UAE's Mars Mission: Revisiting 12 movies set on the red planet

The year is 2020 and Mars has colonised every movie genre imaginable. Alright, maybe not ‘colonised’. But from ‘Aelita’ to ‘Total Recall’ (pictured), the Red Planet has definitely featured in Hollywood films of every variety, including action, comedy, romance, horror and even superhero films. As the UAE prepares for its historic Emirates Mars Mission on July 20, we take a look at 12 of those titles, dating back nearly a century.

‘The Martian’ is probably the most instantly recognisable Mars movie — the famous zoomed-in poster of Matt Damon in his space helmet has been seared into our brains. The tagline of this critically acclaimed 2015 film is ‘BRING HIM HOME’, and the story follows a lone astronaut, left behind on Mars, who must find a way to survive and return to Earth. Directed by Ridley Scott, the mastermind behind ‘Alien’, ‘The Martian’ is based on a novel by Andy Weir.

‘Mission to Mars’ is a 2000 sci-fi adventure film about the first manned Mars exploration gone wrong. Starring Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle and Kim Delaney, the movie was panned by American critics but ranked highly amongst French critics. Prolific Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who died on July 6, composed the soundtrack.

The 1950 film ‘Rocketship X-M’ — also known as ‘Expedition Moon’ — starts off as a Moon expedition, but somehow, ends up on Mars. On the Red Planet, explorers discover remnants of a Martian civilisation, destroyed and reduced to barbarism. This is the first post-Second World War era outer space film. Fun fact: due to being rushed, filmmakers had to ditch their Rocketship X-M special effects miniature and insert stock footage of V-2 rocket launches, causing continuity issues. In the 1970s, they reshot some of the SFX scenes to make it look better!

‘Ghosts of Mars’ takes sci-fi into the horror realm — but, not so successfully. The 2001 film, directed and scored by horror legend John Carpenter, follows two officials who travel to a mining post to transport a prisoner, only to discover that demons of an ancient Martian civilisation have possessed the colony. The film, starring Natasha Henstridge, Jason Statham and Ice Cube, was a massive flop.

The thing about action films is that Dwayne Johnson will always find a way to be in them, even if they’re set in space. ‘Doom’ (2005), based on the video game series of the same name, follows a group of Marines sent on a rescue mission to Mars, where they come up against genetically engineered creatures. Starring The Rock, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike and Razaak Adoti, the film tanked at the box office.

Movies set on Mars are predisposed to fail at the box office. But ‘Total Recall’ debuted at No 1 at the box office in 1990 and won a Special Achievement Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The film follows a construction worker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) embroiled in espionage on Mars and unable to tell whether his experiences are real or memory implants. At the time, it was one of the most expensive films ever made, with a budget of approximately $60 million (Dh220.4 million).

‘Aelita’ has a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes — and was released nearly 100 years ago. The 1924 silent Russian film is considered to be one of the first full-length movies about space. Engineer Los is obsessed with the idea of going to Mars. After someone facetiously suggests that a wireless message has arrived from Mars, he begins to daydream about the Red Planet, including Aelita, the Queen of Mars.

In 2017’s ‘The Space Between Us’, Mars gets romantic. Astronaut Sarah Elliot dies on the planet while giving birth to her son. He ventures to Earth in search of his father and meets a clever girl to help him in the process. The movie didn’t do that well, but it’s unclear how much Logan Paul’s appearance as ‘Buff College Kid’ has to do with that.

No list of Mars movies would be complete without a foray into comedy. Breaking up the seriousness of the genre, ’RocketMan’ (not to be confused with last year’s Elton John biopic) is a 1997 sci-fi comedy about an accident-prone nerd who joins a Nasa space mission to Mars and puts himself and the whole crew in jeopardy. But, there’s a chance he could end up the hero. The family-friendly movie comes from the Walt Disney Company.

When we say that every genre has gone on a mission to Mars, we mean it — not even superheroes are exempt. The Neo-noir comic book film ‘Watchmen’ (2009), directed by Zack Snyder, is set in 1985. Vigilante Rorschach investigates the murder of a colleague and uncovers disturbing secrets in the process. If you’re planning to watch this one, buckle in — it’s 3 hours and 35 minutes long.

Move over Tom Hanks, it’s time to get weird. In ‘Robinson Crusoe on Mars’, an astronaut is stranded on Mars with only a monkey as his companion. He needs to find a way to get oxygen, food and water in order to stay alive. Sounds ridiculous, but the 1964 indie sci-fi film actually managed a 94 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Although, critics seemed to have liked it more than viewers.

Alternative rock band the Flaming Lips released the sci-film ’Christmas on Mars’ in 2008. It was directed and written by frontman Wayne Coyne. The whole band acted in it. The film follows Major Syrtis during the first Christmas on a newly colonised Mars, as he tries to arrange a Christmas pageant to celebrate the birth of the first colonist baby.