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"'Mission'
Impossible"
by Scott Mantz
"Mission to Mars"
Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle
Directed by Brian DePalma
The summer movie
season officially begins with the long Memorial Day Weekend, but
lately that seems to be changing. In recent years, the studios started
releasing their summer popcorn flicks in the weeks preceding the
big weekend, and it is a change in policy that seems to be paying
off. Witness Warner Bros, which in 1996 released "Twister" two full
weeks before the big summer kickoff. Obviously, it worked, and "Twister"
swept up a whopping $241 million at the box office. Last year, "The
Mummy" was released as early as May 1 to lackluster reviews. It
didn't matter, and it went on to scare up $155 million for Universal.
With most of
the country still in a deep freeze, March was an unlikely time for
Touchstone to break out "Mission to Mars". Here's one picture that
promised what most summer flicks aim for--action, suspense, and
cool special effects. Well, one out of three ain't bad. Plagued
by a shoddy script, slow pacing, and marginal acting, director Brian
DePalma continues his losing streak ("Snake Eyes" anyone?) with
a mission that should have been aborted long before it ever got
off the ground.
When the first
manned mission to Mars ends in disaster, a recovery mission is sent
to the red planet to determine the cause and look for survivors.
Upon their arrival, mission commander Woody Blake (Tim Robbins)
and his crew run into problems of their own. They find the abandoned
site of the first mission, where commander Luke Graham (Don Cheadle)
has been marooned for a year. Luke tells them that a huge artifact
left over by an ancient civilization killed his crew, which is of
particular interest to Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise). Upon investigation
of the giant artifact, the astronauts discover the origins of life
on Mars--and on Earth.
Just because
a movie is slow, it doesn't mean it's bad. For example, Stanley
Kubrick's "The Shining" was slow, but in an intense way. Terrence
Malick's "The Thin Red Line" was slow, but that only added to the
poetic feel of the film. Now there's "Mission to Mars" which is
slow as in just plain ol' slow. That's unfortunate, because if there's
any film that should be filled with dramatic intensity, it's this.
The pacing is drawn out, and elements that could have provided plenty
of thrills, such as the landing onto the Martian surface, are never
even explored.
Product placement
is nothing new to the movie business, but this is downright ridiculous!
Did we really need to see the "Penzoil" logo on the side of the
Mars lander? When Gary Sinise figures out what the Martian message
is, he flashes back to Jerry O'Connell playing with his M&M's. Sinise
practically poses next to his futuristic Isuzu Trooper, and just
when you think you've seen it all, the Dr. Pepper logo is emblazoned
on all the drink packets (I half-expected Tim Robbins to turn to
the audience and start pitching Dr. Pepper as the official drink
for bogus astronauts!).
Considering
all the possibilities with science fiction, it's a shame that "Mission
to Mars" so blatantly derives elements from so many other films.
The discovery of the message from the Martian artifact recalls "Contact"
and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". The climax takes elements from
pure-bred films like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Close Encounters
of the Third Kind" and combines them into one ugly mutt of an ending.
I think I'd have more fun simply by reading the back covers of the
movie boxes at the video store.
There aren't
any real noteworthy performances here, but with a film like this,
what do you expect? When accomplished actors Gary Sinise and Don
Cheadle aren't looking pensive at the events surrounding them, they're
suffering (as are we) with the worst dialogue imaginable. Tim Robbins
and Connie Nelson spend far too much time smooching instead of focusing
on the mission (get a room, will ya?), which makes the film feel
like a Jerry Bruckheimer production, but without the thrills. Jerry
O'Connell provides some comic relief, but even he gets a measly
three good laughs to his credit.
Over the past
year, NASA has had two missions to Mars end in failure. With the
fate of the entire Mars program hanging in the balance, it's up
to Hollywood to deliver the goods and maybe even provide some goodwill
in the process. Well you can count "Mission to Mars" as Hollywood's
first failure. Let's hope the November release of Warner Bros. "Red
Planet" doesn't bring that up to two.
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