Director Antony Hoffman's "Red Planet" is an old-fashioned sci-fi action picture with some modern twists. The gum-chewing, wise-cracking mechanic, who would have been a quickly-killed-off supporting character in a 1950s movie, is now the lead. He is solidly played by the quirky Val Kilmer. The tough-as-nails, damn-my-orders-I'll-save-my-crew captain is a woman-Carrie-Anne Moss from "The Matrix." The gray-haired old scientist-an underused Terence Stamp-has turned to philosophy and religion, where in the old days he would have been a hard-headed skeptic (that role is left to biologist Tom Sizemore). The premise is that, by the year 2057, Earth is so badly polluted that we are seeding the sands of Mars with algae to produce oxygen so that humans can colonize the red planet (don't algae need water to live?)-but the algae have suddenly vanished from our telescopes. So Commander Bowman and her crew are sent to investigate. While she orbits in a crippled spaceship, the five men (including pilot Benjamin Bratt and Simon Baker-the obligatory Guy From Brooklyn) land on Mars in a suspenseful crash scene. I won't give away what they find, but I will say the solution to the mystery is more like something out of a good science fiction novel than a Hollywood sci-fi movie. There is life on Mars, but it's not a typical movie monster. But there is the expedition's robot, AMEE, which is damaged in the crash landing, reverts to its original military programming, and starts stalking the men like a rogue lion. This leads to scenes reminiscent of another Val Kilmer film, the underrated "The Ghost and the Darkness." The premise may be far-fetched, but I thought the execution and resolution of "Red Planet" were exciting and satisfying. (And yes, guys, Carrie-Anne does get one brief, gratuitous shower scene.) I haven't seen "Mission to Mars," so I can honestly say that this is the best Mars movie I've seen this year.
Review of Red Planet
