Veteran director Brian DePalma ventures into outer space on a quest to discover the mysteries surrounding the Red Planet. But the real question maybe, was this film rushed to finish first in Hollywood's race to make a film about Mars? The other entry being "The Red Planet" starring Val Kilmer, due later this year.

Mission to Mars' story is quite simple. The first mission to Mars is disastrous and leaves an astronaut either dead or marooned on Mars. It's up to veteran astronaut's Gary Sinise and Tim Robbins to save or bury their friend. This begs the question, would NASA send another manned mission if the other one failed so horribly? No, it would be a public relations nightmare.

With nearly 2 ½ months left before the summer movie season, Touchstone Pictures hopes to make a killing off this film before the real competition comes calling. But from seeing this film I begin to wonder if this film is such a force to be reckoned with. Mission is full of ridiculous dialogue and a lot of dead space. Not to mention a plot that begs the question, how much reality is actually here?

Feeding off sci-fi monsters like "Close Encounters" and "2001", Mission tries to center itself in a reality type atmosphere of what would happen if we actually did the journey. But it gets bogged down in the subplot of the failed mission and the "Force" on the planet. A Mars movie like this should have been done like "Apollo 13" with the idea of actually seeing the brilliance of what the Red Planet is.

Is there any greatness in this film? The visuals and look of the film are as great as any sci-fi film out there. The Hollywood effects houses are brilliant every time we want a science fiction film. There are some moments which fascinated me. Such as the mystery of the FACE on Mars which so many of us outer space buffs wonder about. But these were hard to enjoy when a character named Luke is talking about the Force and I am trying to enjoy a film grounded some what in reality.

To conclude, I hope "Red Planet" is the Mars film all science fiction fans yearn for.

(2.5 of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.

The year is 2020 and man is finally going to the red planet, Mars. The spacecraft Mars 1 lands successfully on the barren planet. Needless to say, it was a joyous occasion, that is until disaster struck. The crew of Mars 1 was out on an investigative mission of a mountain which they believed might contain an enormous amount of ice. Thorough scanning showed something more sinister was underneath. Three crew people died and the last man's fate was unknown. The crew of Mars 2 must scrub their initial mission plan and mount a rescue mission for the man who may or may not be alive. When they arrive they find more than they bargained for.

Plot: Once the layer about the planet Mars is removed the story is basically a reworking of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Brothers Jim and John Thomas and Graham Yost are obviously not the most creative group of people. Those who aren't familiar with 2001 will find this script to be refreshingly original and will give these writers more credit than I will. Of course, for a copy, it is the best one out there. It may move the story from Jupiter to Mars, however it still has the same underlying motif. The script was solid and the story was good, but it still lacked some originality. ***1/2(out of five)

Acting: Mission to Mars stars an all-star cast including, but not limited to: Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen, Kim Delaney, and Tim Robbins. Through the majority of the film this grouping works perfectly. Unfortunately sometimes the group didn't work so perfectly. For example, early on in the film Tim Robbins seems to be reading his lines off of a cue card. Although these problems are worked out rather quickly they are a bit distracting in the beginning. On the plus side, Don Cheadle and Gary Sinise perform admirably through the whole picture. ****(out of five)

Directing: Brian De Palma is best known for his classic films: Carrie, Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Mission: Impossible, and Snake Eyes. One quick glance at his past films and one will notice that not a single film he has ever made has left planet Earth. Mission to Mars is De Palma's first foray into the sci-fi genre...and if he continues this work he may have a future in it. De Palma brings his voyeuristic directing style into the empty reaches of space and onto the red planet of Mars, a look never seen in science fiction before. His Martian vistas are very reminiscent of the Mars Pathfinder mission and it should be that way. Everything in this film has a very believable look, from the spaceships to the people themselves. This review wouldn't be complete if I didn't talk about the problems, luckily this film only has one. Pacing, this film starts out pretty slowly and drags its heels for a while, it may have been worth it at the end, but a good 20-25 minutes could have been completely removed without the script being rewritten. ****1/2(out of five)

Music: Ennio Morricone is mostly an Italian film composer with only a handful of American pictures under his belt: Bulworth, Lolita, U Turn, Disclosure, and Wolf. Much like Brian De Palma this is Morricone's first venture into space. Because of this the movie ends up having a sound unfamiliar to the genre. Some people find this distracting while others welcome the change, but to give a better idea of what kind of change this is I'll use a musical instrument example. He uses an organ at one point in the movie. ***1/2(out of five)

Special Effects: Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) is known across the globe for their breathtaking visuals and their academy awards...including a nomination this year for The Phantom Menace. Add another scratch to ILM's score card they've done it again. The spacecraft and space stations are so realistically detailed that one could confuse them with the real thing...except for the fact that none of the spacecraft exist. ILM's planetary work is also worthy of praise. "Mars" was actually a red painted sixty acre sandlot outside of Vancouver, Canada and it was ILM's job to replace the city background with a more Martian landscape, the effect is seamless. ILM rivals David Copperfield as the master of illusion. *****(out of five)

Bottom Line: Those of you who have been waiting for this movie, even those of you who saw Pitch Black to quench your thirst for science fiction, should definitely go see this movie. If movies that copy other movies bother you, skip out on this one. It really comes down to this, Brian De Palma's version of 2001 is worth 130 minutes of your life...hey it might even be entertaining. **** (out of five)