Product: Race to Mars (2008)
Rating: 5.0
Fantastic Movie!!
This was a thoroughly satisfying, well-done piece of hard sci-fi. The science, as far as I could tell (I'm no expert), was spot-on. The depiction of the space voyage -- a variant of Robert Zubrin's "Mars Direct" concept -- was utterly compelling and convincing. All the situations portrayed were believable, suspenseful, and definitely conveyed the enormity of the mission.The characters came across as credible professionals addressing the tasks at hand. Admittedly, the drama was ramped up a bit more than you would probably expect on a real spaceflight, but even "Apollo 13" was somewhat guilty of that. The performances were decent -- no Oscars to be handed out here, but there was no hammy overacting like you often see in something like this. Overall, the actors effectively brought their roles to life, and by the end I had formed enough of a bond to care about what happened to them.I must concede that I've seen better special effects in recent years, but that's not to say that the effects were unacceptable. I was able to suspend my disbelief and buy into the reality of the situation, so the FX did their job. It's TV, after all, so you have to make some allowances.All-in-all, this was a gem of a movie and a welcome addition to my collection. I absolutely recommend it to any hard sci-fi fans that are looking for a fix. This will definitely hit the spot.