With Brian De Palma directing this film and a cast of some of the most talented actors in Hollywood including Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle and Tim Robbins you would expect Mission To Mars to be a successful mission. Not so. The problem here is the storyline. The screenplay by John and Jim Thomas and Graham Yost is a cross between Apollo 13 (in which Sinise also appears) and 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this case they don't mix very well.

     The film gets off to a slow start with a barbecue being held to celebrate the first manned mission to mars in the year 2020. Luke Goddard (Don Cheadle) has been put in command of the mission. He replaces Jim McConell (Sinise) who dropped out of the training program because his wife (Kim Delaney) who was also assigned to the mission was stricken with a fatal illness. This scene shows the typical comradery between fellow astronauts as well the hardship to come as Luke consoles his son over the long amount of time they will be apart.

     The film then jumps ahead 13 months to Luke's crew already landed and exploring Mars.  Nowhere in the movie do viewers get to see an actual mission launch or landing on Mars. The crew discovers strange radio waves emanating from a mysterious mountain on Mars. When the crew investigates the mountain they are overcome by a deadly unknown force providing the only really interesting special effects in the film. A final distress message is sent by Luke before all contact is lost. 

     In an attempt to rescue the first mission, a second mission is quickly put together. This crew includes Woody Blake (Tim Robbins), his astronaut wife Terri Fisher played very well by actress Connie Nielsen,  Jim McConell (Sinise) and Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O'Connell) who adds the little comic relief there is in the movie. On their journey to Mars they encounter problems that lead to some dramatic and tense scenes similar to those in Apollo 13. This part of the movie shines, showing off the acting abilities of the cast.

     Once the second team of astronauts gets to Mars the storyline starts to resemble that of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The rest of the movie focuses on the surviving astronauts finding the source of the mysterious force that devastated the first mission. 

     Neither the scenery in outer space or the Martian landscape is very awe inspiring. The original score by Ennio Morricone does little to add any sense of wonder that this film severely needs. It is clear that De Palma was going for a more dramatic, human SciFi movie. The acting by all of the cast helps in that regard. The biggest problem with the movie is it relies on too many ideas that we have seen before in space exploration movies. Mixing these ideas together in such an uninspiring way makes Mission To Mars a failed mission.       

RATING 1/2

Reviewed by Eugene Accardo