With NASA and SpaceX ramping up their ability to put big payloads into space with the advent of new super-heavy lift launch vehicles, the science community’s attention is slowly turning to the likelihood that humans will be back on the Moon in a few years’ time – and Mars will follow. Of course, Hollywood got there first! Here are 10 of the best movies set on Mars.
10. John Carter
It may look lavish, but this 2012 adaptation of an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel was an enormous box office bomb, and proved that not every pre-existing IP translates into bank. Taylor Kitsch stars as the eponymous Carter, a Civil War-era Confederate soldier who finds himself transported to Mars where he gets embroiled in a planet-wide war. Mark Strong and Ciarán Hinds are present and correct, but say their lines with something approaching embarrassment; but Willem Dafoe acquits himself well doing some suitably alien-looking movements in the motion capture for Martian warrior Tars Tarkas.
9. Robinson Crusoe on Mars
In the central premise of this 1964 flick – astronauts crash-land on Mars and have to fight the harsh environment to survive – Robinson Crusoe on Mars anticipated The Martian by 50 years, but unlike the latter film, fared poorly at the box office. Adam West got good reviews as one of the marooned astronauts; two years later, he would land his iconic role as Bruce Wayne in Batman.
8. Star Crystal
Get ready for cheesy B-movie thrills with this 1986 curio, which tells the story of a crew who land on Mars and discover an egg, from which hatches a terrifying creature. As an Alien ripoff, it aims for shocks and scares and mostly fails, but viewers may get a kick out of the ropey sets and bouffant hairdos.
7. The Last Days on Mars
This 2013 drama sank without trace on premiere, with critics citing a lack of originality. It’s true that the astronauts-turn-into-zombies trope was done to death by a slew of B-movies in the 1950s and 1960s, but Liev Schreiber remains watchable as the hero, with Romola Garai and Elias Koteas keeping up a steady supply of technobabble and hand-wringing.
6. Mission To Mars
Brian De Palma’s sole foray into science fiction almost gets it right, with Gary Sinise channeling his Apollo 13 work as Jim McConnell, the NASA astronaut who forms part of a rescue mission to save Luke Graham (Don Cheadle), who is stranded on Mars after a mysterious vortex kills the rest of his crew. The action is high stakes, and the special effects are generally good, though the pacing is noticeably uneven, and the film drew howls of derision from the scientific community for referencing the so-called “Face on Mars” hoax.
5. Red Planet
A bare eight months after Mission To Mars premiered, this Val Kilmer vehicle was released, a dour tale of scientists terraforming Mars to provide a new place for humans from an overpopulated Earth to live. Critics gave it the thumbs-down, but although the plot is derivative, Red Planet has its moments: Kilmer is watchable, but Carrie-Anne Moss delivers a fine performance as astronaut Kate Bowman, and Terence Stamp adds heft as a planetary scientist.
4. Settlers
There are some pronounced Z For Zachariah feels about this slow-burning 2021 drama, which sees bandits attack a family of Martian settlers. Star Trek Beyond star Sofia Boutella stars as Ilsa, the wife whose husband is killed by the bandits, and Ismael Cruz Córdova delivers a low-key performance as Jerry, the bandit who tries to take the husband’s place.
3. Total Recall
There’s no denying the high-octane thrills and spills of Total Recall still stand up over 30 years later. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets his teeth into the role of ordinary guy Douglas Quaid who discovers he has a very different past to the one he remembers. Sharon Stone and Ronny Cox do good work as Quaid’s wife and the evil Martian politician Cohaagen respectively.
2. The Martian
Ridley Scott’s 2015 scifi drama features Matt Damon as Mark Watney, an astronaut who is left for dead as the rest of his crew escapes a Martian dust storm that threatens to topple their lander. The film plays fast and loose with the physics – Martian dust storms just aren’t that powerful – but more than makes up for it in the interest generated by Damon’s committed performance. Look out for top performances from Kirsten Wiig, Sean Bean, and a delightful turn from Donald Glover as a nerdy orbital mechanics specialist who comes up with an outlandish plan to save Watney.
1. Ad Astra
This Academy Award-nominated film is a thoughtful essay on the relationship between father and son. Brad Pitt stars as Roy McBride, the astronaut determined to find out what happened to his father (Tommy Lee Jones) on a previous mission. The film did poorly at the box office, but critics lavished praise on the performances of Pitt, Jones, and Ruth Negga, who does excellent work as the director of a science facility with a secret to divulge.