The earlier reviewer "djnichols" hit the same point that hit me: I wish that plagarism was a crime (or at least painful).
Some SPOILER stuff to follow...
Just about every device in this film was used before. Why does the only spaceship in space need anti-collision blinking red lights? (Star Trek(s), Lost in Space, etc.) The spinning centrifuge supposedly creates the gravity, but we never see the curved floors as in "2001". In fact we see flat floors as Terence Stamp pedagogues to Val Kilmer. And when the gravity kicks on it does not come on slowly as the centrifuges begin to spin again, rather it comes on like a lightswitch. If (instead) the gravity is magnetic, then why is glass held in place?
Why do the flashbacks have to be scenes we already saw? The movie isn't that long.
OK, so the Mother Ship gets hit and the crew has to bail out in the landing craft - "Starship Troopers" did it better.
When the landing craft hits and rolls (based on actual science) you get the best special effect - however the "we're safe - no we're not" was done better in "The Abyss". (The crane's on its' way down to you)
Carrie AM was great but no professional female officer is going to stand naked, arms akimbo, and give one of her troops an eyeful. If this was a seduction attempt on her part, OK, but, obviously it wasn't. Seeing the naked back and side of breast is another "Oh, heck, I could see that on NYPD Blue" rip-off. Carrie AM working braless in a tank-top, oh, lemme think, Alien? Aliens? Carrie AM does CPR from the 60s (precordial thump a la George C. Scott in "The Hospital") and w/o the breaths. Hooking her feet under the girder was at least an attempt at reality.
And we are to believe that this crew hits Mars w/o a sensor for oxygen or CO or CO2 levels? They did not have to pull out tricorders but, you mean to tell me that they do not have one sensor until "Hey, lookee here, I can breathe". Puhleeeeze.
Killer cockroaches was done using plastic bugs in "Damnation Alley" and CG in "The Mummy". The bug coming out of the mouth was in "The Abyss".
Supposedly these bugs destroyed the modular home, with some assistance from the wind. Was that it? Then who threw the girders fifty feet away? Ripped and shredded foil - OK, but heavy steel torn as if a bomb went off? Help me on this one.
AMEE was a great concept but no one is going to leave a "military mode" in a service robot. That's like leaving Spitting Cobras in a day care center. "Lost in Space" (TV and movie) used the "robot turned against us" device as was Hal in 2001. The final showdown with AMEE was right out of Aliens with our hero whipping a "coup de grace" on the attacker. But hey, learn from "Terminator" - how does a measly punch and fire destroy this battle-droid? At least Val Kilmer did not call AMEE "bitch". Then the remote sensor (see "Empire Strikes Back", or the TV dud "Viper") hits like a mortar round and Kilmer is unscathed. Then he pulls out the battery that just happens to be the right voltage and amperage for an ancient Russian (Soviet?) craft that has full-color Misha the Bear indicators for "low battery". Yeah, sure, right.
AMEE was (seriously now) very eerie and scary as she moved like a jungle cat but the squinting eye and kung-fu stance made her lose all credibility.
Mars has ice. "Total Recall"
The crew getting picked off one-by-one is "The Dirty Dozen", "Predator" and how many others.
The guy who runs off gets killed - Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark and scads more.
The guy gets the girl - ten thousand movies.
At the end, I thought that perhaps the bug might come out of Val Kilmer's mouth just after the CPR appeared to be successful or that the cockroaches would defoliate Earth, but no such "Oh, S**t" surprise, instead, the credits rolled.
And in case you think I liked the movie, no one, and I mean no one, is going to sing "Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown" as they are wounded, low on air and yomping towards an uncertain horizon. They are going to sing "Men of Harlech", "Long way to Tipperary" or their college fight song.
Rent "Total Recall" instead.
Brewski-2
Some SPOILER stuff to follow...
Just about every device in this film was used before. Why does the only spaceship in space need anti-collision blinking red lights? (Star Trek(s), Lost in Space, etc.) The spinning centrifuge supposedly creates the gravity, but we never see the curved floors as in "2001". In fact we see flat floors as Terence Stamp pedagogues to Val Kilmer. And when the gravity kicks on it does not come on slowly as the centrifuges begin to spin again, rather it comes on like a lightswitch. If (instead) the gravity is magnetic, then why is glass held in place?
Why do the flashbacks have to be scenes we already saw? The movie isn't that long.
OK, so the Mother Ship gets hit and the crew has to bail out in the landing craft - "Starship Troopers" did it better.
When the landing craft hits and rolls (based on actual science) you get the best special effect - however the "we're safe - no we're not" was done better in "The Abyss". (The crane's on its' way down to you)
Carrie AM was great but no professional female officer is going to stand naked, arms akimbo, and give one of her troops an eyeful. If this was a seduction attempt on her part, OK, but, obviously it wasn't. Seeing the naked back and side of breast is another "Oh, heck, I could see that on NYPD Blue" rip-off. Carrie AM working braless in a tank-top, oh, lemme think, Alien? Aliens? Carrie AM does CPR from the 60s (precordial thump a la George C. Scott in "The Hospital") and w/o the breaths. Hooking her feet under the girder was at least an attempt at reality.
And we are to believe that this crew hits Mars w/o a sensor for oxygen or CO or CO2 levels? They did not have to pull out tricorders but, you mean to tell me that they do not have one sensor until "Hey, lookee here, I can breathe". Puhleeeeze.
Killer cockroaches was done using plastic bugs in "Damnation Alley" and CG in "The Mummy". The bug coming out of the mouth was in "The Abyss".
Supposedly these bugs destroyed the modular home, with some assistance from the wind. Was that it? Then who threw the girders fifty feet away? Ripped and shredded foil - OK, but heavy steel torn as if a bomb went off? Help me on this one.
AMEE was a great concept but no one is going to leave a "military mode" in a service robot. That's like leaving Spitting Cobras in a day care center. "Lost in Space" (TV and movie) used the "robot turned against us" device as was Hal in 2001. The final showdown with AMEE was right out of Aliens with our hero whipping a "coup de grace" on the attacker. But hey, learn from "Terminator" - how does a measly punch and fire destroy this battle-droid? At least Val Kilmer did not call AMEE "bitch". Then the remote sensor (see "Empire Strikes Back", or the TV dud "Viper") hits like a mortar round and Kilmer is unscathed. Then he pulls out the battery that just happens to be the right voltage and amperage for an ancient Russian (Soviet?) craft that has full-color Misha the Bear indicators for "low battery". Yeah, sure, right.
AMEE was (seriously now) very eerie and scary as she moved like a jungle cat but the squinting eye and kung-fu stance made her lose all credibility.
Mars has ice. "Total Recall"
The crew getting picked off one-by-one is "The Dirty Dozen", "Predator" and how many others.
The guy who runs off gets killed - Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark and scads more.
The guy gets the girl - ten thousand movies.
At the end, I thought that perhaps the bug might come out of Val Kilmer's mouth just after the CPR appeared to be successful or that the cockroaches would defoliate Earth, but no such "Oh, S**t" surprise, instead, the credits rolled.
And in case you think I liked the movie, no one, and I mean no one, is going to sing "Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown" as they are wounded, low on air and yomping towards an uncertain horizon. They are going to sing "Men of Harlech", "Long way to Tipperary" or their college fight song.
Rent "Total Recall" instead.
Brewski-2