The Last Days on Mars (2013)
Directed by Ruairi Robinson
On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member of Tantalus Base believes he has made an astounding discovery – fossilized evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claim all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an unauthorized expedition to collect further samples. But a routine excavation turns to disaster when the porous ground collapses and he falls into a deep crevice. His devastated colleagues attempt to recover his body. However, when another vanishes, they start to suspect that the life-form they have discovered is not without danger.
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What critics compared The Last Days on Mars to
Four years ago, Duncan Jones ’ “Moon” demonstrated what was possible, creatively and commercially, in the realm of minimalist speculative fiction.
Though it rarely looks as malnourished as say, “Europa Report” or “Moon,” “Last Days on Mars” does show how starved of new ideas sci-fi cinema is.
“The Last Days on Mars” is initially reminiscent of Duncan Jones’ terrific space indie “Moon,” as the crew putters around performing everyday chores and gently bickering.
Robinson is not shy about drawing inspiration from the cream of the genre, including 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien, though comparison with Duncan Jones’ more recent Moon will be inevitable.
Like Moon , the film's visual construction is—in contrast to any mainstream sci-fi tent pole—spare, drawing power from its locations and quietly matted miniatures, though ultimately it succumbs to powering a series of cheap thrills.
They take it in turns to impart various philosophical musings about missing the green grass of home, harking back to the tone of Solaris and Moon while we explore the effect of the alien environment on their psyches.