Red Planet
User Score
6.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 20
  3. Negative: 5 out of 20

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  1. TM
    Sep 10, 2007
    1
    A basic tenet of scifi flicks is that they should at least get the science right. Great ones take accurate science and extrapolate to create fantastic but not improbable results. This movie can't even bother to get the genetic code right (A,G,T,P???)or to figure out that insects aren't nematodes much less be creative about life and human existence might happen on Mars.
  2. raVen
    Jul 20, 2003
    6
    Too unrealistic!?!? (Newsflash: Val Kilmer isn't a real astronaut, either). It's a good little flick--sit down and eat your popcorn.
  3. PatC.
    Jan 5, 2004
    1
    A visionary movie of what we can expect Mars to be like if Hollywood gets there first.
  4. Classified
    Sep 24, 2001
    10
    This was a great film. Two big Thumbs up.
  5. Patrickb
    Aug 2, 2008
    10
    Best Mars movie there is. Some unrealistic science facts.. yeah.. but also some part of it IS realistic and fun to watch, I especially like the ship design how they actually make an artificial intelligence and make it work with G-forces, oh well.
  6. WobiekisserM.
    Aug 27, 2001
    5
    This is one of the worst alien/planet movies I've ever seen, yet while I was watching it something weird took place, I found myself actually having fun watching it.
  7. CBB
    Jun 28, 2002
    3
    This film was too unrealistic. Algae eating bugs on Mars, please! How ridiculous.
  8. DLWilson
    Nov 8, 2011
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm writing because I absolutely loved this movie and cannot for the life of me understand why the user scores, at least, are not much higher. It has a fine cast, excellent production values, mostly credible science, an intriguing and suspenseful plot mixed with action that is not for its own sake, a theme of survival and accomplishment in a bleak universe that is very serious, and some credible romance at the end. Just wonderful. This is a classic, right up there with "The Fifth Element", watchable again and again over the years. I confess that there is a major credibility glitch at an important turn in the plot -- with a lot of equipment already on the ground, nobody saw to it that there was an oxygen detector to report that they weren't all going to die after all. They could have injected a word or two saying that their oxygen detectors were fried in the solar flare that caused their premature escape launch to the planet. But I don't care. I supplied that piece of information myself. As for the critics, always remember what a bunch of snobs they are, save for a few with eclectic tastes, notably here the great Roger Ebert (long may he liv). Anytime I see a great disparity between the user scores and the critics', I know that either Metacritic isn't counting the latter fairly (which often happens) or the users have seen the worth of a movie the critics were blind to. We should be grateful that a movie like this was made. I sure am.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
34 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 27 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 27
  3. Negative: 11 out of 27
  1. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    38
    The characters aren't convincingly written, rarely if ever behave like believable humans, and consequently don't matter to us in the least.
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  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    30
    A leaden, skimpily plotted space-age Outward Bound adventure with vague allegorical aspirations that remain entirely unrealized.
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  3. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    40
    Visit Red Planet, and you'll boldly go where everyone has gone before.
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