Script Review:
MISSION TO MARS
by Bert Ehrmann
On Saturday, July the 17th, I was able to
attend the WIZARD WORLD convention in Chicago Illinois. There, other
than being amazed at how much wrestling and Beanie Baby crap was
on sale all the while watching a poorly taped dub of the
movie THE MATRIX, I was able to purchase the script to the movie
MISSION TO MARS. This movie is due in theaters next Summer, with
filming set to start any day.
If
this Summer's movies THE MUMMY was a "candy coated" version
of INDIANA JONES and LAKE PLACID was a "candy coated"
version of Jaws, then MISSION TO MARS must be next Summer's "candy
coated" version of 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY (think the monolith).
The movie deals with the crew of the first manned flight to Mars
finding an ancient alien artifact in their exploration of the planet.
The crew of this flight accidentally activates this device and are
all, except one, killed by it. This lone survivor is able to send
a single short message back to Earth which puts in motion a rescue
mission.
The crew of the rescue flight must deal with
everything from their ship being pelted by micro-meteorites to an
engine explosion. However, they do (most of them anyway) make it
to the surface of Mars and find the lone survivor of the first mission.
It is soon discovered that this alien artifact is not a malevolent
device but benevolent device, and the race is on to find out just
what it's use is before the crews of the two Mars flights are trapped
by a massive sand storm.
Although the basic underlying idea is sound, a rescue mission to
the far away planet of Mars, I disliked very much how the story
evolved in the script. I also found several similarities to other
movies (several of the scenes with the second crew to Mars hearken
back to the shuttle scenes in the movie ARMAGEDDON, the timetable
of the movie is much like that DEEP IMPACT in that each movie unfolds
over the course of several years and it's striking similarities
to the end of 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY).
Hopefully, MISSION TO MARS will get another
rewrite, the version of the script that I read was a rewrite by
TED TALLY, which will strengthen the characters and improve the
storyline. Look for MISSION TO MARS to open the Summer
of 2000. 7/19/1999
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Bert with your opinion
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