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Red Planet 2000 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Antony Hoffman
PG-13, 107 min. (violence, language, brief nudity) |
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Starring: Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Carrie-Anne Moss, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, Terence Stamp
Producers: Bruce Berman, Mark Canton, Jorge Saralegui
Screenplay: Jonathan Lemkin, Channing Gibson
Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Released: 11/10/00 (Wide) |
Rating:
 (out of ) |
Red Planet is the perfect example of a film that has great potential, only to falter with a disappointing cookie-cutter conclusion,
worthy of other movies with poor storylines. The idea of setting up colonies on Mars is not a new one, and this film had a unique
opportunity to build on an interesting development - oxygen has been created on the surface by a terraforming project, but is suddenly
diminished and now nonexistent. Instead of providing a legitimate explanation for this, a convoluted idea of camoflouged algae that creates
oxygen, which is being eaten away by Martian cockroaches, is presented. Say what? The only thing that saves this movie
from complete collapse is the mild tension that is built when the crew is stranded on the surface of Mars and is running out of
oxygen in their space suits. That, coupled with a robotic killer, makes this film watchable, although it's not enough to
completely salvage it.
A six-person crew on their way to Mars must find out why a terraforming project has failed. The crew includes commander
Bowman (Moss), Gallagher (Kilmer), Bud (Terrance Stamp), and Quinn (Sizemore). There is little character development, which
is no surprise given the pedestrian manner in which science fiction movies throw characters at you. When their ship is damaged
by a solar flare, the crew must abandon ship and head to the surface, accompanied by a robotic helper named AMEE. Of course,
the robot has been damaged and now is hunting the crew on the surface. The rest of the story is the basic "stranded and time running
out" scenario that is regurgitated in many sci-fi films.
There are no standout performances in the film, with only Carrie-Anne Moss showing any depth to her character. Val Kilmer
is particularly disappointing, and usually doesn't work well as the main character in a film. Terrance Stamp is a good actor, but he
is wasted here. We would care a lot more about these characters if we knew something about them other than their titles, but
there isn't time because we have to see the obligatory special effects and end battle with the malfunctioning robot.
Movies like this irritate me, because they have an idea that could have been interesting by taking a different approach to your
run-of-the-mill sci-fi flick. The special effects are good, but when there's nothing else holding your interest in a film, it's
in trouble. This is what ultimately sinks Red Planet, another disappointing film in a long line of disappointing science fiction
films.
© 2000 Jonathan Cornwell
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 |
 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
 | Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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