Red Planet

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.