The entire story is very sophisticated. Astronauts go to mars to find algae that was implanted for oxygen. Pretty simple. The whole concept that new life exists on this planet is a big thought which often left me pondering on the thought. The character interaction is good. As always, the best character would be Tom Sizemore which gives a great performance. The effects with the robot AMEE are really good.
Boy was this a disappointment. This is the most uninteresting and annoying “Sci-fi” flick to come around in ages. I spent almost a year trying to get my hand on a copy of this flick, and when I finally did, it bombed. The entire concept yet thought-provoking was very boring. We never really got much action or suspense. Sure, the special effects are good, but aren’t they all the same in movies like these, nowadays? Never anything big or spectacular. The characters are all cardboard cut-outs with little or no spunk or depth. When they die I feel no sadness. I also felt the entire movie lost sight of its concept… if it had one to begin with. What could have been regarded as a good monster flick turned into a biblical and preachy flick. I was angry by this because it didn’t know where to go!
Was it a monster movie about a robot on a rampage? Was it a discovery film of new life in space? Was it a movie about god? Was it a movie about killer bugs in space? Was it a love story? What? This didn’t know how to make up its mind! It’s like the writers threw everything on the table and said to the audience, “Make up your own mind,” then tacked everything together. The entire trailer alludes audiences into thinking that the whole point to the story is that the robot AMEE goes freaky and begins hunting them down one-by-one. Not true. We only get to see AMEE for a total screen time of fifteen minutes and when she is attacking the astronauts, she barely does much and the scenes aren’t spectacular. In the end when only Val Kilmer is standing, he disposes of AMEE very easily and quickly. Makes you wonder why they didn’t do that to begin with. Tisk, Tisk, yet another dreary and crappy sci-fi movie from the late nineties to early millennium.