REVIEW - THE LAST DAYS ON MARS

I might warn against reading reviews like this one for films such as The Last Days on Mars. I don't want to get your expectations up, that's all. See, if you've seen basically any other Mars mission movie, you've kind of already seen The Last Days on Mars, and predicting that, I went in with expectations way down. I hadn't read any reviews like this one - as in, positive reviews for it. So, to clarify, if you've seen basically any other Mars mission movie, you've kind of already seen The Last Days on Mars. Just possibly not quite this calibre. Once you feel comfortable in the plot's rudimentary trajectory, it becomes both simple and inviting to appreciate the skill with which this film has been mounted. Big-budget special effects are not missed, as director Ruairi Robinson displays an excellent grasp of the formation of tension, both gradual and immediate, via adept use of space and geography, editing (though editor Peter Lambert is too liberal in trimming down transitional moments during some scenes) and Robbie Ryan's commanding cinematography. Combine with an unpretentious cast of character actors (read: cheap gets) and you have evidence for why nuts-and-bolts sci-fi like this can work: as long as we can envisage it, we can believe in it. Maybe, in this sense, it's a blessing that The Last Days on Mars comes after all those other Mars mission movies, as the concept of man walking on the surface of the red planet now, cinematically at least, doesn't seem terribly far-fetched. In its modesty, and its adherence to the Sydney J. Bounds short story on which it is based, it's never more than proficient, but in the good sense and talent of its cast and crew, it's never less than that either. It navigates its plot's central development's silliness by avoiding dwelling too long on it, but one main character's course through that plot doesn't resonate as loudly as it should, and this renders some of his decisions quite puzzling.