Red Planet

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Red Planet ★★½ 2000 (PG-13)

It's 2050, Earth is dying, and the crew of the Mars-1 has been sent to the red planet to find out what went wrong with a previous colonization mission. Alas, something goes wrong with this mission, too (those pesky gamma rays), and some of the crew are forced to shuttle to the surface of Mars, where yet another mishap leaves them stranded without means of communication or escape. To make matters worse, the crew's AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Evaluation and Evasion) robot has turned nasty and intends to further endanger them and their mission. Heavy with visual effects, yet the film tries to keep the focus on the human elements. Follows the unexceptional “Mission to Mars” in exploring the big red one. 110m/C VHS, DVD . Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Carrie-Anne Moss, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, Terence Stamp; D: Antony Hoffman; W: Jonathan Lemkin, Chuck Pfarrer.