20 "Twin" Films That Were In Competition With Each Other

Rotten Tomatoes: 25%/14%

IMDb: 5.7/5.7

There are only a few films in Brian De Palma's CV that could be considered hatchet work, and Mission to Mars fits the bill of a for-hire filmmaker. In fact, the script was already written and the film cast before De Palma stepped in as a last-minute replacement.

Mission to Mars is an interesting failure, given that most of those involved have had such success in the sci-fi genre before (Jim and John Thomas with Predator, Carrie and The Fury with De Palma). And there are some touches, such as an anti-gravity dance between Tim Robbins and Connie Nielsen, that are distinctly De Palma. It's enough to make one forget it was inspired by a Disney attraction.

The same can't be said of Red Planet, the similarly Mars-themed 2000 sci-fi thriller. But where De Palma's film tried, however hamfistedly, to ask questions about humankind's origin, Red Planet was happy to reside in trashy A.I.-gone-mad cinema. Both films are set in the near future (at the time of Mars' release, 2020 was the near-future) and, like any space film since, both have callbacks to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddysey.

Ultimately, though, both re-appropriate that film's various themes for the modern blockbuster - and critics, audiences and time haven't been kind to either film. At least De Palma's high-minded film has fleeting moments of a better movie, with expertly crafted set-pieces. Planet's director, Antony Hoffman, never directed a feature again.