Mission lacks right mood

Director Brian De Palma has shown the world his imagination with the box-office smash Mission to Mars.

The movie seems to be on a "mission" to pay homage to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, but comes out lacking, even if that's the case.

However, Mission to Mars has brilliant characterization, which really helped with the boring parts - more editing was obviously needed.

The premise is simple: all their lives, astronauts Maggie and Jim McConnell dreamed of going to Mars, but unfortunately Maggie died before her dream was fulfilled. After a few crew member replacements and disaster on the Mars1 (the first ship sent to Mars), a new ship is sent to rescue the remaining crew members. On their way, the ship encounters some rough obstacles that are small compared to what they are about to encounter when they meet up with their comrades.

The filmmakers of Mission to Mars worked in collaboration with NASA to make the movie realistic. Correctly portraying situations in space helps the film poke some fun at such classics as Star Wars for having noisy explosions in the silent vacuum of space.

The special effects along with the excellent acting combine to make this film worth watching if one has the time. Again,Mission to Mars is much longer than it needs to be.

During the suspenseful parts, the music was off. The mood that the movie hoped to achieve was crushed by wrong sounds and scenes.

Mission to Mars is okay, if one is looking simply for characterization, realistic situations and a few special effects. However, for those mass audiences simply seeking simple entertainment, see something else.