OK, I've finished watching the movie Red Planet on Amazon Prime.
Overall I enjoyed it and in particular I liked the focus on hardware especially that from previous Mars missions, both American and Russian. The idea of upcycling old machinery in space appeals to me greatly and I can see it being a realistic proposition for future astronauts. Does it feature in many other films do you know?
The more fantastical elements were less appealing for some reason. The algae-chomping weevils seemed an after-thought and poorly realised. At least in Apollo 18 the rock insects were the whole story and not just a brief scurry in the plot.
Similarly Aimee the bad robot seemed adrift in a droid strop but to be fair bad robots in flicks are hard to pull off. Think of DARYL, Saturn 5, Hardware to name a few rogues. Terminator did it but then again they had Arnie not Aimee.
Finally, the human element. Its always tricky. It either works or it doesn't. Carrie-Anne Moss's competent Captain was convincing enough bringing the mothership back from the brink. Not a sweaty, hard working Lt.. Ripley by a long chalk though but there can only ever be one beleaguered ship like the Nostromo and that's ..well, the Nostromo.
Val Kilmer was annoying. I'm not sure he can be taken seriously with his permanent grin. He was serious in HEAT though so he can do it. His fellow HEAT actor Tom Sizemore did a much better job as the double PhD geneticist trying to figure out where the algae had gone.
The rest of the crew, Stamp, Baker and Bratt, were just ballast and never given the time or the space to develop I felt. It was obvious that they would be toast.
All that said, I enjoyed Red Planet. Did you? Was there any merchandising?
I hated Sizemore, too bombastic. The other hispanic dude who falls off a cliff was annoying and Stamp was just unnecessary. Kilmer was annoying with his grinning,but Carrie Ann Moss steals the show with her smouldering looks and strong lead. My gripes were with the dubious physics, running the rover radio on sunlight
ReplyDeleteI think the definitive Mars film has yet to be made.
DeleteWell, (ahem!) I actually worked on this film and although I felt the end result was a little lacklustre, in terms of job satisfaction, it's probably the film I'm most proud of in my career. I was working in the Art Department, ostensibly as a Concept Modelmaker which is basically to make models of the designed sets before they are sent to construction. (this can help save LOTS of money if there's been a mistake, such as the error I discovered in The Matrix Reloaded -but I digress!)
DeleteHowever, on Red Planet as I was such a SF fan, I ended up being the unofficial technical advisor (for what it was worth) and I did a lot of planning on the Russian Cosmos probe, especially the interior design and graphics labelling. When it came time to build it, I not only contributed to building parts, but acted as an unofficial Art director, which was way above my pay scale! Even better, as time ran out, I started to design stuff that the authorities hadn't got around to! Yuri the Cosmobear, The little cartoon that opens the user interface, was entirely my conception, although the Graphics Artist was responsible for the final look. All in all, I look back on the whole experience as the closest I've got to a sort of Mike Trim job! If you'd like to see some photos of the stuff I did, let me know!
Lewis, despite my grumbling, Red Planet is one of my fave near future sci fi pics. The production design was gorgeous, especially the big deltoid shuttle and the escape pod. The russian lander was a great touch, very authentic, although I wasnt sure about the practicality of pouring out the liquid fuel! Yuri was cool, a nice little nod to the soviets continued move towards modern cultural norms.
DeleteI for one woukd love to see more of your work on the film, ive checked out the extras on the dvd which gives a little insight into production, but some first had info would be great! Any sketches or pre-pro artwork would be cool too! What were youre thoughts on the other Mars film at the time, Mission to Mars?
"Yuri" was inspired by the Moscow Olympics mascot, so the idea didn't come from that far afield. The trick was getting Production Designer Owen Patterson to agree it was a good idea! I thought there was a lot of dramatic potential in a stranded astronaut desperately running through the systems check to be devastated not by a simple line of text, but a stupid little cartoon character!
DeleteWhile we were making the film, there was "noticeable tension" between Messers Kilmer and Sizemore and one thing that kept Val sweet, was the documentary he was filming behind the scenes; "How to make a Red Planet".
Sadly, it hasn't appeared on the Australian DVD, so I suspect it was never finished...
You can see some of my concept sketches besides frame-grabs from the finished film on my personal website at http://www.redworldstories.com/lewisgallery.html
-I'm glad you liked the film otherwise!
Fascinating Lewis, brilliant memories. I did enjoy red Planet and most of all the hardware, which it turns out you had a hand in! the teams struggle to recycle old tech from two previous missions was the best part of the flick. I liked Yuri! Coming across Russian on old machinery is a realistic obstacle. Locating and kitbashing spacecraft parts in Red Planet must have inspired the filmmakers of The Martian do you think? Kilmer and Sizemore needed boss De Niro to keep them in check as he did in HEAT! ha ha
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