description: If Brian De Palma directed f1i Mission to Mars f0i0 for 10-year-olds who've never seen a science fiction film, he can be credited for crafting a marginally successful adventure. Isolated moments in this film serve the highest purpose of its genre, inspiring a sense of wonder and awe in the context of a fascinating future (specifically, the year 2020). But because most of us have seen a lot of science fiction films, it's impossible to ignore this one's derivative plot, cardboard characters, and drearily dumb dialogue. Despite an awesome and painstakingly authentic display of cool technology and dazzling special effects, f1i Mission to Mars f0i0 is light years away from f1i 2001: A Space Odyssey f0i0 on the scale of human intelligence. After dispensing with a few space-jockey clich'8es, the movie focuses on a Mars-bound rescue mission commanded by Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise), whose team (Tim Robbins, Connie Nielsen, Jerry O'Connell) has been sent to retrieve the sole survivor (Don Cheadle) of a tragic Mars landing. During the sequence en route to Mars, De Palma's in his element with two suspenseful scenes (including a dramatic--albeit somewhat silly--space walk) that are technically impressive. But when this f1i Mission f0i0 gets to Mars, the movie grows increasingly unconvincing, finally arriving at an alien encounter that more closely resembles an astronomical CGI video game. But this is a $75 million Hollywood movie, and no amount of technical wizardry can lift the burden of a juvenile screenplay. Kudos to Sinise, his costars, and the special effects wizards for making the most of hoary material; shame on just about everyone else involved. f1i --Jeff Shannon f0i0
uuid: BC056996-A1DE-11D9-BBB6-000D936C95F6"
upc: 717951008398
title: Mission To Mars
theatricalDate: 10-03-2000
stars: Gary Sinise Tim Robbins
purchase date: 31-03-2005
publisher: Walt Disney Home Video
published: 02-09-2003
price: $14.99
net Rating: 2.58
MPAA Rating: PG
last lookup time: 133964218.5312933
genre: Science Fiction
edition: DVD
director: Brian De Palma
currentValue: $20.00
created: 133964199.342337
aspect: Color Closed-captioned Widescreen Dolby
asin: B00003CWU3