by Yazmin Ghonaim

MISSION TO MARS Brian De Palma (2000) Mission to Mars, directed by Brian De Palma (Scarface, Carrie, Mission Impossible, Snake Eyes), takes the viewer on a fantastic voyage of self-discovery. A science fiction film which creates realism by means of spectacular special effects (by Industrial Light & Magic) and by trying to keep it "as NASA-accurate as possible", Mission to Mars may be regarded as a visionary film which portrays technology as the means by which man finds proof of the origin of life. Set in the year 2020, Mission to Mars follows the experts' prediction that by that year "…we should have a manned landing on Mars," as director De Palma states in an interview. The film's plot begins with Commander Luke Graham's (Don Cheadle) and his crew's arrival on the Red Planet. The film portrays their dramatic encounter with a phenomenal, unexplainable life-form that prompts a second crew's rescue mission. Undeterred by the improbability of the first crew's survival, Commander Woody Blake (Tim Robbins), Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise: Reindeer Games), Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen: Gladiator) and Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O'Connell) embark on a trying six-month journey to Mars. The careful set, prop and costume designs reflect producer Tom Jacobson's effort to adhere to the factual "science and physics of astronauts…" and allow for realistic visual representations. Narrated by a moving camera (which pans quickly or tracks slowly), and by the revealing nature of the music (which often precedes --and therefore, leads-- the plot), Mission to Mars succeeds in luring the viewer into accepting the cinematic world it portrays. However, Mission to Mars ultimately fails to support this "realism" because it lacks an equally "realistic" denouement. The visual veracity that the film initially established is followed by a fanciful discovery at the end of the journey, where the unknown entity is defined and the mystery is undone. Consequently, the astronauts begin to appear to the viewer as characters playing astronauts, the realistic sets become stages, and Mission to Mars is transformed from a fictional representation of scientific Truth to a scientific representation of Fiction.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
Outstanding Features: Special Effects, Music/Sound, Production Design Mission to Mars Movie Review © 2000 Cinephiles - All rights reserved Photo © 2000 Touchstone Pictures