Mission to Mars

DePalma rips off 2001: a Space Odyssey

Features: Gary Sinese, Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle
Director: Brian DePalma
written: March '00
There's really not much to review here. Point for point, the movie is such an unoriginal ripoff of 2001: a Space Odyssey that it more of a remake than a movie. And a poor one at that.

There are a stupefying number of similarities (SPOILER WARNING) to the classic science fiction movie of all time. So not only do we get insipid remakes of insipid 70's TV shows (How many people out there want to bet the Charlie's Angels redo will bomb worse than Heaven's Gate?) but we get "original" movies as unoriginal as this. How excellent!

I've said it before and say it now, if movie producers want to tackle an SF book which would make a terrific flick, they need to bring The Forever War to the screen. Don't worry, they won't. If it's not a show or movie from their youth (the 70s) then their miniature balls won't allow them to greenlight such a project.

There are some nifty FX sequences. When the astronauts dance to Van Halen, that has to be the best wire work put on film period to simulate weightlessness. The EVA sequence is quite good. So is the simulation of the Martian surface.

But given it's been over thirty years since the original, the FX are not stupefying. ILM has coasted on this movie.

Then there's the total crassness of the product placement. Sure, 2001 had it, but not like this. A plastic bag of soda pop emblazoned with "Dr. Pepper" across the entire bag? Is that for the astronauts' benefit? No. Is that for stick-stupid audience members to charge the concession stand? Yes. What need could astronauts have for their Mars rover to have a "Kawasaki" decal smothering one side? None. But since Kawasaki provided assistance on this flick, they get their pound of flesh.

DePalma is a master of cool camera movements and M2M has them. Movie begins with a long floating shot that traverses a party at a Houston suburb house, catching bits and pieces of the conversations. Then there's a shot which begins in space, twists and turns around as it ends with a closeup of Robbins and his astronaut wife flirting inside a space station module. That one kicked ass.

Bits and pieces do not a science fiction movie make. The story does not gel. It's a ripoff of 2001, so use your money better and rent the Real Thing.

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