This was a really frustrating movie to watch. I really really wanted to love it. Unfortunately it just wouldn't let me. I've been incredibly fascinated by space exploration my whole life. So naturally I was drawn to this film.
 All is not wrong with the movie though. There are stretches where it concerns itself entirely with space travel. Those scenes are great. The effects are excellent and it really does a good job of conveying the danger and difficulty involved in space travel. I think people tend to forget just how hard it is because there have been so few mishaps to date.
The basic story is that NASA is attempting its first ever manned mission to Mars. The trip is in two stages. Four people are sent in one ship. They are supposed to set up base camp and begin exploration. A second group of four is supposed to join them a couple months later. Unfortunately there is a disaster on the surface of Mars and contact is lost with the first crew. Now the second crew becomes a rescue mission.
I won't say much more than that because there are lots of little surprises along the way. The movie isn't entirely about space travel and that is ultimately why it doesn't work. This is just me talking but it seems to me that there is plenty of suspense and drama in a story about trying to get people to Mars. Unfortunately the movie is also about lost loves and ancient alien mysteries. There is a subplot about one of the astronauts and the recent loss of his wife. It does serve to flesh out the character a bit but it does absolutely nothing to advance the movie.
There are a lot of little nitpicking complaints that could be made about the movie but I'm going to confine myself to two major one, the score and the alien. I kept having the feeling that the score belonged to a different movie. It was like the theater had screwed up and was pumping in the soundtrack to one of those old Disney half animated half live action movies instead of the proper soundtrack. To prove my point I'll add that my wife liked the score and she also happens to love those old Disney movies.
The alien that appears at the end is just butt ugly. Now I don't mean ugly in the sense that you would freak out if you saw one in a dark alley. No, I mean ugly in the sense of "What the hell were they thinking?" It doesn't look like a living creature. It looks like a cheesy plastic toy come to life. The special effects were top notch through the movie but when this creature appears you get the feeling they ran out of money and got a third grader to design and animate this thing for them.
The funny thing is that the longer I write about this movie the more I get annoyed at it. I can't even narrow down the little nagging problems and innaccuracies to make mention of them. I guess my advice is to show up about half an hour late and as soon as the second crew touches down on Mars, get up and leave. That way you'll see the best part of the movie. Oh and try and tune out the score because some of the worst of it is during that good part.
- John Shea
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