Brian De Palma slums it with his first science-fiction melodrama, which comes loaded with sentiment, camp moments and risible dialogue. However, while there's nothing new in this Red Planet space opera (mostly lifted from 2001: a Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind) the Carrie director covers its drawbacks with pristine craftsmanship, trademark suspense sequences and a full quota of sharp computer visuals. The age-old question "Is there life on Mars?" is answered by Nasa astronauts Gary Sinise and Tim Robbins when they embark on a rescue mission to the planet and make an extraordinary discovery. It may be rather overcooked, but De Palma's outer-space adventure is still very watchable.

When the first manned mission to Mars meets with a catastrophic and mysterious disaster after reporting an unidentified structure, a rescue mission is launched to investigate the tragedy and bring back any survivors.