The studios rushed two Mars movies into production for the year 2000. Neither were The Martian and I would like to see Mission to Mars again. I remember liking it but Warner Bros’ was Red Planet, which posited a Mars terraformed enough to remove helmets, and added a killer robot.
Perhaps nostalgia improves the film, as we’ve lost Val Kilmer, Terrence Stamp and Tom Sizemore. But it’s also sort of a Syfy channel movie with A-list actors and a Hollywood budget so that’s fun.
The first 20 minutes are in space and Carrie-Anne Moss remains on the ship for the duration so they keep cutting back to her. You still see the film grain back when every studio movie was shot on 35mm, plus video-gamey CGI. AMEE looks good though.
That Mars tint holds up and night on Mars is way darker than in space. That’s probably because there are no stars visible on Mars.
There’s lots of surround sound effects too with thrusters, space equipment whirring and clanking, AMEE leaping over Kilmer and the Mars wind. A fire on board the ship goes full 360.
Arrow interviewed Visual Effects Supervisor Jeffrey Okun and he spills dirt on Kilmer and Sizemore .Neither are around anymore to corroborate or refute. It’s surprsing to hear special effects artist Steve Johnson tout AI, but it’s telling that at the end he reveals he’s only using it for fun. No film has hired him for AI, though I wouldn’t rule it out eventually.
Heath Holland puts Red Planet in the context of Mars mania from ’97 rover and the dueling Mars movies. He does not mention Ghosts of Mars the following year. Then he gets into each actor’s contribution, then behind the scenes. He is critical of some aspects of the film too.
14 minutes of deleted scenes include more of the supporting characters, and the Simon Baker/Benjamin Bratt fight was much longer,