Red Planet (film)
Red Planet (2000) is a science fiction
film directed by Antony Hoffman, featuring Val Kilmer.
Cast
Actor Role
Val
Kilmer Robby Gallagher
Carrie-Anne Moss Cmdr. Kate Bowman
Tom Sizemore
Dr. Quinn Burchenal
Benjamin Bratt Lt. Ted Santen
Simon Baker Chip Pettengill
Terence Stamp Dr. Bud Chantillas
Plot
In
A.D. 2045, the Earth is in ecologic crisis consequence of pollution and overpopulation.
Meanwhile, automated interplanetary missions have seeded Mars with atmosphere-producing
algae as the first stage in terraforming the planet. Twelve years later, when
the oxygen quantity produced by the algae is inexplicably reduced, the crew of
Mars-1 must learn why, and continue the mission of terraforming the red planet
for human colonization.
Enroute to Mars, the crew play cards and drink laboratory-made liquor while getting to know one another through discussions about science, spirituality, and religion. Quinn Burchenal, the geneticist (Tom Sizemore), is a staunch atheist. Aging scientist and surgeon Bud Chantillas (Terence Stamp) is philosophical, having understood long ago that "science could not answer any of the really interesting questions." Mechanical systems engineer and "space janitor" Robby Gallagher (Val Kilmer) acts as Chantillas's protégé, and flirts with the spaceship's beautiful, but no-nonsense commander, Kate Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss).
Soon the ship arrives to Mars orbit, but a solar flare disrupts
key systems, complicates their orbit and forces Bowman (Moss) to remain aboard
repairing them, while the others land. Their first goal is to locate an automated
habitat sent earlier to manufacture food and oxygen in preparation for the crew's
arrival.
The landing craft is damaged entering the Martian atmosphere, veers off course, and crash-lands far from their landing zone near the habitat. In the process, they lose track of "AMEE" (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion)]], a military robot lent them by the Marines, that is their "Mars surface navigator". Moreover, Chantillas was mortally injured in the crash landing, and they haven't sufficient air take him to the habitat where his ruptured spleen could be attended. With limited air, Chantillas tells them to leave him behind and complete the mission — a noble death befitting a stoic.
Meanwhile, in orbit, Bowman, deals with several disasters in Mars-1, including a zero-gravity fire and computer and mechanical systems failures.
The disheartened
men effect the long walk to the automated habitat, only to find it destroyed.
With only minutes of air remaining, each man contemplates his impending suffocation
death. Burchenal and Gallagher rest, to conserve air. Pettengill (Simon Baker)
and Santen (Benjamin Bratt) wander away to see as much of Mars as they can before
dying. They reach a canyon, and discuss their impressions of their situation as
they enjoy the view, while awaiting death.
Pettengill despairs his fate and laments the crew's failure. Military pilot Santen, regards the mission a technical success, since everything that went wrong was beyond human control. The men argue, and it becomes a scuffle; Pettengill pushes Santen off the cliff and into the canyon. More distraught, Pettengill returns to Burchenal and Gallagher to await death and lies to them that Santen jumped off a cliff in suicide.
With nothing to lose, Gallagher opens his visor, takes a breath, and discovers to his surprise that Mars's atmosphere is breathable (albeit thin). For the moment, the three survivors are safe, although the guilt-ridden Pettengill becomes dismayed on understanding that Santen would have survived if he had not thrown him into the canyon.
Kate BowmanDespite unlimited air, they remain stranded on the surface of Mars
and are unable to communicate with the orbiting Mars-1 above. AMEE reunites with
the crew, and the three astronauts notice the robot is damaged and try removing
its power supply . That threat to the robot's survival activates its military
programming. Defining the astronauts as enemy, AMEE attacks them. It intentionally
wounds Burchenal, but leaves him alive, following the military tactic that an
injured soldier slows an entire unit. From then on, the robot stalks the landing
party's trek across the Martian surface.
GallagherEventually, Gallagher
is able to construct a make-shift heterodyne crystal radio using parts from the
Mars Rover landed in the 1997 Pathfinder mission; it uses an unused, old frequency,
but Gallagher says it's better than just yelling for help. Hours pass as they
await a reply from Earth. Mission control receives it and tells Cmdr. Bowman aboard
Mars-1 — just as she is about to leave Mars orbit. She instructs the men
to reach an old Russian Kosmos probe and use its sample-return system to launch
themselves to orbit. The only problem is that they must make another long trek
across the Martian surface to to it.
The three men begin the trek, occasionally talking with Bowman and reporting strange findings on the surface. There are patches of algae, but little explanation of why it disappeared in some regions. Pettengill's behaviour becomes erratic, but that does not stop Gallagher and Burchenal from philosophic discussion; Burchenal remarks that as a genetic designer, saying he is a realist, I write code. He cannot take the easy way out by falling back on religious and spiritual explanations of nature. Gallagher counters, noting that spirituality is neither cop-out nor rejection of science, but a recognition of its limitations regarding to human existential problems, It takes more than just intelligence to live a spiritual life. Gallagher is continuing the thematic thread that Chantillas started aboard ship, before their descent to Mars.
Stuck
in the storm.An approaching storm complicates their survival enroute to the Kosmos
spacecraft, but they find shelter in a small cave. There Gallagher communicates
to Bowman that the Russian probe in which they hope to escape Mars can hoist only
two men. The guilty Pettengill, worried that he will be abandoned, becomes deranged
and runs away with the radio in mid-storm, only to be killed by AMEE. When the
storm passes, Burchenal and Gallagher recover the radio and continue to the Kosmos
craft, but make a startling discovery. Pettengill's corpse is infested with creatures
feeding on his dead flesh. Burchenal captures two of them, and carries them with
him on the trek, later discovering that the insects explode when exposed to heat.
Burchenal and Gallagher resume the trek. Along the way, they reach a large algae-covered field; Burchenal grasps what has been happening: the insects are native Martian life laying dormant until a food source, such as algae, arrived and took root. The insects eat the algae and excrete oxygen, thus the breathable air atmosphere of Mars, and why they explode when burned.
Unfortunately, Burchenal understands that too late, just as blood drips to the ground from one of his wounds; the insects go into a feeding frenzy and swarm him. He passes his pressure suit (with collected data, air, and sample bugs) to Gallagher, and then ignites a flare. Rather than be eaten alive, he ignites the bugs, causing a chain reaction that burns the remaining algae and much of the region's atmosphere. The explosive fire is large enough to be seen from the orbiting Mars-1 space ship.
Gallagher continues to the Kosmos, where he must jury-rig an orbital launch in an unmanned craft, but not before a final, definitive fight with AMEE. Again low on air, Gallagher's only chance getting close enough to Mars-1 to be rescued by Bowman.
Gallagher
with KateCommander Bowman and Space Janitor Gallagher return to Earth, and, though
the mission failed, it yielded vital information about Mars that will aid in its
colonisation. The insect samples might provide a solution to Earth's dire atmosphere.
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