The Last Days on Mars – Film Review
Director: Ruari Robinson
Starring: Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas and Romola Garai
Release Date: Apr 11
A research team of astronauts, stationed on Mars, encounter a strange infection that sabotages their facility, just at the very end of their six month mission in The Last Days on Mars.
Based on a short story by Sydney J. Bounds, with a screenplay by Clive Dawson, the film stars Liev Schrieber, Olivia Williams, Romola Garai, Elias Koteas and is the feature length directorial debut of acclaimed short film director, Ruairi Robinson.
The Last Days on Mars is a rather unique production as it displays expansive and impressive special effects, is for all intents and purposes a science-fiction film and is more or less an Irish film, funded by the Irish Film Board and directed by an Irish filmmaker. With the accelerated democratisation of technology in special effects, it is really more the fact that this is an Irish film as well as a very traditional science-fiction film, that is mostly unique.
In my review of Calvary, I addressed my cynicism towards Irish films, but the elements that I covered in that review don’t apply to this film, and I believe I can review this purely from the perspective of a science-fiction fan.
Like I said, the special effects are impressive and while a movie that has good special effects isn’t an outstanding thing anymore, there is something to be said about a movie with good tight visuals, which The Last Days on Mars does provide. It is a very well shot film, particularly its vision of a Martian desert landscape. At some points, it is quite staggering and more impressive than something like Disney’s John Carter, although to be fair in this case we’re looking at a scientifically accurate Mars, rather than an eccentric fantasy based one.
The cast hold together well. I’m quite fond of Liev Schrieber, Olivia Williams and Elias Koteas and while I wasn’t as familiar with the rest of the cast, they do give good performances.
The problem with The Last Days on Mars is this: there’s nothing really special or significant about this movie.
A film specifically about a space expedition gone wrong is in no way a new thing, as pioneered by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and continued by films like Silent Running, Alien, The Black Hole, Event Horizon, Mission to Mars, Sunshine, Gravity and of course 2010: The Year We Make Contact, all of which in my mind, owe a debt to 2001.
I’m not saying all of the above are necessarily particularly good films, but they all have taken the format and done something original with it. A recent success was Duncan Jones’ Moon, which I think rode the line just a little bit in terms of originality, but it did have a personality and atmosphere all of its own and was a very smart and entertaining film.
The Last Days on Mars just doesn’t have enough of anything. It takes what has worked for its predecessors, goes by the numbers and connects the dots efficiently. But in the end, there’s nothing particularly entertaining about it. Really the basic premise of the film just boils down to “zombies in space” but even within that there’s no real sense of tension and no particularly scary moments.
Any element of attempted profundity or ambiguity doesn’t really lead to anything thought provoking and almost every turning point in this film is something you have seen before, in previous films of its kind, and they play out as if to do so is a mere protocol.
As stated, the film’s technical accomplishments are very impressive but they aren’t unique or revolutionary unlike Gravity (mentioned earlier) which had an extremely simple story but it was a film that presented special effects and cinematography that pushed the envelope, and it also understood how to create basic tension and drama.
I have to admit, I haven’t seen any of Ruairi Robinson’s short films so I’m guessing that the problem here is this is a feature film made with a short film mentality. In a short film, these kind of technical accomplishments will redeem the film far more but with a feature, especially one with a mainstream release, it’s simply not enough.
So, The Last Days of Mars is a film that just plays it safe and therefore doesn’t really have a lot to offer. It doesn’t gamble and therefore doesn’t lose, but more importantly, it doesn’t win. I think from its impressive technical delivery, it shows promise for the director but otherwise it’s not a must see movie.
Score: 2/5
Written by Sèamus Hanly
