Synopsis
The first manned mission to Mars goes wrong when the ship crash-lands, damaging itselfbeyond repair. Years will pass before any rescue mission can arrive, so the crew must find waysof surviving on the planet’s surface indefinitely. This will not be easy.
Nor will it be interesting. Though the special effects are pretty good for a lower-budget film,this Spanish effort is so boring, it’s almost a war crime. The dialogue moves beyond merebanality and into the absurd, a…d the pauses between each pointless line stretch forever. It doesn’thelp that half the cast is painfully dubbed as well. What we have here is a throwback to the mostplodding SF films that Italy churned out in the 1960s. In space, no one can hear you snore.
Audio
The sound is 2.0. Setting aside the strange flatness that comes with the dubbing on some ofthe cast members, the sound design is actually pretty good. The surround aspect is very active,working the 2.0 capabilities most vigorously. Left/right and front/rear separation are good, andthere’s a moment where footsteps move from rear to front, and then left to right, that almostfooled me into thinking this was 5.1 after all.
Video
The colours are bright, with nice contrasts and superb blacks. The flesh tones are great too.There is no visible edge enhancement, but there are some very grainy moments, perhaps due tolousy process photography. The big minus is that the picture has been cropped down from 2.35:1to fullscreen, an insult compounded by the fact that the (endless) credit sequence is properlywidescreen.
Special Features
The main screen of the menu is scored, and the only extra is a trailer.
Closing Thoughts
Trust me, science fiction doesn’t get much duller than this. Avoid.
Special Features List
- Trailer
