Red Planet
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAntony Hoffman
Screenplay by
Story byChuck Pfarrer
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPeter Suschitzky
Edited by
  • Robert K. Lambert
  • Dallas Puett
Music byGraeme Revell
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • 10 November 2000 (2000-11-10)
Running time
106 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • Australia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million[1]
Box office$33.5 million[1]

Red Planet is a 2000 science fiction action film directed by Antony Hoffman.[2][3][4] The film stars Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Tom Sizemore.

Red Planet was released in the United States on 10 November 2000. The film was a critical and commercial failure and is Hoffman's only feature film to date.

Plot

Due to the 21-century ecological crisis on Earth, humankind has been terraforming Mars by sending atmosphere-producing algae to its surface. When the oxygen begins decreasing, Mars-1 is sent to investigate.

A gamma-ray burst damages Mars-1 as it reaches Mars. Commander Kate Bowman remains on board for repairs, while the other crew members Quinn Burchenal, Bud Chantilas, Robby Gallagher, Ted Santen, and Chip Pettengill head towards the automated habitat (HAB 1). The landing craft is damaged and tumbles to the wrong location, and AMEE, the military robot navigator, is jettisoned. Chantilas is mortally wounded and asks the others to leave without him. Bowman puts out a shuttle-wide fire and communicates with Houston. Houston tells her that Mars-1 may be able to return to Earth.

The landing party finds HAB 1 destroyed and prepares to die when oxygen runs out. Santen walks off. Pettengill follows him and starts an argument, then accidentally knocks him into the canyon. Petengill tells the others that Santen committed suicide. As he's asphyxiating to death, Gallagher opens his helmet and discovers that Mars's atmosphere contains oxygen, more than the terraforming would have produced. The trio set fire to the ruins of HAB 1 to warm them during the night.

AMEE rejoins the crew, but when crew discusses shutting it down and taking its guidance device, AMEE wounds Burchenal and leaves. Gallagher builds a radio from the Mars Rover Pathfinder. Houston picks up their signal on a long-unused frequency and alerts Bowman. Bowman tells them to reach a failed Russian probe 100 km away and launch themselves in its rock sample return system.

As they weather an ice storm, Gallagher and Burchenal argue with Pettengill, who later flees with the radio but is killed by AMEE. Gallagher and Burchenal recover the radio and find Pettengill's body full of Martian nematodes. Nearby, they see a field of algae being eaten by nematodes. Burchenal deduces that the nematodes have been eating the algae and excreting oxygen, and he captures a few in a sample vial. Drawn to Burchenal's wounds, the nematodes swarm him. He gives Gallagher the vial and immolates himself.

Gallagher discovers the Russian probe needs a power source. After he tells Bowman he should have kissed her, he realizes he could use AMEE's power core. He lures AMEE over and disables her with one of the probe's sample launchers, then launches himself into orbit. Bowman tethers out to retrieve and revive him, and they finally kiss.

Cast

Production

The production of the film (which was filmed in Wadi Rum in Southern Jordan and in Outback Australia) was the subject of numerous reports about the bad working relationship between co-stars Tom Sizemore and Val Kilmer. Kilmer's reputation for being "difficult" was already well-established, and although the two stars had been friends, they fell out after Kilmer reportedly became enraged when he discovered that production had paid for Sizemore's exercise machine to be shipped to the set. Kilmer shouted, "I’m making ten million on this; you’re only making two", to which Sizemore responded by throwing a 50-pound (23 kg) weight at Kilmer. The two were soon refusing to speak to each other or even come onto the set if the other was present, necessitating the use of body doubles to shoot scenes involving both actors, and their relationship became so bad that one of the producers is said to have asked Sizemore not to hit Kilmer in the face when the big fight finally happened – in the event, Sizemore purposely punched Kilmer in the chest.[5] Sizemore has since described the film as one of his career regrets, but also stated that he and Kilmer have since reconciled.[6]

Release

Box office

Red Planet opened at No. 5 at the North American box office behind Charlie's Angels, Little Nicky, Men of Honor and Meet the Parents, making $8.7 million USD in its opening weekend.[7] The film was a box-office bomb, grossing $33 million worldwide against an estimated budget of $80 million.[8]

Critical response

Red Planet received negative reviews. As of June 2021, the film holds a 14% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 3.90/10. The site's consensus states: "While the special effects are impressive, the movie suffers from a lack of energy and interesting characters."[9] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 34% based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[10] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C on scale of A to F.[11]

Stephen Holden's review in The New York Times was almost entirely negative, calling the film "a leaden, skimpily plotted space-age Outward Bound adventure with vague allegorical aspirations that remain entirely unrealized."[12]

However, in his positive review, Roger Ebert said that he "like[s] its emphasis on situation and character" and that he's "always been fascinated by zero-sum plots in which a task has to be finished within the available supplies of time, fuel and oxygen". He notes that "like in 1950s sci-fi, the story's strong point isn't psychological depth or complex relationships, but brainy scientists trying to think their way out of a box that grows smaller every minute."[13]

Music

The music for Red Planet was composed by Graeme Revell, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Kipper, Joe Frank, William Orbit, Rico Conning and Melissa Kaplan with performances from Graeme Revell, Peter Gabriel, Emma Shapplin, Sting, William Orbit, Melissa Kaplan and Different Gear vs. Police.

Red Planet: Music from the Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
Released2000
GenreAlternative rock, House, 21st-century classical music, Ambient, Downtempo, Experimental, Industrial rock
Length56:27
LabelPANGÆA
No.TitleWriter(s)Performer(s)Length
1."The Tower That Ate People"Peter GabrielPeter Gabriel4:05
2."The Inferno"Graeme RevellEmma Shapplin4:31
3."A Thousand Years"Sting, KipperSting5:57
4."Mars Red Planet"RevellGraeme Revell3:25
5."The Fifth Heaven"RevellEmma Shapplin4:53
6."MontokPoint"William Orbit, Rico Conning, Joe FrankStrange Cargo7:13
7."Canto XXX"RevellEmma Shapplin5:11
8."Alone"RevellGraeme Revell2:13
9."Dante's Eternal Flame"Revell, Melissa KaplanMelissa Kaplan and Graeme Revell3:40
10."Crash Landing"RevellGraeme Revell5:13
11."The Tower That Ate People (Remix)"GabrielPeter Gabriel6:27
12."When The World Is Running Down (You Can't Go Wrong)"StingDifferent Gear vs The Police3:35
Total length:56:27

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Red Planet (2000) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "Red Planet (2000)". American Film Institute.
  3. ↑ "BBC - Films - Review - Red Planet". BBC Online.
  4. ↑ "Red Planet". Pluggedin.com. A destroyed habitat, a rogue robot programmed to kill, ferocious man-eating insects and treacherous environmental conditions all stand in the way of success. But this is remote-control sci-fi action, so never fear, Gallagher is here. He's the team's mechanical engineer and operational backbone. Just watch, he'll save the day!
  5. ↑ Connelly, Sherryl (17 March 2014). "Action star Tom Sizemore recounts his rise and fall from fame and his battle with sobriety in new memoir". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  6. ↑ Stern, Marlow (26 September 2014). "Tom Sizemore's Revenge: On Tom Cruise's Scientology Recruitment, Drugs, and Craving a Comeback". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "Charlie's angels hold off Sandler's devils to remain No. 1". The Pantagraph. 13 November 2000. p. 35. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ↑ "Red Planet (2000)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Red Planet". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "Red Planet". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  11. ↑ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 20 December 2018.
  12. ↑ "Red Planet: Finding the Terra Not So Firma on Mars," Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 10 November 2000
  13. ↑ Ebert, Roger (10 November 2000). "Red Planet Movie Review & Film Summary (2000)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
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