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Red Planet
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
There's been a lot of competition for the same story-line lately in Hollywood. Two asteroid movies, two volcano movies, two animated bug movies and last year, there were two Mars movies. I can certainly see the interest in Mars - that spooky red planet that could easily be put into a plot about us not caring about our environment and having to have to move there. And yet, neither film really turned out to be what was hoped. Early in the year, "Mission To Mars" had a good first week before bad word of mouth and even worse reviews (rightly) knocked the picture out of theaters quickly. Although "Red Planet" smartly held off until later in the year, it didn't seem to help, as the picture still didn't do well at the box office, either.
I must say that it is a better film than "Mission To Mars" though, although on second thought, that's not saying a great deal. The film starts off in 2025, where humans have polluted Earth past the point where it remains livable - we find ourselves with no other choice but to seek a new home, and the most likely choice is Mars. Something has gone wrong with the experiment though, and a group of six is sent to investigate - Commander Kate Bowman (Carrie-Ann Moss), co-pilot Ted Santen (Benjamin Bratt), Robby Gallagher (Val Kilmer), Bud Chantillas (Terence Stamp), Chip Pettengill (Simon Baker) and Dr. Quinn Burchenal (Tom Sizemore).
After a few "meet and greet" scenes on the spaceship where we're introduced to the characters, things get underway. I'll give the film this credit - it at least doesn't take too long to finally get some sort of action started. A solar flare (aren't they always a pain?) damages the ship and also sends the great majority of the crew crash-landing to Mars while Bowman stays behind on the ship to make sure it's safe there.
Of course, it's not safe on the planet. The crew finds out what remains of the proposed new home and beyond that, that their time is definitely limited. Not only that, they're not alone on the planet as their search robot AMEE is also searching for them - and its intentions may not be for the best anymore.
I won't give away any further details, but go to talking about the film in general. It's rather difficult to really care about the characters because Chuck Pfarrer's screenplay really doesn't give much in the way of character detail - everyone's pretty one-dimensional. The performances are passable, but many of them don't exactly do much to liven the situation. Carrie Anne-Moss, who was very good for "The Matrix", doesn't get a great deal to do here. Kilmer and Sizemore are the two main characters and although their performances certainly aren't the actors' best, they at least do add the occasional fun moment. It's not a bad cast, really - it's just that their characters and their dialogue are pretty generic.
Still, there are some good action sequences that are handled well by first-time feature film director Antony Hoffman and the film's special effects are often excellent. Although the characters aren't always too fully written, I found the situations mostly engaging and the film to at least be moderately entertaining.
The DVD
VIDEO: It should come as no suprise that "Red Planet" looks tremendously good on this DVD edition from Warner Brothers, presenting the film in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer that is sure to please. Sharpness and detail are nothing short of fantastic - there wasn't one scene in the movie that I didn't think looked well-defined and "film-like" with nice depth to the image.
I noticed nearly nothing wrong with the image quality for the entire running time. One or twice there was a slight bit of shimmering, but that was it and all. No instances of pixelation, no instances of print flaws, nothing else to distract from an otherwise crystal clear image.
Colors varied slightly depending on where the film is. The ship sequences offered a more metal-ish color palette of the usual spaceship greys and blues. On the planet, it's just...red, as would be expected from Mars. Colors look excellent, with no problems. Black level is strong throughout, and flesh tones seemed accurate and natural. This is a superb effort from Warner Brothers, who is getting better and better (and better) with their already great presentations.
SOUND: "Red Planet" is presented here with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that's often terrific. There's a great deal of both subtle and very agressive sound use, and although the film is not always intense and action-heavy, subtle sound use provides at least light envelopment to bring us into the scene.
Surrounds are put into play quite well throughout the movie, from more agressive sound effects to the subtle sounds of the wind sweeping across the bare plains of Mars. Some surround use throughout the film is wonderfully effective and creative, really adding to the entertainment without being too noticable or distracting. Some of the scenes also bring in some strong, deep bass, as well.
Grame Revell's enjoyable score also has a fine presence in the midst of the rest of the film's audio while still leaving room for all of the other elements. Dialogue is clear and natural, never sounding thin or harsh. This is a very enjoyable, very well-done presentation that involved me in the events of the film - several scenes certainly stand-out as demonstration-worthy.
MENUS:: Although menus aren't animated, the main menu does at least offer a piece of the score in the background.
EXTRAS: Strangely, Warner Brothers has not packed this disc with extras, as Warner has offered some pretty heavy special editions with some of their recent films that haven't performed that well to try and gain interest. Still, we do get a couple of features:
Deleted Scenes: 8 deleted scenes are included, running for about a total of 14 minutes (these scenes play back-to-back and cannot be selected separately). They are presented in rough form, and really were rightly taken out of the picture. They fall into that catagory of "wouldn't have worked in the movie, but make for an interesting addition".
Also: Cast bios. There is no theatrical trailer.
Final Thoughts: Although not quite great, I found "Red Planet" at least moderately entertaining throughout and sci-fi fans might enjoy it as a rental or, if you were a fan of the film, it's certainly worth a buy as it offers excellent audio/video quality at a low price (most stores should have it for around $14-15.99).
There's been a lot of competition for the same story-line lately in Hollywood. Two asteroid movies, two volcano movies, two animated bug movies and last year, there were two Mars movies. I can certainly see the interest in Mars - that spooky red planet that could easily be put into a plot about us not caring about our environment and having to have to move there. And yet, neither film really turned out to be what was hoped. Early in the year, "Mission To Mars" had a good first week before bad word of mouth and even worse reviews (rightly) knocked the picture out of theaters quickly. Although "Red Planet" smartly held off until later in the year, it didn't seem to help, as the picture still didn't do well at the box office, either.
I must say that it is a better film than "Mission To Mars" though, although on second thought, that's not saying a great deal. The film starts off in 2025, where humans have polluted Earth past the point where it remains livable - we find ourselves with no other choice but to seek a new home, and the most likely choice is Mars. Something has gone wrong with the experiment though, and a group of six is sent to investigate - Commander Kate Bowman (Carrie-Ann Moss), co-pilot Ted Santen (Benjamin Bratt), Robby Gallagher (Val Kilmer), Bud Chantillas (Terence Stamp), Chip Pettengill (Simon Baker) and Dr. Quinn Burchenal (Tom Sizemore).
After a few "meet and greet" scenes on the spaceship where we're introduced to the characters, things get underway. I'll give the film this credit - it at least doesn't take too long to finally get some sort of action started. A solar flare (aren't they always a pain?) damages the ship and also sends the great majority of the crew crash-landing to Mars while Bowman stays behind on the ship to make sure it's safe there.
Of course, it's not safe on the planet. The crew finds out what remains of the proposed new home and beyond that, that their time is definitely limited. Not only that, they're not alone on the planet as their search robot AMEE is also searching for them - and its intentions may not be for the best anymore.
I won't give away any further details, but go to talking about the film in general. It's rather difficult to really care about the characters because Chuck Pfarrer's screenplay really doesn't give much in the way of character detail - everyone's pretty one-dimensional. The performances are passable, but many of them don't exactly do much to liven the situation. Carrie Anne-Moss, who was very good for "The Matrix", doesn't get a great deal to do here. Kilmer and Sizemore are the two main characters and although their performances certainly aren't the actors' best, they at least do add the occasional fun moment. It's not a bad cast, really - it's just that their characters and their dialogue are pretty generic.
Still, there are some good action sequences that are handled well by first-time feature film director Antony Hoffman and the film's special effects are often excellent. Although the characters aren't always too fully written, I found the situations mostly engaging and the film to at least be moderately entertaining.
The DVD
VIDEO: It should come as no suprise that "Red Planet" looks tremendously good on this DVD edition from Warner Brothers, presenting the film in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer that is sure to please. Sharpness and detail are nothing short of fantastic - there wasn't one scene in the movie that I didn't think looked well-defined and "film-like" with nice depth to the image.
I noticed nearly nothing wrong with the image quality for the entire running time. One or twice there was a slight bit of shimmering, but that was it and all. No instances of pixelation, no instances of print flaws, nothing else to distract from an otherwise crystal clear image.
Colors varied slightly depending on where the film is. The ship sequences offered a more metal-ish color palette of the usual spaceship greys and blues. On the planet, it's just...red, as would be expected from Mars. Colors look excellent, with no problems. Black level is strong throughout, and flesh tones seemed accurate and natural. This is a superb effort from Warner Brothers, who is getting better and better (and better) with their already great presentations.
SOUND: "Red Planet" is presented here with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that's often terrific. There's a great deal of both subtle and very agressive sound use, and although the film is not always intense and action-heavy, subtle sound use provides at least light envelopment to bring us into the scene.
Surrounds are put into play quite well throughout the movie, from more agressive sound effects to the subtle sounds of the wind sweeping across the bare plains of Mars. Some surround use throughout the film is wonderfully effective and creative, really adding to the entertainment without being too noticable or distracting. Some of the scenes also bring in some strong, deep bass, as well.
Grame Revell's enjoyable score also has a fine presence in the midst of the rest of the film's audio while still leaving room for all of the other elements. Dialogue is clear and natural, never sounding thin or harsh. This is a very enjoyable, very well-done presentation that involved me in the events of the film - several scenes certainly stand-out as demonstration-worthy.
MENUS:: Although menus aren't animated, the main menu does at least offer a piece of the score in the background.
EXTRAS: Strangely, Warner Brothers has not packed this disc with extras, as Warner has offered some pretty heavy special editions with some of their recent films that haven't performed that well to try and gain interest. Still, we do get a couple of features:
Deleted Scenes: 8 deleted scenes are included, running for about a total of 14 minutes (these scenes play back-to-back and cannot be selected separately). They are presented in rough form, and really were rightly taken out of the picture. They fall into that catagory of "wouldn't have worked in the movie, but make for an interesting addition".
Also: Cast bios. There is no theatrical trailer.
Final Thoughts: Although not quite great, I found "Red Planet" at least moderately entertaining throughout and sci-fi fans might enjoy it as a rental or, if you were a fan of the film, it's certainly worth a buy as it offers excellent audio/video quality at a low price (most stores should have it for around $14-15.99).
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