Mission to Mars
Encyclopedia
Mission to Mars is a 2000 science fiction
film directed by Brian De Palma
from an original screenplay written by Jim Thomas, John Thomas, and Graham Yost. The film's story details a fictional portrayal of a manned Mars
exploration mission gone awry in the year 2020. The motion picture was partially inspired by the Disney attraction
of the same name, making it Disney's second film based on an attraction at one of its theme parks, following the made-for-TV film Tower of Terror
, released in 1997. Incorporated in the plot is the character of Jim McConnell, played by actor Gary Sinise
, as an American astronaut who coordinates a rescue mission to a distant planet to retrieve a missing colleague. Tim Robbins
, Don Cheadle
, Connie Nielsen and Jerry O'Connell
star in principal supporting roles.
The film was a co-production between the motion picture studios of Touchstone Pictures
and Spyglass Entertainment
. It was commercially distributed by Buena Vista Pictures theatrically, and by Buena Vista Home Entertainment for home media. Mission to Mars explores astronomy, extraterrestrial life and space exploration. Despite the fact that the film employed the use of numerous extensive special effects, it failed to garner any award nominations from mainstream motion picture organizations for its production merits. On March 14, 2000, the original film score was released by the Hollywood Records
label. It was composed, orchestrated and conducted by Italian musician Ennio Morricone
.
Mission to Mars premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on March 10, 2000 grossing $60,883,407 in domestic ticket receipts. It earned an additional $50,100,000 in business through international release to top out at a combined $110,983,407 in gross revenue. The film was technically considered a minor financial success due to it recouping its $100 million budget costs. However, preceding its initial screening in cinemas, the film was generally met with negative critical reviews. The widescreen DVD edition of the film featuring audio commentary along with a visual effects analysis among other highlights was released in the United States on June 4, 2002.
) with fellow astronauts Nicholas Willis (Kavan Smith
), Sergei Kirov (Peter Outerbridge
) and Renée Coté (Jill Teed
). Upon arrival, the team discover a crystalline upwelling within a mountain in the Cydonia region. After transmitting their finding back to the command center on the World Space Station orbiting Earth, they head for the site to do further analysis. Once there, they observe a strange sound, which they assume to be interference from their planetary rover. While attempting to scan the formation with radar, a large dust vortex envelops and kills Nicholas, Sergei and Renée. Only Luke survives after being buried alive in the rocky debris. After the vortex subsides, a large humanoid face is exposed within the sediment. Later, Luke manages to upload one emergency transmission to the R.E.M.O. (REsupply MOdule) orbiting the planet. After receiving Luke's garbled message conveying his crew members' deaths, the command center hastily coordinates a second vessel for a rescue mission.
The crew of the Mars II recovery craft includes Commander Woody Blake (Tim Robbins
), Co-Commander Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise
) and mission specialists Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen) and Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O'Connell
). They attempt to investigate the tragedy, and retrieve Luke who is presumed to be alive and stranded on the planet. As the ship is being prepared for its orbital insertion around Mars, a swarm of meteorites collide with the shuttle's hull, causing an atmospheric pressure leak. The crew works quickly to repair the harm, but damage to the external fuel tanks cause the crew to subsequently abandon the ship. They quickly put on pressure suits and maneuver their way to the R.E.M.O. module orbiting the planet. Woody concludes; the only hope of a successful rendezvous with the R.E.M.O. is for him to launch himself directly at it using the remainder of his jet pack fuel, carrying a tether cord from the others. He successfully attaches the cord to the R.E.M.O. for his fellow astronauts, but is unable to properly land on it, floating helplessly away toward the planet ultimately succumbing to death.
When the remaining group arrive on the surface from the R.E.M.O., they find Luke still alive. He has built a greenhouse and has been living on its produce. He tells the rescuers about his crew's find, and informs them that the formation found was humanoid in shape. His most significant discovery was a recording of the noise heard in the area of the mountain. After further examination, he had found that the sound was a map of human DNA
in XYZ coordinates
missing a strand of nucleotides. They deduce that the mysterious sounds were actually a prompt, requiring a return radio signal to input one of the missing pair of nucleotides which would complete the human DNA structure. Their prior episode with the radar scan sent out a false indicator triggering the destructive vortex. Aware of completing the sequence, but worried about a repeat of the catastrophe following the initial radar scan, the crew dispatches a rover to the mountain to relay the completed signal. Following the transmission, an opening appears in the side of the facial structure. Jim, Terri, and Luke head towards it, while Phil stays behind in an emergency return vehicle under orders to launch with or without them in a few hours. The company venture inside the structure and are sealed in. A dark room is unveiled, and after stepping inside, a three-dimensional projection of the solar system appears. The trio view the planet Mars, then covered with water, being hit by a large asteroid. A humanoid extraterrestrial then appears before the group. It reveals to them that the Martians evacuated their world in spacecraft following the planetary collision. One Martian headed towards Earth, remotely depositing a strand of DNA into an ocean which at the time contained no life forms. Over the millions of years that followed this event, the DNA evolved into fish, land mammals, and eventually humans, who would one day land on Mars and be recognized as descendants. As the image of the Martian fades away, an invitation is offered for one astronaut to follow them to their new home planet. Jim theorizes that they are actually inside an alien spacecraft and decides to go and continue his exploration. After their farewells, the rest of the surviving crew head back to Earth.
, and the Canary Islands
. Extensive special effects surrounding certain aspects of the film such as the NASA spacecraft and Martian vortex, were created by a number of digital effects companies including ILM, Dream Quest Images, Tippett Studio
, CIS Hollywood, and Trans FX Inc. Between visuals, miniatures, and animation, over 400 technicians were directly involved in the production aspects of the special effects.
music label on March 14, 2000. The score for the film was orchestrated by Ennio Morricone
in conjunction with the New York Philharmonic
, while original songs written by musical artists Van Halen
and Buckwheat Zydeco
, were used in-between dialogue shots in the film. Suzana Peric and Nick Meyers edited the film's music.
reported that 25% of 110 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 4.1 out of 10. At Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average
out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 34 based on 36 reviews. Furthermore, the film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Brian De Palma in the category of Worst Director.
The film's reception among French-language critics was markedly different in positive fashion. Film journal Cahiers du cinéma
devoted several articles to De Palma and Mission to Mars at the time of its release, and placed it as #4 in their list of the 10 best films of 2000. The film was screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
.
Mark Halverson, writing in the Sacramento News & Review, said in outward negativity, "My inner child felt cheated that the film leapt from an astronaut barbecue to Mars without so much as a rocket launch and that the best special effect (a sandstorm nod to The Mummy
) was unveiled in the first 20 minutes." He emphatically added, "This visually alluring mess also includes gobs of cheesy dialogue and a hokey-looking alien." Left unimpressed, Bob Graham in the San Francisco Chronicle
, wrote that the film "meanders into space-mystico mumbo jumbo. We're supposed to share the characters' awe at the wonder of the universe, but more likely the audience will wonder whatever were the filmmakers thinking." Graham characterized Mission to Mars as "a very mixed bag: rhapsodic cinematography, several genuine shocks amid a suffocating air of gooeyness, impressive visual effects – even if some seem to exist in a vacuum – and an absolutely loony conclusion." Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
, said the film "contains conversations that drag on beyond all reason. It is quiet when quiet is not called for. It contains actions that deny common sense. And for long stretches the characters speak nothing but boilerplate." He believed that "It misses too many of its marks. But it has extraordinary things in it. It's as if the director, the gifted Brian De Palma, rises to the occasions but the screenplay gives him nothing much to do in between them." The film however, was not without its supporters. Michael Wilmington of the NY Daily News, exclaimed the film was "One of the most gorgeous science-fiction movies ever - and probably also one of the most realistic in detail and scientific extrapolation". Richard Corliss
of TIME
commented that "This isn't "2001
," by a long shot, but for 2000, it'll do nicely." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, added to the positive sentiment by saying "Here and there an inspired shot makes the film come alive, and at least three of its sequences had me positioned well on the edge of my seat."
Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Marc Savlov bluntly noted that the "Mission to Mars falls prey to an overwhelming sense of a man trying to please everyone all the time." He went further pointing out that "De Palma has reached out to embrace a larger audience and seemingly sacrificed those traits that drew us to him in the first place: his singular vision, his clinical stylistics, and the palpable sense of dread that his best films engender." In a mixed review, James Berardinelli
writing for ReelViews, called the film "Ineptly directed, badly acted, and scripted with an eye towards stupidity and incoherence, the film is worthwhile only to those who are in desperate need of a nap. And, as is often the case when a big budget, high profile motion picture self-destructs, this one does so in spectacular fashion." Describing a mixed opinion, J. Hoberman of The Village Voice
said the film encompassed "a touchy-feely esprit that's predicated on equal parts Buck Rogers bravado and backyard barbecue, the whole burnt burger drenched in Ennio Morricone's elegiac western-style score."
Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times
, stated that the "visual design is spectacular, and the scenes on the Martian surface look so real that the picture could have been made on location. A holographic sequence detailing the evolutionary link between Earth and Mars is staggeringly well staged." However, he ultimately came to the conclusion that there wasn't "an original moment in the entire movie, and the score is so repetitive that it could have been downloaded directly from EnnioMorricone.com." Similarly, Todd McCarthy wrote in Variety
that the film's "dramatic package that it arrives in is so flimsy, unconvincing and poorly wrought that it's impossible to be swept away by the illustrated version of creationism on offer." In a hint of commendation though, he did note "Pictorially, the film is smooth and pristine looking. De Palma and his frequent cinematographer Stephen H. Burum go for their patented swooping and twisting camera moves whenever possible, and there are some very nice ones onboard the recovery ship." Also in negative sentiment, Lisa Schwarzbaum
writing for Entertainment Weekly
deduced that "Mission to Mars wants us to think about lofty things: the bravery of explorers, the ingenuity of our nation's space program, the humility required to comprehend the possibility that we earthlings are not the be-all and end-all of creation. But De Palma's film is too embarrassed, too jittery and self-conscious to hush up and pay attention."
came in second place during that weekend grossing $6,622,518. The film's revenue dropped by 50% in its second week of release, earning $11,385,709. For that particular weekend, the film fell to 2nd place screening in 3,060 theaters. Erin Brockovich
, unseated Mission to Mars to open in first place grossing $28,138,465 in box office revenue. During its final weekend in release, it opened in a distant 72nd place with $17,467 in revenue. The film went on to top out domestically at $60,883,407 in total ticket sales through an 18-week theatrical run. The film took in an additional $50,100,000 in business through international release to top out at a combined $110,983,407 in gross revenue. For 2000 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 41.
video format on January 16, 2001. The Region 1 Code
widescreen
edition of the film was released on DVD
in the United States on June 4, 2002. Special features for the DVD include; Audio Commentary Animatics to Scene Comparison, Documentary "Visions of Mars", Visual Effects Analysis Production, Art Gallery, and DVD-ROM Features. Currently, there is no scheduled release date set for a future Blu-ray Disc
version of the film, although it is available in other media formats such as Video on demand
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film directed by Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
from an original screenplay written by Jim Thomas, John Thomas, and Graham Yost. The film's story details a fictional portrayal of a manned Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
exploration mission gone awry in the year 2020. The motion picture was partially inspired by the Disney attraction
Mission to Mars (attraction)
Mission to Mars was an attraction located in Tomorrowland at Disneyland and at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.-History:The show was originally named Flight to the Moon and it opened in 1955 along with Disneyland. In 1975, the destination was changed to Mars because humans had already been to the...
of the same name, making it Disney's second film based on an attraction at one of its theme parks, following the made-for-TV film Tower of Terror
Tower of Terror (film)
Tower of Terror is a 1997 made-for-TV supernatural thriller directed by D. J. MacHale. It is based on the theme park attraction, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and was originally a presentation of The...
, released in 1997. Incorporated in the plot is the character of Jim McConnell, played by actor Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
, as an American astronaut who coordinates a rescue mission to a distant planet to retrieve a missing colleague. Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...
, Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
, Connie Nielsen and Jerry O'Connell
Jerry O'Connell
Jeremiah "Jerry" O'Connell is an American actor, best known for his roles in the TV series Sliders, Andrew Clements in My Secret Identity, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me, Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack, and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan...
star in principal supporting roles.
The film was a co-production between the motion picture studios of Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
and Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Entertainment is an American film production company, co-founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998. The studio was founded with an investment from European media conglomerates Kirch Group and Mediaset, and a five-year distribution deal with The Walt Disney Company...
. It was commercially distributed by Buena Vista Pictures theatrically, and by Buena Vista Home Entertainment for home media. Mission to Mars explores astronomy, extraterrestrial life and space exploration. Despite the fact that the film employed the use of numerous extensive special effects, it failed to garner any award nominations from mainstream motion picture organizations for its production merits. On March 14, 2000, the original film score was released by the Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
label. It was composed, orchestrated and conducted by Italian musician Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
.
Mission to Mars premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on March 10, 2000 grossing $60,883,407 in domestic ticket receipts. It earned an additional $50,100,000 in business through international release to top out at a combined $110,983,407 in gross revenue. The film was technically considered a minor financial success due to it recouping its $100 million budget costs. However, preceding its initial screening in cinemas, the film was generally met with negative critical reviews. The widescreen DVD edition of the film featuring audio commentary along with a visual effects analysis among other highlights was released in the United States on June 4, 2002.
Plot
In 2020, a mission is launched to carry humans to the planet Mars for the first time. The Mars I spacecraft is commanded by Luke Graham (Don CheadleDon Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
) with fellow astronauts Nicholas Willis (Kavan Smith
Kavan Smith
Kavan Joel Smith is a Canadian actor best known for playing Major Evan Lorne in Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1 and for his recurring role as Agent Jed Garrity in The 4400.-Biography:...
), Sergei Kirov (Peter Outerbridge
Peter Outerbridge
Peter Outerbridge is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Dr. David Sandstrom in the TMN series ReGenesis, as William in Saw VI and his role as Dan Farmer in Happy Town.-Life and career:...
) and Renée Coté (Jill Teed
Jill Teed
Jill Teed is a Canadian actress who resides in Vancouver with her young daughter. She is a genre actress who appears in many sci-fi roles. She has appeared in a range of television guest roles such The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, Sliders, and The Outer Limits...
). Upon arrival, the team discover a crystalline upwelling within a mountain in the Cydonia region. After transmitting their finding back to the command center on the World Space Station orbiting Earth, they head for the site to do further analysis. Once there, they observe a strange sound, which they assume to be interference from their planetary rover. While attempting to scan the formation with radar, a large dust vortex envelops and kills Nicholas, Sergei and Renée. Only Luke survives after being buried alive in the rocky debris. After the vortex subsides, a large humanoid face is exposed within the sediment. Later, Luke manages to upload one emergency transmission to the R.E.M.O. (REsupply MOdule) orbiting the planet. After receiving Luke's garbled message conveying his crew members' deaths, the command center hastily coordinates a second vessel for a rescue mission.
The crew of the Mars II recovery craft includes Commander Woody Blake (Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...
), Co-Commander Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
) and mission specialists Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen) and Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O'Connell
Jerry O'Connell
Jeremiah "Jerry" O'Connell is an American actor, best known for his roles in the TV series Sliders, Andrew Clements in My Secret Identity, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me, Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack, and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan...
). They attempt to investigate the tragedy, and retrieve Luke who is presumed to be alive and stranded on the planet. As the ship is being prepared for its orbital insertion around Mars, a swarm of meteorites collide with the shuttle's hull, causing an atmospheric pressure leak. The crew works quickly to repair the harm, but damage to the external fuel tanks cause the crew to subsequently abandon the ship. They quickly put on pressure suits and maneuver their way to the R.E.M.O. module orbiting the planet. Woody concludes; the only hope of a successful rendezvous with the R.E.M.O. is for him to launch himself directly at it using the remainder of his jet pack fuel, carrying a tether cord from the others. He successfully attaches the cord to the R.E.M.O. for his fellow astronauts, but is unable to properly land on it, floating helplessly away toward the planet ultimately succumbing to death.
When the remaining group arrive on the surface from the R.E.M.O., they find Luke still alive. He has built a greenhouse and has been living on its produce. He tells the rescuers about his crew's find, and informs them that the formation found was humanoid in shape. His most significant discovery was a recording of the noise heard in the area of the mountain. After further examination, he had found that the sound was a map of human DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
in XYZ coordinates
Euler angles
The Euler angles are three angles introduced by Leonhard Euler to describe the orientation of a rigid body. To describe such an orientation in 3-dimensional Euclidean space three parameters are required...
missing a strand of nucleotides. They deduce that the mysterious sounds were actually a prompt, requiring a return radio signal to input one of the missing pair of nucleotides which would complete the human DNA structure. Their prior episode with the radar scan sent out a false indicator triggering the destructive vortex. Aware of completing the sequence, but worried about a repeat of the catastrophe following the initial radar scan, the crew dispatches a rover to the mountain to relay the completed signal. Following the transmission, an opening appears in the side of the facial structure. Jim, Terri, and Luke head towards it, while Phil stays behind in an emergency return vehicle under orders to launch with or without them in a few hours. The company venture inside the structure and are sealed in. A dark room is unveiled, and after stepping inside, a three-dimensional projection of the solar system appears. The trio view the planet Mars, then covered with water, being hit by a large asteroid. A humanoid extraterrestrial then appears before the group. It reveals to them that the Martians evacuated their world in spacecraft following the planetary collision. One Martian headed towards Earth, remotely depositing a strand of DNA into an ocean which at the time contained no life forms. Over the millions of years that followed this event, the DNA evolved into fish, land mammals, and eventually humans, who would one day land on Mars and be recognized as descendants. As the image of the Martian fades away, an invitation is offered for one astronaut to follow them to their new home planet. Jim theorizes that they are actually inside an alien spacecraft and decides to go and continue his exploration. After their farewells, the rest of the surviving crew head back to Earth.
Cast
Filming
The film was shot primarily on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, JordanJordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, and the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
. Extensive special effects surrounding certain aspects of the film such as the NASA spacecraft and Martian vortex, were created by a number of digital effects companies including ILM, Dream Quest Images, Tippett Studio
Tippett Studio
Tippett Studio is a visual effects company specializing in computer-generated imagery for movies and television commercials. Phil Tippett founded the studio in 1984, which employs effects artists who work with his partners Jules Roman and Craig Hayes....
, CIS Hollywood, and Trans FX Inc. Between visuals, miniatures, and animation, over 400 technicians were directly involved in the production aspects of the special effects.
Soundtrack
The original score for Mission to Mars, was released by the Hollywood RecordsHollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
music label on March 14, 2000. The score for the film was orchestrated by Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
in conjunction with the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, while original songs written by musical artists Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
and Buckwheat Zydeco
Buckwheat Zydeco
Buckwheat Zydeco is the stage name of Stanley Dural, Jr. , an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He is one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success...
, were used in-between dialogue shots in the film. Suzana Peric and Nick Meyers edited the film's music.
Critical response
Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received almost exclusively negative reviews. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 25% of 110 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 4.1 out of 10. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 34 based on 36 reviews. Furthermore, the film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Brian De Palma in the category of Worst Director.
The film's reception among French-language critics was markedly different in positive fashion. Film journal Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
devoted several articles to De Palma and Mission to Mars at the time of its release, and placed it as #4 in their list of the 10 best films of 2000. The film was screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
2000 Cannes Film Festival
The 2000 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier.-Jury:* Luc Besson, President * Jonathan Demme * Nicole Garcia...
.
| "Sinise and Robbins, a couple of awfully good actors, are asked to speak some awfully clunky lines. When Robbins says, “OK, we're ready to light this candle” before ignition, it sounds like a parody of astronaut lingo." |
| —Bob Graham, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle |
Mark Halverson, writing in the Sacramento News & Review, said in outward negativity, "My inner child felt cheated that the film leapt from an astronaut barbecue to Mars without so much as a rocket launch and that the best special effect (a sandstorm nod to The Mummy
The Mummy (1999 film)
The Mummy is a 1999 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film features substantial dialogue in ancient Egyptian language, spoken...
) was unveiled in the first 20 minutes." He emphatically added, "This visually alluring mess also includes gobs of cheesy dialogue and a hokey-looking alien." Left unimpressed, Bob Graham in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, wrote that the film "meanders into space-mystico mumbo jumbo. We're supposed to share the characters' awe at the wonder of the universe, but more likely the audience will wonder whatever were the filmmakers thinking." Graham characterized Mission to Mars as "a very mixed bag: rhapsodic cinematography, several genuine shocks amid a suffocating air of gooeyness, impressive visual effects – even if some seem to exist in a vacuum – and an absolutely loony conclusion." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, said the film "contains conversations that drag on beyond all reason. It is quiet when quiet is not called for. It contains actions that deny common sense. And for long stretches the characters speak nothing but boilerplate." He believed that "It misses too many of its marks. But it has extraordinary things in it. It's as if the director, the gifted Brian De Palma, rises to the occasions but the screenplay gives him nothing much to do in between them." The film however, was not without its supporters. Michael Wilmington of the NY Daily News, exclaimed the film was "One of the most gorgeous science-fiction movies ever - and probably also one of the most realistic in detail and scientific extrapolation". Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
of TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
commented that "This isn't "2001
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
," by a long shot, but for 2000, it'll do nicely." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
, added to the positive sentiment by saying "Here and there an inspired shot makes the film come alive, and at least three of its sequences had me positioned well on the edge of my seat."
Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Marc Savlov bluntly noted that the "Mission to Mars falls prey to an overwhelming sense of a man trying to please everyone all the time." He went further pointing out that "De Palma has reached out to embrace a larger audience and seemingly sacrificed those traits that drew us to him in the first place: his singular vision, his clinical stylistics, and the palpable sense of dread that his best films engender." In a mixed review, James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
writing for ReelViews, called the film "Ineptly directed, badly acted, and scripted with an eye towards stupidity and incoherence, the film is worthwhile only to those who are in desperate need of a nap. And, as is often the case when a big budget, high profile motion picture self-destructs, this one does so in spectacular fashion." Describing a mixed opinion, J. Hoberman of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
said the film encompassed "a touchy-feely esprit that's predicated on equal parts Buck Rogers bravado and backyard barbecue, the whole burnt burger drenched in Ennio Morricone's elegiac western-style score."
| "Unfortunately, the filmmakers' imagination flags in the closing sequences; the movie's final reel looks like a high-tech museum exhibit entitled 2001: A Space Odyssey for Dummies." |
| —Margaret A. McGurk, writing for the The Cincinnati Enquirer The Cincinnati Enquirer The Cincinnati Enquirer, a daily morning newspaper, is the highest-circulation print publication in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a daily morning newspaper, is the highest-circulation print publication in Greater Cincinnati (Ohio) and Northern Kentucky. The... |
Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, stated that the "visual design is spectacular, and the scenes on the Martian surface look so real that the picture could have been made on location. A holographic sequence detailing the evolutionary link between Earth and Mars is staggeringly well staged." However, he ultimately came to the conclusion that there wasn't "an original moment in the entire movie, and the score is so repetitive that it could have been downloaded directly from EnnioMorricone.com." Similarly, Todd McCarthy wrote in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
that the film's "dramatic package that it arrives in is so flimsy, unconvincing and poorly wrought that it's impossible to be swept away by the illustrated version of creationism on offer." In a hint of commendation though, he did note "Pictorially, the film is smooth and pristine looking. De Palma and his frequent cinematographer Stephen H. Burum go for their patented swooping and twisting camera moves whenever possible, and there are some very nice ones onboard the recovery ship." Also in negative sentiment, Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum is an American film critic. She joined Entertainment Weekly as film critic in the 1990s. She has been featured on CNN, co-host on Siskel & Ebert At the Movies as well as a cultural, theater and television reviewer....
writing for Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
deduced that "Mission to Mars wants us to think about lofty things: the bravery of explorers, the ingenuity of our nation's space program, the humility required to comprehend the possibility that we earthlings are not the be-all and end-all of creation. But De Palma's film is too embarrassed, too jittery and self-conscious to hush up and pay attention."
Box office
The film premiered in cinemas on March 10, 2000 in wide release throughout the U.S.. During its opening weekend, the film opened in first place grossing $22,855,247 in business showing at 3,054 locations. The film, The Ninth GateThe Ninth Gate
The Ninth Gate is a 1999 horror film directed, produced, and co-written by Roman Polanski. It is a neo-noir, occult mystery thriller involving the rare book business, wherein rare-book dealer Dean Corso is hired by bibliophile Boris Balkan to validate a seventeenth-century copy of The Nine Gates...
came in second place during that weekend grossing $6,622,518. The film's revenue dropped by 50% in its second week of release, earning $11,385,709. For that particular weekend, the film fell to 2nd place screening in 3,060 theaters. Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
, unseated Mission to Mars to open in first place grossing $28,138,465 in box office revenue. During its final weekend in release, it opened in a distant 72nd place with $17,467 in revenue. The film went on to top out domestically at $60,883,407 in total ticket sales through an 18-week theatrical run. The film took in an additional $50,100,000 in business through international release to top out at a combined $110,983,407 in gross revenue. For 2000 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 41.
Home media
Following its cinematic release in theaters, the film was released in VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video format on January 16, 2001. The Region 1 Code
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
edition of the film was released on DVD
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
in the United States on June 4, 2002. Special features for the DVD include; Audio Commentary Animatics to Scene Comparison, Documentary "Visions of Mars", Visual Effects Analysis Production, Art Gallery, and DVD-ROM Features. Currently, there is no scheduled release date set for a future Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
version of the film, although it is available in other media formats such as Video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
.
See also
- 2000 in film2000 in filmThe year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....
- Mission to Mars (attraction)Mission to Mars (attraction)Mission to Mars was an attraction located in Tomorrowland at Disneyland and at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.-History:The show was originally named Flight to the Moon and it opened in 1955 along with Disneyland. In 1975, the destination was changed to Mars because humans had already been to the...
- Cydonia (region of Mars)