This is a fairly enjoyable, old-fashioned slice of sci fi escapism which runs through all the old genre clichés without offering up anything you haven't seen before. Released at the box-office at around the same time as Brian De Palma's MISSION TO MARS, for me this is the superior film, although it has to be said that neither are great. Technically proficient, RED PLANET looks and sounds great but is oddly uninvolving. It's kind of like all those old '50s science fiction yarns in which astronauts land on a remote planet, combat and fight all kinds of foes and dangerous situations, and return home. Except the wobbly special effects and spaceships are now replaced with state-of-the-art CGI design and impressive, expensive visuals created by today's top computers.
One thing the film has in its favour is that it places emphasis on characterisation over a constant stream of action. This may be why it was a flop with younger audiences. Personally I would prefer the former in terms of good film-making but then again I'm not adverse to the latter, being an undemanding genre fan. The cast is an interesting one with some accomplished performers, although it has to be said that everyone seems to be going through the paces with the exception of Tom Sizemore, an actor who grows on me every time I see him. Here he puts in another edgy, likable turn as a sceptical geneticist. The much-maligned Val Kilmer takes the lead and gives a solid but unspectacular turn as the rugged janitor who inevitably becomes the film's hero. Carrie-Anne Moss is actually very good as the ship's commander, here giving a more in-depth and human performance than that in her breakthrough role. The supporting players Simon Baker and Benjamin Bratt are fine, and there's a small but typically kooky turn from Terence Stamp as a philosophising scientist! The special effects are excellent, but you wouldn't expect anything else from a film which cost this much to make. The CGI is also impressive, looking more realistic than most, especially in the form of a well-designed robot named AMEE who is damaged and reverts to her military programming, leading to some tense cat and mouse games on the planet's surface. In fact this killer robot is one of the film's main foes and figures predominantly in the finale.
Being a film set on Mars, there are of course aliens, although not what you would think; rather, these are flesh-eating killer cockroaches who have eaten all the algae on the surface of the planet. Once again they're very well animated and a memorable threat to our survivors. The plot is fairly slow-moving but there are lots of dangerous situations and cliff-hangers, including one of the best "running out of oxygen" scenes I've witnessed in a film, which looks really painful and horrible for the actors. In retrospect, RED PLANET looks remarkable but doesn't offer up anything new to the genre, but then what new films do nowadays? Enjoyable escapism to undemanding sci-fi fans of which I am unashamedly one.
One thing the film has in its favour is that it places emphasis on characterisation over a constant stream of action. This may be why it was a flop with younger audiences. Personally I would prefer the former in terms of good film-making but then again I'm not adverse to the latter, being an undemanding genre fan. The cast is an interesting one with some accomplished performers, although it has to be said that everyone seems to be going through the paces with the exception of Tom Sizemore, an actor who grows on me every time I see him. Here he puts in another edgy, likable turn as a sceptical geneticist. The much-maligned Val Kilmer takes the lead and gives a solid but unspectacular turn as the rugged janitor who inevitably becomes the film's hero. Carrie-Anne Moss is actually very good as the ship's commander, here giving a more in-depth and human performance than that in her breakthrough role. The supporting players Simon Baker and Benjamin Bratt are fine, and there's a small but typically kooky turn from Terence Stamp as a philosophising scientist! The special effects are excellent, but you wouldn't expect anything else from a film which cost this much to make. The CGI is also impressive, looking more realistic than most, especially in the form of a well-designed robot named AMEE who is damaged and reverts to her military programming, leading to some tense cat and mouse games on the planet's surface. In fact this killer robot is one of the film's main foes and figures predominantly in the finale.
Being a film set on Mars, there are of course aliens, although not what you would think; rather, these are flesh-eating killer cockroaches who have eaten all the algae on the surface of the planet. Once again they're very well animated and a memorable threat to our survivors. The plot is fairly slow-moving but there are lots of dangerous situations and cliff-hangers, including one of the best "running out of oxygen" scenes I've witnessed in a film, which looks really painful and horrible for the actors. In retrospect, RED PLANET looks remarkable but doesn't offer up anything new to the genre, but then what new films do nowadays? Enjoyable escapism to undemanding sci-fi fans of which I am unashamedly one.