Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

tles7 What can I say, if you watch it, you feel at times as though you are witnessing a "look what we can do with CGI" demo. At other times, you feel like you are in a virtual reality game or maybe a really high-end room in the Planeterium. None of it makes sense. None of it is believable in any way. It tries hard to be "deep" but it often borders on goofy.

al-kamieniecki Ok so why am I writing a review for an 18 year old movie? Because I always thought this film got ripped unfairly. I stumbled across it last night and ended up recalling why I loved it. Are there corny scenes? Yes. Is this a film for people with no imagination? No. You have to buy into the basic premise which is that there are possibilities out there which will astound you when you least expect it. So deal with the zero g dancing. Imagine you are going where Jim is going.

Reidal80 I just can't believe this masterpiece got 5.6 and bad movies like Alien covenant got 6.9, just hope in time audience will realize the beautiful movie Brian did.I think that people got frustrated after the first act and then realize that this wasn't a horror science fiction film and actually a well mature drama, also read in others reviews the similarities with 2001 Space odyssey, and yes it has, but I love it, like a homage, but better effects of course...This movie is what I expected from a Brian de Palma science fiction attempt, with all this great characters, human, sensible .The scene of the mini meteorite disaster its super tense, clever and fresh...that last hole missing in the fuel pipe that cause the explosion ,the music pulsating.. Is just amazing, the death of Tim Robbins uncut and touching and the score wow! Ernio M did a fine job, it catches the sadness but also the sense of adventure and yes, this film is for people who love space, aliens and visit others galaxies, the spirit of movies like Contact or Interstellar.Also is about friendship and love, a beacon of life, a genuine vote for human kind , guess the first from the dark career of De Palma. Like Maggie and Jim say in the movie : to reach a new world and just stare at the next one...Thanks De Palma for this cinematic experience, Im with Jim in his outer space journey.

Leofwine_draca This visually impressive tale of adventure and alien contact on Mars is, well, marred by an abundance of clichés and a lack of pacing which threaten to make it boring. There can be no doubt that de Palma's film is largely unsatisfying, generally because we often see impressive glimpses of what could have been, and also, regarding the director's track record, we know he's capable of doing much better. However, the flaws are endless and ultimately result in this film being a mess.Personally, I liked the story very much indeed. Although the plot sometimes feels like APOLLO 13 (a film I personally didn't care for), the inclusion of the science fiction alien aspect makes it much more interesting than that. I especially liked the way they incorporated the real-life "Face on Mars" into the story, a clever trick. There are a number of plot twists along the way and one totally unexpected death scene which had me surprised. Unfortunately, while the story might be a good one, the script is just not so. Instead it's packed with clichéd lines and trite, sentimental dialogue which involves our actors and actresses having to embarrassingly emote as much as possible at all times.I did like the cast in this film, even if they do basically go through the motions. Gary Sinise has long been a favourite of mine, but his smirking performance here can best be described as only adequate, especially during some emotional moments. The finale, in which he makes contact with an alien life form and walks around in a daze of wonder, just isn't convincing at all. Tim Robbins is just a nice, friendly bloke, totally lacking the edge that made his performance in ARLINGTON ROAD so intense. Connie Nielsen doesn't really have much to do, and Jerry O'Connell is just a technical whizz kid on the sidelines. I did like Don Cheadle's performance though.The music score is another disappointment, especially as it comes from Ennio Morricone, the legendary composer. Morricone's music is slow throughout, draining excitement from the action sequences, when it really should be adding to it. I guess everybody has their off days...de Palma's direction also seems vapid and uninterested, apart from one prolonged scene in which our astronauts must venture outside of their ship to repair damage, which is taut and a partial return to the old days for de Palma, when all of his films used to have amazing, prolonged set pieces in them.The special effects help to salvage this film, being pretty much amazing until one key scene at the end. The "possessed" sand storm at the beginning of the film is particularly impressive, and probably looked gobsmacking on the big screen. A surprising moment of violence (at least for a PG certificate) sees an astronaut spinning around and then actually disintegrating. The space scenes are never less than convincing, and all manner of tricks involving blood and Dr. Pepper floating in zero gravity are used, just like in EVENT HORIZON. For most of the time the budget is up on screen, and it shows. You never, for one moment, believe that they're NOT on Mars. These things make the finale harder to watch.Basically, the surviving astronauts enter the "face" and find themselves in a virtual reality simulation which shows how the human race has evolved from aliens. Then one of the aliens shows up, and all credibility is ruined by the appalling CGI used to create it. Never for one moment does this alien look life like, impressive or otherwise, it just looks dumb. This really is inexcusable, as I've seen aliens in films which only a fraction of the budget this one has looking more realistic. Apart from this minor glitch, the special effects help to lift this film from the garbage pile. MISSION TO MARS is best described as a flawed curiosity, although it certainly makes me anticipate those two other 'Mars' films coming out soon, namely RED PLANET and GHOSTS OF MARS.