MISSION TO MARS review

I'm here in Wichita Falls, Texas tonight... and I've only just returned from SIKES CENTER, where I watched MISSION TO MARS... the latest film from Brian DePalma. And oh boy has this film been taking it's licks.

And I have to say I can't agree. Sure the film has one of the worst scores in the long history of scoring from Ennio Morricone. A score that is so bloatedly pumped up, that I now know how the film was once testing pretty well... only to dive in the exact opposite reaction at the tailend of things.

Morricone's score is SOOOOO Pretentious and self-important that it nearly cripples the film. I say nearly, because soon as I began to hear that bloated score, I began to just... tune it out in my head. To try to focus on the rest of the film. And with the exception of what could quite possibly be the worst alien since MAC & ME, this movie does do quite a bit right.

Now the film isn't anything near 2001. Instead, it feels more like the same genre as 2010, which was pretty darn wonderful... but this film does fall quite a bit short of that mark as well. Instead, this is a shaky hand movie with some beautiful effects work (except for that hidieous alien). The surface of Mars is stunning... reminding me of some sort of vintage Chester Bonestill. The space vistas... gorgeous. The long one-shots in the ship... hypnotic. A film that is notably cinematic... unlike the recents pieces of complete excrement... SUPERNOVA and EVENT HORIZON and SOLDIER.

I enjoy the performances of all the various leads. Don Cheadle and Gary Sinise are as fantastic as always. Tim Robbins? For me, he just became the lead candidate for Reed Richards... I think it was the bit of grey in his hair, and the fact that he's in charge of the four person crew... 2 men (the same age), 1 man (younger) and Robbins' wife. They are the fantastic four.

This is not a complete waste, nor is it unwatchable. However, I would love to see this film with the temp track, because it HAD to be miles better than this horrid Morricone score. It's a wavy hand movie. Pretty good, but filled with holes and flaws. Would have loved a real score on this one.

Far better than the last couple of DePalma blanks, but then SNAKE EYES was a highly interfered with film.

So it was that I left Sikes Center... the mall theater of my junior high and high school years. A place where I spent 4 nights out of seven. I have to say that the theater has far improved under the management of CARMIKE, whereas when it was in the hands of AMC... p.u. whew... Hopefully, I'll be headed back to Austin tomorrow night, but it might be... Thursday before I return. Sigh. I miss Austin already.

To Darth Psychotic Below: I didn't say it had a bad plot. It does have some plot holes, but I love the air leaking scene, the initial sandstorm, the space walk stuff, the zero-G dance, the figuring out of the signal and lastly... I loved everything inside the thing except for that shitty as hell CG-as could be... ALIEN. This movie has flaws and merits. It is not a great film or even a very good film. Instead it is just an ok movie. The hardest to define...