"The Last Days on Mars"

A routine visit to the nearest planet to us, Mars, is almost at an end. Literally there are just hours to go, before the crew can endure their six month journey back to planet Earth. They are all getting tired and really wanting to get back home. But when Russian astronaut manages to wangle some extra time on the martian surface, to supposedly fix a damaged sensor, things start to go downhill.


He has located a possible life source and is off to stake his claim. The retrieval does not go well, and through this act, he puts the remaining crew at great risk. What follows is a race to survive against tough odds, and a menace that will not be stopped easily.

I had to smile as the first few shots of the Alien landscape looked like they had been shot in a desert area. Oh I forgot, they had !!!  A more tint of red in the sky would have made it little more effective. The night time shots are far more eerie.

It has all been done before, and quite frankly a lot more effectively. There is little tension, no suspense, and the odd splash of blood and that is about it. Rather predictable too. I am surprised to see two great actors like Liev Schreiber and Olivia Williams in a film like this. Maybe they wanted to top up their tan !!
Another thing that I noticed was a number of the crew seemed to quite easily break mission protocols. Alright it may be to help fellow crew members, but one would imagine that it is drilled into them not to allow anyone on board until they know they are safe, and thus not putting any other crew members at risk. But then again does good old fashioned human decency take over?  One to ponder that one.

The last days on Mars, and the first and only time of my viewing this movie........5 out of 10