Mission to Mars is a 2000 American science fiction adventure film directed by Brian De Palma, written by Jim Thomas, John Thomas, and Graham Yost, and suggested by Disney's theme park attraction of the same name.[2] The film depicts the first crewed Mars exploration mission going awry; American astronaut Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise) helps to coordinate a rescue mission for a colleague. Principal support actors were Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen, Jerry O'Connell, and Kim Delaney.
In 2020, the Mars I mission launches for planet Mars, commanded by Luke Graham. Upon arrival, the team discovers a bright white formation in the Cydonia region, which they suspect is an extrusion from a subsurface geothermal column of water, useful to future human colonization. After reporting this to the Earth-orbiting World Space Station, they go to investigate the formation and start hearing a low sound on their communications system. Radar initially reports that the formation is metal, but when they increase power to the radar, a large vortex appears and kills everyone except Luke. After the vortex subsides, the formation is revealed to be part of a large humanoid face.
The event creates an electromagnetic pulse the space station observes, after which it receives a distress message from Luke. Realizing Luke could not have left because the pulse would have damaged the computer system of the Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) they repurpose the Mars II mission into a rescue.
The survivors arrive on the Martian surface, and begin repairing the ERV. They find Luke living in a greenhouse; he shows them pictures of the face, and reveals that the pulses in the low sound they heard represented a 3D model of human-like DNA, but missing a pair of chromosomes. Jim determines they must complete the sequence to pass a test, and they send a rover to broadcast the completed signal via radar. Following the transmission, an opening appears in the side of the structure. With a massive dust storm approaching Jim, Terri, and Luke head to the formation, while Phil stays to finish repairing the ERV. Phil is ordered to launch, with or without them, before the storm hits.
And yet those stretches on autopilot surround three sequences of real vision, awakening the sense of wonder that is the goal of popular science fiction. The film involves a manned mission to Mars, which lands successfully and then encounters . . . something . . . that results in the death of three of the crew members, and loss of radio contact with the fourth (Don Cheadle).
A rescue mission is dispatched, led by co-pilots Tim Robbins and Gary Sinise, with Connie Nielsen as Robbins' wife and Jerry O'Connell as the fourth member. They run into a clump of tiny meteorites, which punctures the spaceship's hull and leads to a loss of air pressure. (It's here that the Sinise character defies logic by refusing, for no good reason, to put on his helmet and draw oxygen from his suit.) Then there's another crisis, which leads to a surprisingly taut and moving sequence in which the four characters attempt a tricky maneuver outside their ship and are faced with a life-or-death choice.
Though the characters generally display the typical attributes of a "flyboy" astronaut or air force heroes commonly seen in action movies, they also display values of sacrifice and dedication to their crew and perhaps humanity as a whole.
Parents need to know that Mission to Mars is a 2000 Brian DePalma-directed sci-fi movie about a team of astronauts in the year 2020 who land on Mars and make a profound discovery. Characters are in peril and there are a number of tense moments and several deaths. One of the astronauts is blown into pieces by a violent sandstorm. A later death scene in space (a character commits suicide to save the lives of others), might be too emotionally intense for some viewers. There is also some consumerism: M&M's, Dr. Pepper, and Kawasaki products are prominently displayed in important scenes. Profanity includes "son of a bitch," "damn," "goddamnit," "ass." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
MISSION TO MARS takes place in 2020. Don Cheadle plays an astronaut who leads a team to Mars to investigate the possibility of colonization. When a huge tunnel-like dust storm kills the rest of the team, and communication with the space station is cut off, four of his colleagues, played by Tim Robbins, Jerry O'Connell, Gary Sinese, and Connie Nielson, go on a rescue mission.
Director Brian DePalma is known for movies that have two qualities: striking visual flair and frustrating narrative incoherence. If you are the kind of person who talks about the plot after seeing a movie, this is not your kind of movie. But if you would enjoy seeing an old-time Flash Gordon-style movie with 21st-century special effects and computer graphics, you just might want to see it twice.
Science-fiction movies and novels have long been fascinated with the planet Mars. What are some other examples of movies and books set on Mars? Why do you think Mars arouses such curiosity and speculation?
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, the historic mission during which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land and walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. There are few events in American history that epitomize the intrigue and allure of space exploration as much as Apollo 11, a pivotal moment at the height of the space race that showcased the unique place the cosmos hold in both our imaginations and culture.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that in the five decades since the mission took place, space travel has been an integral source of inspiration for tales on the silver screen. While many of the movies take creative liberties with reality, veering into fantasies of the many unknowns of space, others have sought to portray the reality of what we know of space so far.
Plot basics: Based on the nonfiction novel of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures focuses on three black female mathematicians (Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson) who worked at NASA during the space race, playing a vital role in Project Mercury and other missions.
Plot basics: Adapted from the James R. Hansen biography of the same name, First Man focuses on the life and experiences of astronaut Neil Armstrong, who became the first man to walk on the moon during the historic Apollo 11 space mission.
What the movie gets wrong and what it gets right: When it comes to accuracy, First Man stayed true to the elements of the real Apollo 11 mission. One major factor that helped keep the movie realistic? It was likely aided by the actual footage from the mission, something that Elphic said is fascinating to watch side-by-side.
Village Roadshow Pictures, meanwhile, trusted a complete novice with $80 million to direct its alternative Mars mission: Antony Hoffman had cut his teeth in the world of high-end TV commercials and, following the disastrous response to Red Planet, never stepped foot on a film set again. Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore, two actors whose careers would soon nosedive into straight-to-DVD territory, probably didn't help matters, either. The pair reportedly spent most of the shoot in Southern Jordan's Valley of the Moon on the verge of knocking seven bells out of each other.
Or could it be that we simply prefer the familiar when it comes to movies set in the final frontier? More visible and more reachable, the moon appears to have little problem enticing big audiences (Apollo 11 was the second-highest-grossing documentary of 2019). Either way, Hollywood might be better off leaving all the red planet exploration to Elon Musk.
The entire mission cost $74 million. As Narenda Modi pointed out during a June visit to an Indian rocket facility, that's less than it cost to make the movie Gravity (the film's budget was about $100 million).
It is, by far, the cheapest successful interplanetary mission ever carried out. Here's a comparison to the most recent Mars orbiters launched by NASA (MAVEN), the European Space Agency (Mars Express), Japan (Nozomi), and Russia (Phobos-Grunt). The latter two missions failed to reach Mars.
In fact, India's 2012 decision to approve this mission is believed to be partly in response to China's 2011 failure. The unsuccessful Yinghuo-1 mission opened up a window for India to become the first Asian country to reach Mars, beating its rival in a budding Asian space race.
But the ISRO does have another, newer group of rockets capable of heavier launches. Many Indian scientists hope the true value of this craft will be the way it could spur ISRO to attempt future, more science-heavy missions to Mars.
The largest production ever filmed in space, Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, is an epic four-part immersive series that invites you to join eight astronauts on their life-changing missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Disney tried recapturing their own magic with Mission to Mars, while Warner Bros. entered the fray with Red Planet. (Hell, it's entirely possible that Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys got the green light for the same reason.) Both films put movie stars into a rocket and launched them on a mission to the red planet, and they opened exactly eight months apart in 2000. Nobody cared about either one.
Both films are basically disaster movies, albeit ones set in space, and as the sub-genre dictates they both feature ensemble casts consisting almost exclusively of familiar faces. Sure they're mostly supporting players, but each features an A-lister or two as well. Mission to Mars landed Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle, Jerry O'Connell, and Connie Nielsen, while Red Planet nabbed Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, and Terence Stamp.
A rewatch confirms that neither of these movies are all that good despite the appealing casts and "cutting edge" visual effects. Regarding the latter, while critics seemed at least somewhat impressed by the special effects, I can't help wondering why they pale beside the likes of The Abyss from eleven years prior. The underwater aliens in James Cameron's epic still impress and leave viewers in awe while the alien in Red Planet... leaves viewers giggling. Action and suspense are minimal in both films leaving neither movie feeling all that memorable, and we're stuck with a dull movie wasting an intriguing story and a slightly more fun one that fails to capitalize on its Mars locale. Judging by the category outcomes it's clear that Mission to Mars is the winner, but it's still not in any position to gloat.
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