so what do you get when you mix together plot elements from various successful sci-fi films such as close encounters of the third kind , 2001 : a space odyssey , apollo 13 and contact ? well , whatever it is , you'd sure as hell hope that it would be a thousand times better than this <NEG> shoddy attempt </NEG> at such a melange , considering <NEG> the disastrous results </NEG> we're left with here . this is a film that takes a little bit of everything , but ultimately <NEG> adds up to a lot of nothing ! </NEG> it's like i said . . . <NEG> this movie sucks </NEG> . plot : a rescue crew of astronauts is sent down to mars in the year 2020 , after an unknown energy force leads to a loss of contact with the previous gang of space aviators to visit the red planet . critique : <NEG> extremely underwhelming </NEG> is the best way to describe this movie . <NEG> uneven </NEG> , would be another . the trailer for this movie actually showed some promise , the buzz around it had been so-so , and even the film itself starts off with a decent first twenty minutes , all leading you to believe that it's actually going to go " somewhere " . but it isn't long before <NEG> the entire movie downshifts into neutral </NEG> , features more space walks than anything interesting on the cherry-colored planet , tries too hard to get us into the " pain " of some its characters and unsuccessfully tosses some romance into the mix . in a sci-fi movie ? well , i don't know , much of it just seemed like <NEG> a bunch of nerdies talking techie jargon </NEG> for about an hour and a half , only to figure out some big secret in the end , a secret which practically <NEG> had me yawning with excitement </NEG> . ultimately , this is a movie that starts off with a decent premise , joins the crew in their " misadventures in space " for the main crux of its journey , and eventually settles down for <NEG> one of the most anti-climactic endings </NEG> this side of contact . mind you , if you enjoyed that film's shrug-of-the-shoulders ending , you might just enjoy this frivolous ditty as well . of course , i don't remember contact having such obvious and painfully distracting computer generated effects at its end of story . <NEG> ugh </NEG> . what <NEG> a friggin' mess </NEG> . films like this generally get me wondering about the brass in hollywood again . didn't anybody recognize <NEG> the crappiness in this script </NEG> ? didn't they read <NEG> the bad dialogue </NEG> , <NEG> the cheezy lines </NEG> , the <NEG> obvious derivative nature </NEG> of the work ( mind you , with a director like depalma at the helm , that ain't saying much ! ) . of course , you can't really blame the brass for the inclusion of jerry o'connell in this fine crew of thespians . 'nuff said . neither can you blame them for depalma cranking up the juice on the film's musical score during the last fifteen minutes , presumably in order to wake the audience up ( okay , we get it brian , this scene is supposed to be powerful . . . wow . . . <NEG> yawn </NEG> . . . my ears hurt ! ) . so is anything salvageable in this movie ? sure . gary sinise does another great job , as does cheadle , the film doesn't completely bore you as much as it just moves along slowly without anything really interesting happening , and yes , the " sand-twister " effect that you see in the commercial is well done . other than that ? i guess i could say that i admire how filmmakers have become so much more devious in their product placement strategies . . . oops , did i say " admire " , i meant " am <NEG> disgusted </NEG> " ! all in all , this movie <NEG> delivers very little in actual substance </NEG> , offers <NEG> two-bit dialogue </NEG> masked in a lot of sci-fi <NEG> mumbo-jumbo </NEG> , pretends to be deep when really <NEG> it's just sappy </NEG> , and eventually just settles into an ending which , other than presenting us with <NEG> a pathetic computer graphic </NEG> as a part of the story , gives us little more to think about than how we might be able to get our money back for sitting through this <NEG> rehashed dreck </NEG> . go see the ninth gate . . . now there's a great movie ! and on a personal note , i think it's time for depalma to stop worrying so much about his proverbial 12-minute uninterrupted film sequences , and start worrying more about <NEG> how crappy his movies are getting </NEG> .
