_Mission_to_Mars_ (PG) ** (out of ****)
Virtual missions to Mars are not new to the Walt Disney Company. Long before its much ballyhooed revamp, the Tomorrowland area of Disneyland prominently featured (right next to Space Mountain) a little curio called Mission to Mars. It was an attraction, not a ride: patrons would sit in a circular auditorium that was made to look like a spaceship, and through some images projected on screens, fancy lighting, and--most important of all--some vibrating seats, earthlings made "trips" to Mars by the hundreds about every half hour.
That attraction was indeed cheesy, but after seeing Disney/Touchstone's new film bearing the name _Mission_to_Mars_, I could not help but feel nostalgic for those long-gone yesterdays in Tomorrowland. For one thing, at least Mission to Mars (the attraction) had vibrating seats--something that would make this shockingly cornball effort from director Brian DePalma a little easier to sit through to the very end. But not by much.
The year is 2020, and NASA has sent a four-astronaut crew to the red planet. After encountering a strange storm-like force, the only person left alive is Mission Commander Luke Graham (Don Cheadle). A rescue/recovery team is soon deployed; in this team are Graham's old friends Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise), Woody Blake (Tim Robbins), and Woody's wife Dr. Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen), as well as scientist Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O'Connell). Of course, such an operation is easier planned than executed, and the crew of the Mars Recovery Mission run into their fair share of trouble en route to the planet. Their troubles are encapsulated in an effective extended suspense sequence where one calamity seamlessly and convincingly leads to another. The palpable tension that DePalma is able to create easily compensates for some shameless product placement.
It's quite unfortunate, then, that this sequence would end on a forced, unintentionally comic note of melodrama, not helped by some amateurish emoting by Nielsen. Just as, at one point, an indicator on Terri's spacesuit reads "Point of no return," this is also the juncture where _Mission_to_Mars_ gets progressively, irreparably worse. Upon landing on Mars, the film, which had been a diverting spacefaring adventure with an impressive command of technical detail, decides to become a sci-fi film of ideas, à la _2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_ or _Contact_. Those familiar with DePalma's body of work know that his instincts are more attuned to the former than the latter.
The problem with the turn runs deeper than a directorial miscast, however. _Mission_to_Mars_ has already used up over half of its 113-minute length by the time the script goes all profound, hardly enough space to tackle the highfalutin ideas writers Jim Thomas, John Thomas, and Graham Yost want to tackle. So it's little surprise that this part of the story feels rushed, which, in turn, results in a superficial treatment that renders the point laughably trite. The film's trailer not only completely divulges its big "secret" (I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it), but also lifts the film's exploration of this idea in its complete form. Those intrigued by the trailer and looking for deeper backup of the central idea in the actual film won't find it, for what's in the trailer is all there is.
Such a disastrous final act is especially disappointing in the case of _Mission_to_Mars_, for it is an adequate entertainment for its first two-thirds. Pedestrian story details such as Jim's sadness over his deceased astronaut wife are smoothed over by the convincing acting of Sinise, Cheadle, and Robbins; the effects, which are, if hardly groundbreaking, functional; and the painstaking attention to the technical side of space travel. Unfortunately, what one remembers strongly about _Mission_to_Mars_ is the corny conclusion, which leaves a bitter taste--so bitter, that it was able to completely wash away the flavor of the unlimited free Mars candy bars given away at the press screening.
Michael Dequina twotrey@juno.com | michael_jordan@geocities.com | jordan_host@sportsmail.com | mrbrown@iname.com Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown CinemaReview Magazine: http://www.CinemaReview.com on ICQ: #25289934 | on AOL Instant Messenger: MrBrown23
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews