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Movie Review: Red Planet
Reviewed by Wesam Nassar
Under the sci-fi genera that rarely fail at the box office, Red Planet lived up to its out-of this-world predecessors, delivering an “edge of your seat” thrill ride throughout. In his debut release, director Anthony Hoffman displays an action packed film that casts his characters (all notable actors) with precision, and scores big.
The film is one of many this year that deals with space exploration, some others being Mission to Mars and Space Cowboys. All are generally doing well; however, Red Planet focuses less on the scientific implications of inhabitation on Mars, giving both a scientific and a spiritual perspective on the essence of life and the wonders of humanity.
Red Planet did make a semi-accurate attempt to emulate NASA’s program, but their many “Hollywood” influences were obvious – particularly its overly decorated and elaborate space suites.
The film opens to a panoramic shot of the earth from space, and the narration of Commander Kat Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss). The year is 2025, and the earth’s population has risen to 18 billion people, resulting in a shortage of essential environmental resources as well as the polluting of the earth beyond possible repair.
Foreseeing this problem, the earth’s leaders had gathered in 2010 and decided that it was imperative that they look for another planet to inhabit. They began to send blue-green algae cells to Mars in hopes that the algae would grow on the planet, resulting in oxygen production.
As time elapsed, however, they noticed that, although the initial production of oxygen by the blue-green algae was quite substantial, the oxygen levels were dropping and even disappearing with no explanation.
So NASA decided to send the first human beings to the planet to discover the reason behind the oxygen’s depletion. Led by Commander Kate Bowman, a crew of five men (Val Kilmer playing Robby Gallagher; Simon Baker as Chip Pettengil; Benjamin Bratt as Ted Staten; Tom Sizemore as Dr. Quinn Burchenal; and Terance Stamp as Dr. Bud Chantillas) and herself begin their journey into the unknown, taking a few months to even reach Mars.
The five men have both conflicting and allied personalities that drive the story in an interesting fashion.
During their journey, we observe the crew’s “janitor,” Robby, and Commander Bowman developing feelings for each other; however, they remain professional while holding their posts. As the crew prepares to land on Mars, the ship experiences critical damage, forcing the five men to land while Commander Bowman stays behind to man the ship and take care of the damages.
As they are landing, they find that their landing gear is not functioning so Chantillas who is second in command makes the decision to dump it so as to relieve them of dead weight. They eventually make an extremely rigorous landing that leaves Burchenal with a ruptured spleen. Dying, he decides to stay behind, fearing that if he continues, he might jeopardize the success of the mission.
The other four begin looking for the “P.A.L.” space station that had been built on Mars prior to their arrival. They find themselves racing against time as their oxygen supply is on the verge of running out, and they must reach P.A.L. to refill their tanks.
Reaching the structure, they discover that it is completely destroyed. They’re all sitting in acceptance of their imminent fate when, off to themselves at the edge of a cliff, Chantillas and Staten start quarrelling. Staten ends up pushing Chantillas over the edge to his death. He returns to sit with Gallagher and Pettengil who are unaware of what he has done. With their oxygen supplies dwindling, Gallagher accidentally releases his astronaut’s mask, exposing his body to the Mars atmosphere. He discovers that he can breathe, and immediately the other two follow his lead.
In their search to make radio contact with Commander Bowman to inform her that Mars contains breathable air, the three men come across an exploration robot, AMEE. AMEE is one of the most entertaining parts of the film because of her sleek-like movements. However, Gallagher mistakenly activates her military mode, and the robot turns on them, becoming a serious threat to their survival.
While hiding from AMEE, they finally communicate with Commander Bowman through an old radio. The crew then discovers that small cockroach-looking insects are eating the blue-green algae that are producing Mars’ oxygen.
Out of sheer paranoia, Staten flees from their hiding place and is quickly killed by AMEE. After waiting a few hours, Gallagher and Pettengil decide that AMEE is not around and they can proceed toward an abandoned Russian space ship, which is their only chance to get home.
Gallagher finds out the hard way that the little cockroaches eat everything – including Pettengil, leaving him alone on the planet without food and water, and with killer insects and a predator robot hunting him. His entire future rests on his ability to get home….
Although the film was not the most educational or insightful, it did touch upon God’s role in the scheme of the world, leaving somewhat of a philosophical impression on its audience. This aspect of the film mirrored Burchenal’s quote early in the film, “When I realized that science could not provide all the answers, I turned to philosophy, and I have been searching for God every since”.
Considering the mindless dribble that is currently playing in theaters, Red Planet tops the lists of film to see – offering a wholesome storyline that, granted, is almost purely entertainment, still opens the eye of imagination and evokes the emotions of wonder and reflection on the signs of Allah (SWT).
The film does contain minor obscenities such as minimal nudity and some violence; however, Red Planet is a film worth visiting the theatre for.
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