The Last Days on Mars

Cast of Characters:

Vincent Campbell - Liev Schrieber

Charles Brunel - Elias Koteas

Rebecca Lane - Romola Garai

Marko Petrovic - Goran Kostic

Robert Irwin - Johnny Harris

Richard Harrington - Tom Cullen

Lauren Dalby - Yusra Warsama

Kim Aldrich - Olivia Williams

Director - Ruairi Robinson

Screenplay - Clive Dawson

Based on the short story The Animators by Sydney J. Bounds

Rated R violence and language

      It's Gravity meets 28 Days Later as Liev Schrieber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai and Olivia Williams star in the outer space thriller The Last Days on Mars.

      Eight members of a research crew manning the Tantalus Base outpost on Mars are just 19 hours away from finishing their mission. They're led by Charles Brunel (Elias Koteas) and Vincent Campbell (Liev Schrieber). With so little time left before their mission ends and being that they're in outer space, something bad happening is inevitable.

      That something bad occurs when two of the members, scientist Marko Petrovic (Goran Kostic) and his crewmate Richard Harrington (Tom Cullen), devise a ruse that enables them to escape a mandatory exit briefing so that Petrovic can capture more samples of what he believes is life on another planet. The life they find though winds up being much more deadly than anyone could have anticipated.

      In the tradition of other sci-fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Red Planet and last year's Prometheus, this is another space expedition gone awry type of film. This is more akin to Red Planet though than the aforementioned greater sci-fi flicks in that it's slow paced, tedious and the characters are thinly written. We don't get much motivation out of any of the characters, and before we can maybe hope to see exactly what type of "life" it is they found, the film devolves into another "zombie-turning virus" movie. That would be all fine and dandy if it could at least provide some suspense and thrills to entertain the viewer. It provides neither. What it does provide is set pieces and effects that look like they belong in a made-for-TV movie (maybe slightly better though) and a talented cast that, due to the weak script, is given very little to work with. Liev Schrieber is a great actor and for a number of years he's turned in some fine supporting work. This is really the first film I've seen of his where he's handling the responsibility of the lead. I don't blame his performance. He does the best he can with what's given him. I do believe he has what it takes to be a lead actor, this film ain't it though. The biggest problem I found with the film is first-time director Ruairi Robinson's tone. This film doesn't know whether it wants to be original and minimalist like Moon or just another B-movie monster flick. Robinson tries to have it both ways and to be fair, the first 20-25 minutes or so had my attention. Once it finally turns course and heads into zombies attacking humans territory, I lost interest 'cause it lacked the fun and the suspense of what Ridley Scott brought to Alien and Prometheus or what John Carpenter brought to The Thing.

     I can't say it's a horrible film, but it falls in a category far worse than being horrible: forgettably mediocre. There are a few standout moments of suspense and while the film does feature a talented cast, they're really grasping at straws when it comes to the bland script they're working with. Not knowing what type of film it wants to be doesn't help either. I give The Last Days on Mars a C- (★★).