

Many science-fiction epics save their best effects for the
finale, forcing us to wait 90 minutes for something spectacular to
happen. "Mission to Mars," on the other hand, gives us the best it has
to offer in its first 30 minutes. That's happy news for people who tend
to doze off halfway through a movie, but not for those who like a
last-minute jolt on their way out of the theater.
         What the special effects crew has come up with is truly a
marvel: a Martian whirlwind that churns like a tornado, slithers like a
snake and growls like a chorus of angry bears. Anything or anyone that
gets in its way is sucked in and torn to pieces. It's quite a sight.
         Unfortunately, in terms of imagination, it's also the high
point of the film. The audience spends the next hour eagerly
anticipating the appearance of something even more awesome, more
frightening.
         You might as well be waiting for Godot.
         If it can't deliver much in the way of mind-blowing surprises,
"Mars" deserves some credit for at least trying to create a bit of human
drama as married astronauts Woody (Tim Robbins) and Terry (Connie
Nielsen) lead a rescue team to the red planet after an expedition is
nearly wiped out by that mysterious twister. Along for the ride are
jokester Phil (Jerry O'Connell) and the subdued, troubled Jim (Gary
Sinise), who is still trying to cope with the loss of his wife, also an
astronaut.
         Director Brian DePalma squeezes a considerable amount of
suspense out of the problem-plagued journey to Mars -- some of the
trials the crew face may remind you of "Apollo 13" -- while
incorporating a lot of the dizzying camerawork he's famous for. There's
a real shocker of a moment involving Phil and a nicely executed sequence
in which one of the quartet makes a slip-up and ends up adrift in space.
The dialogue is often overwrought ("What are you doing?!" "I'll tell you
what I'm not doing -- watching you die!"), but that's hardly uncommon in
these kinds of adventures and it doesn't diminish the tension.
         The screenplay by Jim Thomas, John Thomas and Graham Yost has
used up all its best ideas, however, by the time the third act begins.
After a lengthy and portentous build-up, what the rescuers discover on
Mars seems truly anti-climactic, although it should put a smile on the
faces of the Weekly World News staff who've long speculated about that
odd "face" on the Martian surface.
         The big revelation about the origins of life seems to have been
pulled directly from those pop-science "Chariots of the Gods" books that
were all the rage in the 1970s and, without giving too much away, let's
just say you'll certainly sense the hand of Disney in the last reel.
"Mars" is further undercut by a organ and string-saturated musical score
by Ennio Morricone that might have been appropriate for a Barbra
Streisand vehicle but sounds woefully out of place here. Instead of
lifting us up, it flattens us nearly every step of the way, particularly
in the last few minutes.
         Aside from "Obsession" and "The Untouchables," DePalma has
usually been a director more intrigued by sensationalism than by
sentiment and that comes through clearly in "Mars." It's evident he's
more excited and inspired by the danger of the trip than by the
destination itself. In "Mission to Mars," getting there isn't half the
fun, it's almost all the fun. James Sanford