Mission to Mars (2000)

If this was a spoof movie in a genre that was for spoofs, it would be good. This was a serious and terribly written with ideas that would have been left on the cutting room floor of other movies. So hopeful with the big names and was completely disappointed.

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.

On the one hand, I'll give Brian DePalma's "Mission to Mars" for not being a brainless action flick; the last thing that the world needs is another "Independence Day". The intellectual aspect gave the movie a good side, and I always like an authentically intellectual movie.But that's really all that I can say about this movie. So much of the movie comes across as a cliché. I cannot figure out what went wrong with Brian DePalma in the late '90s. For almost two decades, he directed some of the best movies (Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, Scarface, Carlito's Way). Then, starting with 1996's overrated adaptation of "Mission: Impossible", he started turning too much towards what Hollywood wanted. That, plus 1998's "Snake Eyes" (which I mistakenly saw in the theater) suggested that DePalma had lost his touch. In all fairness to him, he regained it with 2012's "Passion"; that movie felt very much like one of his earlier works.My point is that M2M isn't worth your time. The director and stars Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen and Jerry O'Connell have done far better than this.

I really think Brian De Palma is a marvelous and talented director, but he missed the mark on this one. I'm not sure where exactly this went awry, because he had a good, solid cast to work with, but that dialogue - good grief! To call it a snooze-fest would be generous. Another thing - I wouldn't claim in the slightest to know anything intimately about security protocols and procedures aboard a spacecraft, but I would hazard a guess that nothing that happens in this film could ever possibly occur aboard a real spacecraft. Not to mention the severely impaired mental state of Gary Sinise's character. I'm no psychotherapist, but I can't imagine that a real Jim McConnell would be allowed to set foot on a space-faring vessel, even as a maintenance guy, let alone as a decision maker.That aside, the movie starts well enough, but descends rapidly into the unbelievable, then proceeds to become entirely ridiculous and conspiratorial. I want to say that I am more than ready to generously suspend my disbelief if the story treats my intelligence with respect, which I'm sorry to report - it did not.I'm not sure if I have written a spoiler into this review, and I have no intention of revealing plot lines - there's already plenty of other reviews that do that on here and also address the bizarre left turn that the plot takes, but I'm hedging my bets.Don Cheadle provides the standout performance in this movie - he seemed to really own his character and that's pretty much the nicest thing I can say about this movie.End point - wasn't worth the running time, so avoid this derivative disappointment unless you've already watched Red Planet (which is far better than this) and you just *need* to see another Mars movie at all costs.