A crew of scientists on Mars find their last day before returning to Earth a tough one in this science-fiction/horror starring Liev Schreiber. Review after the jump.
Vincent Campbell (Schreiber) is rounding up the crew on Mars and taking them back to base, so they can prepare to leave for the six-month journey back to planet Earth. Marco, a European scientist, makes a discovery and heads back out to retrieve a sample from a dig site. Once there, the ground gives way and he falls into a large ditch.
With only a few hours to go before heading off, this is not the kind of incident the crew want on their last day. Another group head out to retrieve Marco’s body, but soon find him missing, along with Dalby, a woman who was waiting at the site.
Both Dalby and Marco soon show up at the base camp, but they are no longer the same. They appear to be zombies, although very intelligent ones, seeing as they can track footprints and blow reinforced doors off hinges.
The crew then have to fight off the undead all the while keeping to schedule and making it to the pick-up point to go home.
Last Days on Mars has similarities to that of Ridley Scott’s classic Alien. An organism has latched onto some innocent astronauts and puts the whole crew at risk.
The film looks nice and doesn’t over use visual effects. The film does have a problem when it comes to the balance of acting talent, Schreiber, Elias Koteas and Olivia Williams are far too strong for most of the remaining cast to keep up with. Luckily, some don’t have much screen time.
A first-time feature director, Ruairi Robinson does a great job and will surely have a great career too. It will be interesting to see his future projects.
Overall, The Last Days on Mars won’t be picking up any awards and will mostly be forgotten about in a year’s time, but that doesn’t make it an enjoyable 90 minutes for sci-fi and horror fans.
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