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Red Planet
Warner Bros.


4.7

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 7 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sci-fi violence, brief nudity and language

Starring Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Carrie-Anne Moss, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, and Terence Stamp

Mission Commander Kate Bowman (Moss) is the pilot and commander of the most important mission of the 21st century: saving the human race. It's 2050, Earth is dying, and colonizing Mars is the only alternative to obliteration. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Chuck Pfarrer (also story) Jonathan Lemkin
DIRECTED BY:	Antony Hoffman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 27, 2001 Video: March 27, 2001 Theatrical: November 10, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	116 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

To like that kind of story is to like this kind of movie.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

I loved this movie. Or perhaps I should say the 15-year-old boy in me -- the dreamy, disaffected misfit with his head in the stars and a stack of Bantam sci-fi paperbacks as his sole defense against small-town boredom -- loved it.

LA Weekly Greg Burk

A fun movie. Not scary-fun. If you're a male over 10 years old, that should be enough.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It does boast loads of cool gadgetry and some impressive special effects. It's not much, but at least the movie always gives you something to look at.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It stars the striking Moss, that fierce beauty from "The Matrix," as the sternest, sexiest babe in space since Sigourney Weaver's Lieutenant Ripley.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Fails to generate the elementary visceral thrills we've come to expect from science-fiction thrillers, let alone a compelling human drama.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

When it comes to special effects, the filmmakers have spared no expense. But when it comes to the story, audiences have been shortchanged.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Watch out for space junk.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

Good-looking and empty.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

The slogan for Red Planet could be "In space no one can hear you yawn."

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Watching the movie, it's hard to imagine why anyone would dream of going back there.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Isn't particularly offensive, except in its total mediocrity.

Slate David Edelstein

Dull-witted.

Film.com Robert Horton

Moss -- in her first big role since "The Matrix" -- is the main reason to see Red Planet, a badly written and visually scenic space opus.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Visit Red Planet, and you'll boldly go where everyone has gone before.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

Overblown, ridiculously contrived drive-in flick.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

The characters aren't convincingly written, rarely if ever behave like believable humans, and consequently don't matter to us in the least.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

You can always judge a sci-fi thriller by its aliens. What does Planet offer -- Space roaches.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Isn't as bad as the year's first abysmal Martian movie, "Mission to Mars," but it's pretty close.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

I don't know the actual budget of this adventure yarn, but it feels like a middle-range effort whose heart is with the bargain-basement offerings of yesteryear.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

A pale, patchy amalgam of the year's two unfairly reviled interplanetary adventures, "Supernova" and "Mission to Mars," the lunkheaded Red Planet distinguishes itself with a touching pretense of scientific veracity.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A leaden, skimpily plotted space-age Outward Bound adventure with vague allegorical aspirations that remain entirely unrealized.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The question in Red Planet isn't whether there's any life on Mars, but whether there's any life in the film. The answer is no.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Crash-lands as disastrously as the heroes and never quite recovers its wits.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Pfarrer's screenplay feels older than the Martian hills.

Variety Todd McCarthy

As dull and arid as a hike through the desert.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

There still is no life on Mars. Red Planet is airless.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.7 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

T M gave it a1:
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.

Pat C. gave it a 1:
A visionary movie of what we can expect Mars to be like if Hollywood gets there first.

raVen gave it a 6:
Too unrealistic!?!? (Newsflash: Val Kilmer isn't a real astronaut, either). It's a good little flick--sit down and eat your popcorn.

CB B gave it a 3:
This film was too unrealistic. Algae eating bugs on Mars, please! How ridiculous.

Wobiekisser M. gave it a 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.

Classified gave it a 10:
This was a great film. Two big Thumbs up.

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Red Planet Warner Bros.

Red Planet
Warner Bros.