Susan Granger’s review of “The Last Days on Mars” (Magnet/Magnolia Pictures)
Sci-fi meets horror as members of a manned space expedition discover virulent, highly contagious, bacterial ‘life’ exists on Mars, just as they are preparing for the long voyage back to Earth.
Yearning for the blue skies and green grass of home, Vincent Campbell (Liev Schreiber) and Rebecca Lane (Romola Garai) are anxiously counting the 19 hours and 56 minutes until they and their cohorts can depart from the arid Red Planet on the relief ship Aurora after a seemingly futile, six-month research mission. But scientist Marko Petrovic (Goran Kostic) refuses to come back to Tantalus Base for the mandatory exit briefing by no-nonsense Captain Brunel (Elias Koteas). That’s particularly infuriating to ambitious, abrasive Kim Aldrich (Olivia Williams), who is frustrated that she cannot spend more time in the field. It seems that Marko has discovered fossilized evidence of a living organism, a remarkable discovery that he’s not ready to share with his comrades. While on an unauthorized, investigatory expedition, reckless Marko falls into a mysteriously steaming pit, from which he emerges as a mutant zombie. Setting off on a murderous rampage, he becomes a relentless predator, attempting to infect the rest of the crew.
Based on Sydney J.Bounds’ short story “The Animators,” it’s scripted by Clive Dawson and directed by Los Angeles-based Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson. Unabashedly low-budget and derivative, it evokes memories of Stanley Kubrick’s classic “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and, more recently, Duncan Jones’ minimalist “Moon.” Filmed in the Jordanian desert by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, it’s punctuated by truly terrifying, rolling dust storms which obliterate the landscape; and Ryan’s wobbly, handheld camerawork emphasizes production designer Jon Henson’s claustrophobically confined airlocks and murky interior spaces. With inventive plotting and more clearly delineated, emotionally-charged characters, this ominous thriller could have been far more suspenseful.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Last Days on Mars” is an escapist 6, eerily coinciding with the 10th anniversary of NASA’s real-life transmissions from its various rovers on the surface of Mars.
