I struggled to try to figure out which film I would cover first as the inaugural film of this column. As the plan will go in the future, I used a google randomizer to try and pick a number that would correlate to the spreadsheet of titles. Every title that was picked was super heavy, and I’ll get to those, that is the plan after all. After some suggestions and thanks to Star on Disney+, I ended up watching Brian De Palma’s Mission to Mars.
The film’s been out for 21 years, so I will be covering spoilers. But also, this series will definitely be including spoilers moving forward.
Mission to Mars is a film that I remember always seeing the poster at a local video rental store. Why was a random De Palma flick a mainstay, I couldn’t tell you. I remember asking my parents if I could rent it since there were always copies — but my parents said I wasn’t old enough at the time. I was about ten, so it was a valid statement.
Brian De Palma is one of many filmmakers whose filmography has mostly escaped me. I’ve seen a decent number of his films, but not enough. And every time I see another, it’s another reminder of how I should be changing that soon. This is another example of that.
The film opens with a get-together with a bunch of astronaut friends including Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise), Woody Blake (Tim Robbins), and Luke Graham (Don Cheadle) talking about how Jim was the one who dreamt of going to Mars, but he’ll get there, eventually. After part of Luke’s mission goes wrong — in surprisingly gruesome ways…
