Movie Review: The Last Days On Mars

STARRING: Liev Schreiber, Romola Garai, Elias Koteas, Olivia Williams

DIRECTOR: Ruairi Robinson

THE SKINNY: A team of astronauts search for life on Mars. The scientists and engineers enjoy an easy camaraderie and live comfortably within their hi-tech base. That all begins to change, however, when they actually DO find life on Mars - a tiny bacteria that has a devastating effect on humans, turning them into zombie psychos!

RATING: PG13

THE CONSENSUS: Neither guys nor gals will particularly love it, but the ladies might appreciate its relatively thoughtful approach.

Almost every book I read about Mars is a great book.

Almost every movie I see about Mars is a dud.

And The Last Days On Mars is no exception - it is really boring and derivative.

It tries to be something like Alien or The Thing, but without the spectacular creatures and assured artistry.

Director Robinson has gone out of his way to make everything look realistic -he did quite a good job given his limited budget - but the movie lacks anything even approaching imagination.

This is such a well-trodden territory, so you really have to give us something mind-blowing.

Schreiber is a terrific actor and a commanding presence, but he is no leading man.

Remember him as the villain in Salt? He is a great heavy.

In The Last Days On Mars, it is hard to relate to him. He just kind of runs here and there doing this and that. Also, what's up with all the flashbacks?

He is always thinking back to this painful incident from his past, and it grinds the already-slow action to a halt.

It does not help that he shares the screen with a lot of nondescript non-stars whose activities seem equally pointless.

Honestly, this barely rises above the level of your average sci-fi made-for-TV movie.

jjohnson@sph.com.sg

I have yet to watch a great movie about Mars, not that I am crazy about flicks revolving around the Red Planet anyway.

This one, however, has great potential and sets things up very well.

You feel the anticipation and chills, something is going to go bad.

After all, the movie title itself is ominous. The eerie and suspenseful music adds to the nail-biting anticipation.

The largely British cast, anchored by US actor Schreiber, delivers raw, frantic and intense performances, making this more engrossing than the movie really is.

Also, Jordan, where the film was shot, serves very well as the harsh planet.

Unfortunately, everything is brought down by the weak plot.

There is nothing revolutionary here, especially after having seen last year's Prometheus.

So when the action does begin, the movie is reduced to yet another virus-infection flick without the polished visual effects of World War Z or the cheesiness of the Resident Evil franchise.

Considering that there are only that many people in the movie, you know who is going to be offed next. But Robinson deserves a pat on the back. It is a worthy first attempt at an ambitious sci-fi feature film.

joannes@sph.com.sg

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