Mission to Mars | | Cast : | Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins | | Director : | Brian De Palma | | Studio : | Walt Disney Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | March 10, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | September 02, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | This is really a fun movie | Content
 | This is a rescue mission to find out what happened to the first crew on mars. If they get there, what are they about to find?
I think of this movie as a combination of:
"Contact" (1997) only they kept on going.
"Close Encounters of The Third Kind" (1977) Martian style
"Rocketship X-M" (1950) with a message
It has good actors Gary Sinise (helped rebuild schools in Iraq), Tim Robbins among others. I did not see any strings holding the spaceship up. The only thing that I found negative is the VHS version has 20 plus minutes of commercials on the front end. You forget what you put in by the time it starts (if you do not wander off). I will watch it again.
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| Rating | | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | Review No. 278 - Wheeee! | Content
| This movie tells a story very well of brotherly affection and living, growing, and dying with dignity. And also the determination to be better than you are.
This movie is mostly a great drama with a good splash of REAL life threatening situations for astronouts. The action parts of the movie aren't fast though (like in Armegeddon) because in space, if you have a life threatening situation you can't just react, you have to think about how to get out, or you have to know someone who knows how to think your way out; either way you don't just simply get out of the car and hitchhike back to earth through space, not yet at least.
The first half of this movie is both visually beautiful and very real seeming; even when the astronouts have abandoned their broken ship, and they're just orbiting in their space suits.
Once the main characters get to the surface of Mars, that's when I start to whince a bit. The settings of the first half of the movie are so believable, especially the drama. And the acting never fails; but De Palma begins expecting the audience to overlook more and more poor production; like people living in an unsealed unpressurized tent on Mars. Uhm hello? Youve been accurate up to this point and now we're just supposed to overlook human air pressure requirements? That by itself would have been forgiveable; but overuse of bad CG at the end strikes the last death nail into this movie for most people.
But I decided to look past these two failures; and if you watch this movie not expecting it to be fast action or Star Wars then you may be quite pleased with it.
It's about people who are very close to each other, who value their friendships and who'd be willing to die for each other under needful circumstances.
I own over 300 DVD's but I watch this one probably more than 6 times a year. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 13, 2005 | | Summary | Best Space Exploration Adventure movie in a long time... | Content
| People fall all over themselves with Pitch Black or even Red Planet, but this was the true space exploration movie.
A movie about astronauts, not space soldiers with laser guns.
A movie about the unknown that is OUT THERE, not a bunch of aliens taking on our air force in our air space.
The movie is superbly cast, who cannot like anything with Gary Sinise and Tim Robbins? The story will make you laugh, cry, and be in awe at it's epic ending. This movie never did get the credit it deserved in the SCI-FI Genre.
When the United States sends its first manned mission to Mars, hopes are high for new scientific discoveries, but many of those hopes are dashed when the Mars crew meets an unexplained disaster.
A rescue mission, which sets out to bring back any surviving members of the crew, discovers that Mars may not be a dead planet after all, and they uncover some startling evidence about the fate of their predecessors. The rescue crew includes Gary Sinise, Jerry O'Connell, Kim Delaney, Tim Robbins, and Don Cheadle |
| Rating | | | Date | May 02, 2005 | | Summary | Brilliant Movie Unfairly Slammed | Content
| Brian De Palma's "Mission to Mars" is one of the most frequently slammed films of all time. I believe there is a psychology behind this that is rooted in the "herd mentality." Yet I also acknowledge that some of the harsh criticism is a visceral reaction by people...I know because we first saw it in the movie theater and my wife (a former college professor) had the same kind of negative reaction. In fact, I remember being somewhat angry because that almost ruined it for me.
Since then I have had a chance to view this marvelous film many times (by myself!). I keep hearing the words "cliche-ridden" and "derivative." But what movie ISN'T cliche-ridden and derivative? When it comes to dialogue, isn't most human conversation full of cliches and sound bytes? Yes, people really do talk like this. The truth of the matter is that people don't talk the way that actors do in movies. In reality, the conversation in "Mission to Mars" is probably more realistic than in other movies for that reason.
On the point of being derivative, that's one of the plot points that I believe is a positive. Obviously parts of the film are derivative of Ron Howard's Apollo 13, but what people tend to forget is that Apollo 13 really happened. Don't blame De Palma for the fact that space travel can be dangerous. What do you do when you have car trouble in outer space? And consider the fact that most unmanned missions to Mars have been failures. The "disaster" aspect of Mission to Mars was brilliant and well executed, particularly with regard to the micro-meteorites. The scene where the camera pans back to show us how badly damaged the propellant tanks were is absolutely chilling. Tim Robbins' character was not allowed to fully investigate because of the time window and angle for reentry.
There are so very few films that have dealt seriously and realistically with outer space: 2001, 2010, Outland, and a few others. What De Palma has done is to give us a realistic look at what a manned mission to Mars might be like, with the very real risk of mission failure. NASA purportedly worked very closely with the filmmakers to ensure that everything was accurate. Of course, it goes without saying that De Palma's people withheld the key "alien" plot point, which angered NASA people when they found out. It is from this source that most of the negativity is coming from for this film, and the public picked up on that. However, even those who knew nothing about the NASA fracas would conceivably reacte in a visceral fashion since De Palma, in a sense, not only deceived NASA, but the audience, by playing it strictly by the book until the aliens step in, and then it's off to Oz. I think this is what upsets people, because I cannot think of one criticism that is valid here except that one.
The ending, and the alien's "back story" is not only compelling but innovative. We already know that Mars had a cataclysm because the planet is virtually dead...there is almost no strength in what remains of its electromagnetic field. The idea that life could have been born on Mars is not only fascinating but quite likely, given what we know about Mars today and its water.
The performances, FX and musical score are all above-average. But could it be possible that De Palma didn't want to make an "Ordinary People" in outer space. D'ya think? Clearly the story is not meant to focus upon the characters or in dramatic exchanges, except to the point where the death of Maggie is given new meaning and her surviving husband experiences reconciliation with the universe.
Watch this movie with an open mind and ignore the critics. The one scene that I found hilarious is when Luke finds out the Rescue Mission lost their ship and says, "This is a rescue mission?" The irony of that statement was lost on most I'm sure. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 19, 2005 | | Summary | B Grade Acting destroys the World | Content
| I recently rented this movie, and couldn't get through more than the first half an hour. It's truly a tragic thing to see such talented actors as Tim Robbins dragged down to the level of Canadian hack Peter Outerbridge (seen here as a Russian astronaut). The film was a huge disappointed, but it was obvious that the actors spent a great deal of time working out and buffing up for their roles. If only as much time had been spent on developing characters. What was DePalma thinking? |
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