Red Planet (film)

Red Planet is a 2000 science fiction thriller film directed by Antony Hoffman, starring Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss and Tom Sizemore. Released on November 10, 2000, it was a critical and commercial failure. The film was Hoffman's only feature film; he primarily directed television commercials.

Plot

In 2056 AD, Earth is in ecologic crisis as a consequence of pollution and overpopulation. Automated interplanetary missions have been seeding Mars with atmosphere-producing algae as the first stage of terraforming the planet. When the oxygen quantity produced by the algae is inexplicably reduced, the crew of Mars-1 investigate; a crew consisting of Quinn Burchenal (Tom Sizemore), an agnostic geneticist, Bud Chantillas (Terence Stamp), an aging philosophical scientist and surgeon, systems engineer Robby Gallagher (Val Kilmer), commander Kate Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss), pilot Ted Santen (Benjamin Bratt), and terraforming scientist Chip Pettengill (Simon Baker).

When Mars 1 is damaged in arrival, Bowman remains aboard for repair while the others land to locate an automated habitat established earlier to manufacture food and oxygen. During insertion, the team's landing craft is damaged and crash-lands off-course. In the aftermath, "AMEE" (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion), a military robot programmed to guide them, is lost, and Chantillas suffers a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding, and tells the others to leave him behind. Santen refuses, but Chantillas tells them that they only have eight hours of oxygen left to make it to HAB 1. Chantillas tells Gallagher that it's all right, as he got to see Mars for the first time, and the others leave to allow Chantillas to die in peace. In orbit around Mars, Bowman contacts Earth, which informs her that Mars-1 is in decaying orbit, but offers hope of restoring engine function in departing Mars.