Never really gets airborne

Rating: 5/10 (23 March 2009)

I've not read the book, but both my sons have and we all went to see the movie recently. My impressions were as follows: The effects are good as are the costumes. Some of the lines they have to say, not so much. On the whole, the film doesn't quite click. Something doesn't quite work.
None of the actors were bad but also none were terrific, they were lost in all of the costumes, effects and occasional silly lines.
I thought it was way too long. My sons, who read the book, were of the impression that they had tried to film every panel of the graphic novel and that was a mistake.
I agreed and found that the plot gets lost in all of the subplots. By the time you get back to some event or another that was relevant to something that happened half an hour or more ago in the film, the urgency was gone and you didn't really get the point.
The big naked blue guy character is distracting. I found myself saying "put some pants on for goodness sake, you're on Mars, after all."
Ultimately, its a superhero movie that takes itself very seriously. I was unable to do the same.
Watch something else if you have the option would be my recommendation.