Certain types of movies are a bit like buses - they always arrive in twos. Whether it's Antz and A Bug's Life or Deep Impact and Armageddon, different studios take it in turns to cover the same theme, like a tag team playing out the same moves. Released shortly after Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars, Red Planet sees Val Kilmer and company head to Mars in the hopes of terraforming so that humanity can escape from a dying earth. The big scientific no-no comes when the characters remove their helmets and breathe freely on the planet's surface. Unfortunately, thanks to Mars's low atmospheric pressure, this is impossible regardless of whether or not the air is breathable, since without a pressurized suit your body would instantly bulge outwards. At least Paul Verhoven's adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Total Recall, almost got this aspect right - the image of Arnie's face expanding and his eyes bulging out of their sockets is a decent visualisation of what would actually happen. That's until the planet is covered is air and his face returns to normal. So near and yet so far...
