Red Planet (film)

Red Planet is a 2000 science fiction action film directed by Antony Hoffman. 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

 * Val Kilmer as Robby Gallagher, Engineer
 * Carrie-Anne Moss as Lieutenant Commander Kate Bowman, Mission Commander
 * Tom Sizemore as Dr. Quinn Burchenal, Geneticist
 * Benjamin Bratt as Lieutenant Ted Santen, Pilot
 * Simon Baker as Dr. Chip Pettengill, Terraforming Specialist
 * Terence Stamp as Dr. Bud Chantilas, Chief Science Officer
 * Bob Neill as Houston (voice)

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 lb 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. Sizemore has since described the film as one of his career regrets, but also stated that he and Kilmer have since reconciled.

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. The film made $33 million worldwide against an estimated budget of $80 million.

Critical response
Red Planet received negative reviews. , 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." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 34% based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C on scale of A to F.

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."

However, in his positive three thumbs up (of four) 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."

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.