Synopsis:

Mars, the Red planet. Long a curiosity of Earth, actual visits to the planet have been hampered with just about everything. Most notably, our just plain inability to get there! However, in the year 2020, Mars has been achieved! A Mars 1 base camp has been established and a multinational team of scientists/astronauts has been assembled on the planet to learn all that can be ascertained. On a routine survey mission, the team encounters a violent natural/unnatural phenomenon that decimates the party. Feared dead, a rescue mission is approved and a team dispatched to determine exactly what happened on the surface of the planet. Unaware of what awaits them, the recovery crew has problems of their own attempting to arrive safely at Mars 1 base camp. Given all of their training, nothing however could prepare them for what they'll find in this their, mission to mars.

Audio:

The audio for the disc is an intense 5.1 experience that envelops your home theater, making it truly "other worldly"! Not only are the fronts/rears/center and sub put to good use but also, the score is simply incredible. Part whimsical and fantasy like, it really added another level of texture to the film. All of the audio was crystalline. The dialogue track was perfect and the use of the speakers was effectively engaging. There was never a dull audio moment. Some of the dialogue may not have been the best but the way in which it was presented was pretty darn good. The audio also features 5.1EX Surround, which utilizes an additional rear I believe to create an even more intense aural experience. While I don't have that extra speaker, I can only say that, if it sounds this good without the EX, I'd like to hear what else they crammed into the audio track! In a word GREAT audio!

Video:

The video is an awesomely clean anamorphic widescreen presentation that is easily reference material. The blacks were deep and true, the white in the "face" was so stark, it was almost hard to look at. There was no bleeding of any colors and no transfer errors that I could detect. No pixellation and not a mistake to be found. Quite an impressive print and one of the best I've seen so far.

Extras:

Touchstone pictures really loaded this disc with a great amount of extras. The menus could have been a lot nicer. Animation coupled with excerpts from Ennio Morricone's masterful score could have easily rounded out the disc but we got boring plain menus instead.

Commentary I've never heard a commentary by Brian Depalma before and was excited about hearing his insights on the film. After all, this movie was #1 at the box office opening day but burned up in its re-approach. Amazingly enough, Depalma is tremendously versed in all things having to do with Mission to Mars from NASA's involvement to the incredible work done by ILM and the overall tone of the story he was trying to convey. Not having been a fan of his work before, I found myself becoming more and more interested in his other films and will undoubtedly check them out. But, back to the matter at hand. Depalma's commentary was again very interesting and engaging. You could tell that he was extremely proud of the world he created and wanted the viewers to be transported from their living rooms/theater to Mars for an event unseen.

Animatics to Scene Comparisons Like animated storyboards, the animatics are roughly hewn sketches of scenes that are created to give the director a sense of what the completed scenes will look like. Pretty neat stuff. It included a commentary track for each scene identifying why certain things were left out or were added after the animatic process.

Documentary: "Visions of Mars" This was an excellent documentary that interviewed the Director, Technical advisors, Special Effects teams and location masters in an attempt to further break down the intricacies this film is laden with. Mission to Mars is an effects heavy film and as such, it relies very heavily on visual imagery to tell the story as well as the dialogue.

Production Art Gallery Contained within the art gallery are stills that really should be classified as storyboards because of their attention to detail. There are no bells or whistles with each segment of the gallery just pictures in varying degrees of completion identifying six crucial elements in the film's visual landscape. They are: Abandoning the ship, In Space, Mars Landscape, Martian, The face, and the vortex.

Visual Effects Analysis As this is an effects driven feature, a great deal of time and detail are spent creating a believable experience. Here, three of the most thrilling CGI moments are broken down into their meagerest parts and discussed by visual effects supervisors Hoyt Yeatman and John Knoll. The visual effects discussed are: The Vortex, Leaving the Ship and The evolution sequence. The sequences use the animatics, model, blue screen and graphic presentations to identify how each of these elements were created to produce the overall effect

Overall:

Overall, Mission to Mars is a lot like Apollo 13 and 2001 and Contact and any number of other Sci-Fi films you can think of. It's an amalgam of some of the best parts of these films but it does fall short on the meat of the story and the ending is in a word…unexplainable. While I did enjoy the film 's visual fare, it really does not change the fact that a three year old with a melted crayon could have written a better script. Visually, the film is truly stunning. The Martian vistas, the Spaceships, the Solar System, are all incredibly well detailed but effects don't make good movies. Mission to Mars is strictly eye candy that's a joy to watch but unbearable to listen to-plot wise. I'm recommending this film only because visually, I think you'll find it quite mesmerizing. Be warned; check your brain at the door. Too much thinking and you'll ruin the flavor of the film.