User Reviews

Robert Zubrin, head of the Mars Society, once described the red planet as the next logical step for the space program. It unquestionably has seemed that way for generations of filmmakers, as films as wide-ranging as 1955's Conquest of Space and 2015's The Martian. The mid-late 1990s, too, saw a spat of Martian films, appearing on both the big and small screen. One of them was UPN's 1999 made for TV effort Escape from Mars.

Set in the then far off 2015, Escape from Mars follows the crew and mission controllers of the Sagan mission, slated to be the all-important human expedition to Mars. Funded by the private sector, the objective is to establish a foothold on the planet while finding precious jewels that will help turn a profit for the mission's backers. It's an intriguing notion and one that has proven to be increasingly foresighted with the rise of companies like SpaceX on the space flight scene. A scene early on, where viewers learn that it's also being financed by the sale of memorabilia and online rights, brings to mind the now abandoned Mars One proposal. Indeed, the mission as seen on screen incorporates elements from some real-life proposals that provide it an air of verisimilitude in places, at least for the first half of the movie.

It's in the second half where the title comes into play. Having gotten to Mars, the astronauts find themselves potentially stranded thanks to a meteorite storm that damages the Sagan. In many ways, this portion of the movie feels like a prototype version of the aforementioned The Martian, albeit with the whole crew present and less emphasis on the actual mechanics of survival. Which still sounds promising.

Except that what writers Jim Henshaw and Peter Mohan focus on both here and throughout the movie is drama, often needlessly so. Trying to perhaps humanize the astronauts, Henshaw and Mohan throw generous doses of cliches into the story, and never once to its benefit. One is getting a divorce, which they don't want to admit. Another misses her lover, making her wonder if the mission is ultimately worth it. Even when some intriguing twists get thrown into the mix, like someone losing a family member mid-mission, it gets handled in a rather ham-fisted fashion. Even the eventual ending feels heavy-handed, laden as it was sentiment. All of which serves to undermine the movie as a whole.

As does the low budget that Escape from Mars clearly had. The CGI used throughout for the Sagan is late nineties computer graphics in all their glory, never being totally convincing and even distracting. That's partly down to the fact that, to take advantage of stock footage for the launch, it's fundamentally a Space Shuttle Orbiter with minor modifications, which rather strains plausibility when it has to land on Mars. Mars itself ends up represented by a rock quarry, a trick that fans of the original run of Doctor Who will recognize, with scenes which are always shot tightly, often with a red filter laid over them. That said, that are moments where director Neill Fearnley turns the budget to his advantage, such as the scene that shows artificial gravity coming into use during Sagan's long sojourn to the red planet. On the whole, though, the lack of a budget to realize the script's vision is sadly apparent from practically the very first scene.

Thankfully, the film's cast helps to salvage things. Christine Elise wouldn't have been my first choice for an astronaut but, all the same, equips herself fairly well, given the confines of the script. Surrounding her as genre veterans such as Michael Shanks and Peter Outerbridge among her crewmates, Shanks coming across the most convincingly of the five. Mission Control fares better with Julie Khaner's Flight Director being perhaps the most rounded character in the piece. No one gives an award-worthy performance but, that being said, they do their best with an at times unwieldy script.

As low budget, made for TV fare goes, Escape from Mars is pretty decent. Certainly, its ideas and cast help it out, especially in trying to overcome some of the issues the script has. For those dreaming of a mission to Mars, though, it'll be catnip, even if it isn't in the same league as The Martian.

SPOILERS - The year is 2016 and a crew is going to Mars, for the first time, to explore enough to see if living there is feasible. Tiger Woods is president of the USA/Canada coalition. The launch looks normal, but a brief, non-isolatable glitch shows up and goes away. In spite of some fears, the "politically correct" move is to go forward. They have a brief problem mid-way, but ultimately make a smooth landing on Mars, piloted by Lia Poirier (Christine Elise). Later, she and the commander hold hands as they step together onto the surface, the first man and woman on Mars.

After a pretty interesting first half, mostly exciting stuff we know can happen, the second half of the movie deals with stuff no one knows about, on Mars, and most of it seemed contrived for the movie. Meteorite shower, "visions", miscellaneous electrical problems, death of a crewmember. Plus, Lia gets a message that her husband died in a car wreck, and the commander's wife is divorcing him.

There would not have been enough fuel and oxygen for the return trip, but with 20% of the crew gone, now they could go home. Right before, they discovered a cave with "phosphorescence", and a few drops of water, which means they found life on Mars. The movie ends with them blasting off Mars, and a brief narration by Lia about what future exploration might discover.

This movie is not as bad as some "reviewers" make it out to be. It was made to star Christine Elise, a cute and "buff" actress better known for her roles as a mental case on "Beverly Hills 90201" TV series, and as the friend of Shelly on one episode of "Northern Exposure." Although she is a competent actor, her "delivery" is just not very credible as a scientist and space pilot. As a result of their training, those kinds of people sound certain ways, and she just doesn't "sound" right. Jodie Foster, in "Contact" sounded right, "Denise Richards" in "The World Is Not Enough", did NOT sound right. And, in a movie like this, that makes a big difference in credibility.

Still, I rate it "5" of 10 for mild entertainment value.

By the way, my comment about Tiger Woods was just a joke, ignore it! :-)

SPOILERS!

As a Sci Fi fan I have to say this movie was robbed!!! I think the story had real possibilities if more money had been put into the production and a little more effort drawn out of the actors.

The premise is the first manned mission to Mars financed by some sort of international consortium for profit. (The idea of selling T-shirts and paraphernalia to finance a space mission is intriguing)

The crew ribs about doing the mission "on the cheap", by using second hand computers and equipment. Too bad the producers didn't take this into account when financing the movie. I paid $6.00 for the videotape, I only wish they had paid the screenwriter more than that.

Two stars.