanted to make some noise or if they really got into the story.
What I do know is I enjoyed the movie enough to the point I almost felt like applauding myself.
©3/10/00
PG, 114m. 2000
Cast & Credits: Gary Sinise (Jim McConnell), Tim Robbins (Woody Blake), Don Cheadle (Luke Graham), Connie Nielsen (Terri Fisher), Jerry O’Connell (Phil Ohlmyer), Peter Outerbridge (Sergei Kirov), Kavan Smith (Nicholas Willis), Jill Teed (Renee Cote), Elise Neal (Debra Graham), Kim Delaney (Maggie McConnell). Screenplay by Jim Thomas, John Thomas and Graham Yost. Directed by Brian De Palma.
The year 2000 started out as a slow one when it came to films. There was nothing out there that interested me other than Fantasia 2000 which I saw on one of two IMAX screens in Dallas last January.
The only preview I had seen that got my attention but wasn’t, however, going to be out until early March was Mission To Mars. I knew, judging from the previews I saw, that even if I didn’t like it, I would still consider the film a curiosity piece. The reason being is it is directed by Brian De Palma whose movies up until now, had come in the forms of horror (Carrie – 1976), and murder mystery, suspense thrillers like Blow Out (1981) and Body Double (1984), controversial remakes of classic gangster movies (Scarface – 1983) and old television shows (The Untouchables - 1987, Mission Impossible - 1996).
I find the idea of De Palma venturing off making a science fiction movie kids can see (Mission To Mars is rated PG) is like Steven Spielberg going from making action adventure movies such as the Indiana Jones trilogy (1981-1989) and Jurassic Park (1993) for kids to doing serious minded, thought provoking, historical epics like Schindler’s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998) for adults.
I have always considered most science fiction films to be “popcorn movies.” The kinds of pictures where i don’t have to think much less care if what I am watching on the big screen is actually inspired by something better or makes any sense. These days most everything Hollywood makes is inspired by something else. I can’t say they are original.
Mission to Mars falls into that same category of other fun sci-fi fare as The Black Hole (1979), Event Horizon (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Armageddon (1998) and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999) which got their ideas from previous disaster, horror and science fiction movies.
The film opens with a scene like the one in The Right Stuff (1983) where Air Force candidates for the space program got together with their families at barbecues and talked about being “Buck Rogers.”
The astronauts dream they are either Flash Gordon or use their profession as a means to turn women on. The event is a good-bye celebration for Mission Commander Luke Graham (Don Cheadle) who will be leading NASA’s first manned expedition to Mars in 2020.
The scene is a combination of emotions as wives hope their husbands come back, kids upset their fathers are leaving and one of regret felt especially by Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise) who along with his wife (NYPD Blue’s Kim Delaney) had hopes to also go to Mars but is now mourning her untimely death.
When NASA loses contact with Graham and his crew, another mission is dispatched led by McConnell, Commander Woody Blake (Tim Robbins), Dr. Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen) and scientist Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O’Connell) to find out what happened.
The film combines realistic ideas from Alien (1979) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in that the roar of the ship’s engines in space (with the exception of the explosions that occur) cannot be heard. There is also a climax where the astronauts meet an alien who is a cross between the drawings seen in books about UFOs and and the ones from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
What De Palma brings to Mission to Mars are shots he’s done in his previous movies that reveal to the audience future predicaments the characters will soon face though they don’t know it yet. There are also scenes shot as though the camera was placed on the ceiling to give an aerial view of things going on inside various parts of the space capsule. When small meteor rocks hit the spaceship causing an air leak, the quest of finding it is just as difficult as finding a sniper in a crowd of thousands at a boxing match as in De Palma’s previous film, Snake Eyes (1998).
There’s a lot of things I liked about the movie such as the intriguing idea the writers incorporated into the story about how life began on Mars. I didn’t mind the somber musical score Ennio Morricone provided whose best works today are still the ones heard in Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1967).
The film kept me interested from start to finish wondering what became of those colleagues from the original mission and whether or not the second one would be a success.
As the words “The End” flashed across the screen, a number of people in the audience to my surprise applauded. I am not sure if the reason they cheered was because most of them were kids out on spring break who just wanted to make some noise or if they really got into the story.
What I do know is I enjoyed the movie enough to the point I almost felt like applauding myself.
©3/10/00
No comments:
Post a Comment