Will there ever be a quality Mars movie? It seems to be the cursed sci-fi genre. Nobody has yet to get it right. I haven't seen "Ghosts of Mars," but I don't want to, for good reasons.
"Mission to Mars" was bad, proving that FX and a mystical alien theme never works in a Gary Sinise movie (heh heh, remember "Impostor?")
"Red Planet" was the best of the bunch, with good effects, but some plot elements needed to be tied up (what happened to the base?) and Val Kilmer isn't exactly the best actor ever.
I was expecting more from "Total Recall." While the movie had the best special effects of its day when it came out in 1990, today it looks somewhat dated. And they should've stayed with the "Arnold-loses-memory" plot idea more instead of making gore and violence around every corner.
Seems like we are due for a good Mars movie. Comments?
[ March 29, 2002, 13:08: Message edited by: Veers ]
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
I actually really liked Mission to Mars. Don't know why, I'm aware it had its faults. Good Christ, am I aware of that - there's nothing more vocal than a SF geek who's seen a movie he didn't like, and when it came out the little darlings were falling over themselves to spout vitriol.
But it depends what you mean by a "Mars Movie." Ghosts of Mars is, as far as I can tell, a fairly standard monster/horror flick, except it's set on Mars. Something to do with people being possessed by the spirits of the long-dead Martians, or something? Straight transposition of the old Indian Burial Ground thing, basically.
I haven't seen Red Planet, either. I think what you're looking for is the perfect Martian Mission movie, which Mission to Mars certainly wasn't. Nor was Escape from Mars, a TV film I saw on satellite a while back. Right now I'd say the best "Mars Movie" out there would be Capricorn One or Conquest of Space.
I even enjoyed Robinson Crusoe on Mars. . . 8)
One day someone will do a decent adaptation of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red, Green and Blue Mars). Until then. . .
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
I believe Cameron still has the film rights to that trilogy.
Posted by Matrix (Member # 376) on :
I saw Mission to Mars, Red Planet, and Ghost of Mars. Ghosts is just a horror flci based on Mars. Mission to Mars was bring, and the only thing good in Red Planet was to see that Matrix girl Trinity taking a shower.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I recall hearing that Bradbury was working on another film interpretation of The Martian Chronicles, but that isn't really about Mars. At least, not the Mars we know.
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
Well Robinson's Mars Trilogy was such a boring set of books I wouldn't hold my breath for a great movie out of them. Of course hollywood has a way of shortening up overly wordy book such as these.
[ March 30, 2002, 17:09: Message edited by: Grokca ]
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
quote:Originally posted by Grokca: [QB]Well Robinson's Mars Trilogy was such a boring set of books I wouldn't hold my breath for a great movie out of them.QB]
What?!? I really liked 'em. Mind you I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood cocks it up. They usually do with book adaptions.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
They can, in truth, be very boring. . . but in my opinion they're one of the better books about Mars that's been written so far.
I've never seen The Martian Chronicles, so I can't speak for that adapation. It'd be nice to see a really good attempt made though.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
The Martian Chronicles adaptation wasn't bad, except where they tried to explain why Viking didn't find anything.
Mission to Mars sucked.
Red Planet was, sadly, the best of the bunch. Though there were still several serious flaws to it.
But our last, best hope is James Cameron and the Mars Trilogy. He's quite the Mars buff and active in the Mars Society. Here's to hoping...
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Anyone else see "Total Recall" and think it was too violent? It's a Mars movie, for God's sake...
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
It's a Verhoeven movie.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
I know that (in fact, that was what I was repeating over and over as Arnold impaled like five people on a spike). I'm just saying, can this guy tone down his films a bit? I mean, look at "Showgirls" and "Basic Instinct"...
Posted by The Red Admiral (Member # 602) on :
Red Planet was generally poor, but intriguing in places, I have to say. But I want to see a Venus movie for a change damn it!
I want to see a movie where Val Kilmer steps out on to the horrific Venusian surface, and be instantly flattened into a small organic disc by the atmospheric pressure.
I'd buy a ticket.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
quote: I'm just saying, can this guy tone down his films a bit?
The answer would seem to be an emphatic no.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
quote:"Fuck 'politically correct.'"
- Paul Verhoeven, 1991
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
No wonder ...
Posted by Matrix (Member # 376) on :
He also did Robocop and Starship Troopers, and Hollow Man. All of them had nude women in them somewhere. Any other director can make a movie without nude women walking around.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
This might have been reported previously, but according to this report: http://www.testpattern.net/scoops/scoops.html the Sci-Fi Channel is developing Red Mars as a miniseries. They're also doing Battlestar Galactica and Joe Haldeman's "Forever War" (!)
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
I liked both Robocop and Total Recall. They had a vivid spectrum of humanity and anti-corporate messge which I always really respond to. I didn't think the violence was too excessive. (puppet Quato on the other hand...)
Mission to Mars could have been a good movie if only they'd cut off that last bit there with the aliens and wrote a real ending.
Red Planet was utter shite except they part where they all think they are going to asphyxiate. The robot looked cool, but was totally preposterous. They get extra negative points by wasting both Terrence Stamp (unforgivable) and Carrie Anne Moss.
The Martian Chronicles are pretty amazing. It's been awhile, but I just remember feeling so alien watching them.
Ghosts of Mars I have not seen, but I'm definitely curious. I like NH a lot, and Ice Cube is often fun.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Adding on to my previous statements:
I liked the idea of "Total Recall" (which was from a Phillip K. Dick story), but I thought it didn't need all the violence. It is supposed to be a science-fiction movie, not "Rambo Goes to Mars."
Mission to Mars was just bad, I'm sorry. Gary Sinise has to make a good movie soon that does not have Tom Hanks... And that ending...what was it about?
Ice Cube is about the only rapper that can act, and he was good in "Three Kings," but the "I ain't goin' back" line from the trailer and the idea of zombie Martians or whatever makes "Ghosts of Mars" look like a bad horror flick set on a far-out planet.
[ April 02, 2002, 19:40: Message edited by: Veers ]
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
I saw Red Planet a while after it came to video. I didn't think it was too bad. Could've been better. The homicidal psycho robot was cool. I wish I had a robot to kill people I don't like. Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I didn't care too much for Total Recall. I suppose that's just because I'm not a big Arnold fan. Yeah, there was a lot of violence, but I seem to recall that it was marketed more as an action film than a sci-fi film. Total Recall did have some interesting parts to it (like the generally-not-good conditions of living on Mars and the tax on air -- both elements were solid to me).
I saw Red Planet not too many weeks ago. I found it to be enjoyable, but there were some plot holes. The biggest one to me is that they spent all that time on the surface of Mars, yet their sophisticated instruments never picked up the breathable atmosphere. I'll say this, though: the effects were good. I really liked that aspect of the movie. The ending I didn't like at all, though. "So what happens to the overpopulation of Earth now?" is my final thought for the movie.
Also, I'd like to add that Paul Verhoeven does the occasional bit of male nudity. There was Casper Van Diem's rear end in Starship Troopers (IMDb says that he directed the shower scene in the nude to make the actors more comfortable ) and there was some shots of the little Kevin Bacon in Hollow Man.
[ April 02, 2002, 20:55: Message edited by: Siegfried ]
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
The two Mars movies I've always wanted to see are "The Princess of Mars" (or other ER Burroughs Mars stories) and War of the Worlds. IIRC Disney was thinking of making Princess of Mars back in the 1940s. Imagine if they hired Frazetta today and made that thing.
A full-out steampunk version of War of the Worlds set properly in Victorian London would also be very cool. A version was announced last year to be set in modern-day Seattle, but it got put off by 9/11. I think a modern day version would just be Independence Day again, so what's the point? If I could see a burning HMS Thunder Child ramming a Martian War Machine I might die happy.
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Masao: Your wish is Paramount's Command. I doubt the Mars Society will jizz itself over any advancement of the public's knowledge of Mars and its hardhitting explanation of a multistage interplanetary rocket and the delicate process of picking a landing site. But it could be quite fun.
Steaking of the whole steampunk thing, this, bar none, has the coolest potential of any comic-based film in development at the moment.
[ April 12, 2002, 10:30: Message edited by: The_Tom ]
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Just watched Red Planet; quite good I thought, effect were good, ending was a bit unsatisfactory. Also, why was the ship not protected against radiation storms?
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
) and there was some shots of the little Kevin Bacon in Hollow Man.