Science Fiction features today seem to have all the advantages: big budgets, hyper-realistic digital effects, generous helpings of star power--assets their classic predecessors could only dream about. Perhaps that's why it's so frustrating that so many of these privileged futuramas are brain-dead (but visually fabulous) clunkers. Red Planet is gorgeously photographed. From a purely visual perspective, the film convincingly places us first upon a long-range spacecraft, complete with artificial gravity, bound for Mars, and later upon the surface of Mars itself.

As for storytelling, however, Red Planet establishes its ineptness right from the start. Mission commander Kate Bowman (Carrie-Ann Moss), via voice-over, gives us an introduction so laden with exposition I couldn't help but cringe. Bowman sounds like she's reading a story outline, complete with character breakdown, as she explains that the Earth is rapidly becoming uninhabitable due to pollution. For the past few decades, Mankind has been seeding Mars with algae to oxygenate its atmosphere. Unfortunately, in the year 2056, the algae seems to have mysteriously vanished. Bowman and her crew, which includes scientist Burchenal (Tom Sizemore) and engineer/janitor Gallagher (Val Kilmer), have been sent to Mars to find out why.

Our heroes bring some nifty technology with them on this, the first manned voyage to Mars, including AMEE, a vaguely Terminator-like, fold-up robot designed by the U.S. Marines to kill people but reprogrammed by NASA to be helpful instead. Already on the surface of Mars is a bio-habitat station where the crew will live for the next few months (how it got there is probably not a question the filmmakers want you to ask). Trouble strikes as they enter Mars orbit--a massive solar flare short-circuits the entire ship. As fires break out and the engines go dead, Bowman orders her crew to get into the Mars lander and depart for the planet?s surface. Bowman herself remains behind to try to repair the ship. Alert viewers might be wondering whether splitting up the crew at this time is such a good idea. Again, this is probably a question the filmmakers don't want you to ask.

To the crew's surprise, the solar flare has damaged the lander as well. It goes off course and crash lands--spectacularly--in a giant Martian canyon, leaving the surviving crew members stranded with a diminishing supply of oxygen. Thanks to some clever map-reading by Gallagher, the crew manages to walk to the bio-habitat station. To their horror, the station is gone, destroyed by some unknown force or entity. With only minutes of oxygen left, Gallagher, Bowman, and two others make peace and prepare to die. Meanwhile, in orbit above, Bowman repairs the ship with relatively little fuss. Using a super-telescope, she spots the ruins of the bio-habitat station and realizes she has sent her crew to their deaths.

Clever Gallagher, however, finds a solution to the oxygen dilemma. This turns out to be only a temporary reprieve, since AMEE, the robot, also turns out to have been fried by the solar flare. She is now running in full-military mode, stalking Gallagher and Burchenal, intent on killing them. Ordinarily, being chased around by a killer robot in the dark on a hostile planet might lead to some genuine suspense, but I must confess that AMEE in combat mode looked cartoonish and silly to me--like a runaway blender--and I scare easily.

Red Planet has a few more tricks up its sleeve. There remains the matter of the algae to be settled, and a few more failures of technology to contend with. Throw in a massive ice storm just to keep things difficult. And later, Gallagher tries to salvage an aged Russian ore-sampler in a surprisingly witty sequence that is by far the film's best. The climactic finale is adequately rousing, provided you not merely suspend disbelief but actively assault it, which might well be the best way to approach this film. Sit back, enjoy the pretty pictures--and don't ask questions.

Andrew Lewicky is a Los Angeles-Based writer and story analyst.

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