"I'll only slow you down..." (Red Planet (DVD))

Member Name: maxshreck

Product:	Red Planet (DVD)
Date:	05/12/00 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: FX

Disadvantages: everything else

The Mars Pathfinder mission launched by NASA back in 1997 certainly has a lot to answer for. Evidently the images of a barren, alien landscape that were beamed back to Earth not only captured the imagination of the general public, but also that of Hollywood?s ever opportunistic moneymen. In a re-run of the meteorite movie stand-off between ?Deep Impact? and ?Armageddon?, two competing Mars movie projects went head to head in a rush to beat each other to the multiplexes. In their haste, they managed to totally disprove the old adage that competition is healthy, with both films looking positively anaemic upon arrival.

Widespread interest in an actual space mission doesn?t necessarily translate into real-life commercial or critical success ? a fact that the producers of Brian De Palma?s hapless ?Mission to Mars? are only too aware of. This blink-and-you?ll-miss-it exercise in mediocrity can currently be found languishing on the shelves of your local video store, despite a relatively recent UK theatrical release. The accelerated rush to rental was a half-hearted attempt to compensate for its frankly dismal showing at the box office ? in fact if the film?s price tag of $90+ million is taken into consideration, it?s non-performance can only be described as catastrophic. Indeed almost as catastrophic as the fate which apparently awaits mankind in this year?s second Mars related effort, debutante director Anthony Hoffman?s ?Red Planet?.

The premise is reasonably straightforward; Earth?s resources have been chronically depleted, and humanity?s only hope of avoiding a slow but inevitable extinction lies with a scientific programme called the Mars Terrraforming Project. This concept of kick-starting a planetary atmosphere that will eventually be able to sustain life is familiar to anyone who?s ever watched ?Star Trek II ? The Wrath of Khan?, or ?Total Recall? ? but for the benefit of those who haven?t, we get a hurried introduction in the form of a voice-over
by commander Bowman (strangely familiar name ? 2001, anyone?) played by Carrie Anne Moss of ?The Matrix? fame. According to her brief explanation of the current state of affairs, Earth scientists have been bombarding Mars with probes containing algae, and this combined with an artificially engineered greenhouse effect has produced abundant oxygen levels. We learn that this process has suddenly and inexplicably failed, and the contingency plan is to launch an emergency salvage operation to establish the cause of this malfunction and correct it.

The team couldn?t have consisted of a more clichéd group of characters had the chief science officer been from the planet Vulcan. Apart from Bowman, the ship?s commander, we have a stereotypical blend of military and civilian personnel consisting of Burchenal (Tom Sizemore) a world-renowned bio-engineer responsible for leading the scientific team, Santen (Benjamin Bratt) the second-in-command and obligatory authoritarian jock, Pettengill (Simon Baker) ? a last minute science replacement and token coward/ born loser. His inclusion on the team beggars the question of what business a coward/born loser has on a mission to save humanity.
Terrence Stamp puts in a shocking performance as an aging scientist/philosopher Chantilas, and Val Kilmer completes the small cast as Gallagher, a maintenance engineer who is forced to become a reluctant hero.

(The only missing element amongst this group is the interfering corporate creep, and his part was probably written out to avoid that unpleasant telephone conversation with one of Mr. Cameron?s lawyers. Actually, they?re probably too busy having a quiet word with the makers of ?Pitch Black?.)
Digression aside, our one-dimensional crew of Mars-bound non-entities now have a six month period to get to interact with one another, but director Hoffman hopelessly blows this opportunity for a little character development. The audience discover virtually nothing about any of
them, save for one excruciatingly wooden exchange between Gallagher and Chantillas where the later attempts to explain why he?s so fascinated by the eternal questions that science can?t answer. Rather than adding any depth to the character, this merely serves to highlight the crushing ineptitude of Terrence Stamp?s overall performance. Even Val seems a bit taken aback. Stamp usually brings some heavyweight authority to his roles, but after this and his recent cockney caricature in Steven Soderbergh?s ?The Limey?, it?s looking increasingly like his wheat-free diet is having some kind of adverse effect on his acting abilities. Either that or he?s simply fulfilling the minimum contractual obligations by cruising through the film with nothing but contempt for the material and the audience. Regardless, his turn in ?Red Planet? makes Liz Hurley seem like a thespian of some merit.

We?re also introduced to AMEE ? a highly sophisticated robot with either navigational or military capabilities. This is really an opportunity to showcase some extremely proficient special effects, and the design team have actually done an excellent job with AMEE?s cool, manga-esque look. It also functions as a rather obvious plot device; on the military setting, the once loveable and vaguely canine robo- buddy instantly becomes a mercilessly lethal killing machine. No prize for guessing what might occur upon the crash-landing which inevitably befalls our heroes shortly after arriving in orbit around Mars.

The ship is hit by a solar storm, and a succession of unavoidable technical problems that result causes the landing pod to be launched prematurely. A combination of state of the art effects, sharp editing and an impressive soundtrack actually provides the movie?s most accomplished action sequence, as the landing team plummet out of control through the Martian atmosphere and down towards the surface whilst Bowman attempts to extinguish a zero-gravity fire that threatens to cons
ume the ship.

Unfortunately, this highlight signals a turning point and the rest of the movie (i.e. the vast majority) rapidly descends into farcical nonsense. It?s very difficult to root for characters who inspire such negligible empathy, and there was actually a certain sense of relief to be derived from** SPOLIER** the demise of Chantilas, Stamp having tortured us long enough with his crass attempts at delivering some admittedly improbable dialogue. But there?s still time for one final insult. Having sustained a ruptured spleen upon landing impact, Chantilas asks the other crew members to go on with out him, as he?ll only slow them down and jeopardise the mission. Oh please. Spare me.

The team now has a very limited air supply, no means of communication, no ability to navigate the terrain and no chance of remotely entertaining a half-intelligent audience. For a movie that attempts to present some semblance of speculative realism, the realms of pure fantasy have already been breached. These astronauts should by all accounts stand about as much chance of survival as an underpaid Russian sub-mariner. This is Hollywood, however, and our intrepid foursome attempt to make their way to a pre-fabricated habitat where they hope to find supplementary supplies of food, water and ?O2?.
And so begins a laboured tale of human endurance triumphing in the face of massive adversity, as the team encounter a succession of potentially fatal stumbling blocks, each more dangerous than the last. Their habitat has been vandalised by some unknown quantity and their air supply is rapidly dwindling. Gallagher is about to suffocate when in a panic he removes his helmet to discover that lo and behold, Mars has an atmosphere. Which is more than can be said for this film in general.

The plot is hackneyed, the acting at best passable, and the concept infuriatingly contrived. One saving grace is the above average cinematography, and despite the location curiously r
esembling the Outback with a red lens tint, attempts to represent a totally alien climate are substantially more rewarding than the dodgy studio sets employed in ?Mission to Mars?. Certain shots of the astronauts traversing a Martian desert landscape are reminiscent of ?Capricorn One? starring Elliott Gould, James Brolin and everybody?s favourite ex-running back, OJ Simpson, and it?s symptomatic of the numerous failings of ?Red Planet? that this low-budget 1978 conspiracy sci-fi is actually a better Mars movie, despite the fact that that its astronauts never actually leave US soil.

Scriptwriter Chuck Pfarrer, whose previous credits on ?Navy Seals? and ?The Jackal? speak volumes, displays a distinctly limited imagination and grasp of narrative technique, and as the plodding story progresses and each member of the cast meets their predictable demise, the audience rapidly loses interest. Will Val save the world? Will humanity retrieve the vital information that unlocks the red planet?s secrets? Does anybody really care?

The only actor who emerges from this mess with their credibility unshredded is Carrie Anne Moss, whose pseudo Ripley turn doesn?t grate quite as badly as that of Kilmer, Stamp et al, and it additionally comes as no surprise that half the production team is made up of the team that are responsible for ?The Matrix?. This group of filmmakers seem to be specialising in the delivery of over-blown style over substance ?event? movies, and Red Planet is no exception. The FX are extremely watchable, but their inclusion is at the direct expense of an intelligent narrative structure. Timeless science fiction films tend to employ FX as supplement to plot rather than a substitute, and during the second half of the movie, a decent storyline appears to have been extremely low on the priorities list. Holes reminiscent of a 2050 ozone layer abound.

There?s none of the darkness or thought provoking complexity of ?Blade Runner? or ?Alien/s?, non
e of the self-deprecating humour of ?Total Recall? or ?Starship Troopers?. What remains is a cynical and soulless exploitation of the already over-saturated sci-fi genre. There?s scarcely any attempt to deal with the issue of what mankind is supposed to do when Mars too becomes over-populated and polluted. Will we simply move from one planet to the next, raping resources and leaving a succession of poisoned and uninhabitable worlds in our wake? A ?humanity-as-parasite? idea would have been infinitely more satisfying, and although this theme has been explored before in ?Silent Running? and ?Soylent Green?, it?s perhaps overdue a revisit. ?Red Planet? is a pretender to the throne of more serious-minded sci-fi texts, but displays a fundamental lack of dramatic gravitas or conviction. And just to add a little intellectual injury to emotive insult, the film does make a half-baked, abortive attempt to examine some of the more philosophical arguments of technical vs. spiritual evolution. Where are we going? What?s in store for humanity?

More joyless movie experiences like this one if Hollywood has its way???

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