Rating of
2/4
Passible if pretty looking spacefaring drama.
Indyfreak - wrote on 02/17/22
It's an interesting decision by Brian De Palma to direct a big-budget science fiction adventure film instead of one of his crime drams or mystery thrillers. And that ends up being the most interesting thing about it.
Mission to Mars is not necessarily a bad movie. It's just a bland one. The intellectual ideas aren't that original and the sci-fi mystery element is underwhelming. It's also hard to tell whether it's supposed to be a more commercial and family-friendly venture or something darker. There are some surprisingly gruesome death scenes for a PG rating.
But the cast isn't bad. Gary Sinise and Tim Robbins are watchable as the heroic astronauts trying to solve the mystery and perhaps rescue a missing comrade. Don Cheadle throws himself into his role. A lot of the scientific jargon sounds like made-up technobabble. But the actors sell it alright.
