Don Cheadle: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

4. Luke Graham - Mission To Mars (2000)

Brian De Palma might be considered a genius in some circles but there's no getting around the fact that his Mission To Mars is not fit either for purpose or to have his good name attached to it.

Clearly enamoured by the idea of crafting something stunning looking set in space, De Palma ignored the fact that the screenplay was woeful and the incontrovertible truth that it would never be anything other than a poor sci-fi. That must be why he spent so much time making certain parts of it look beautiful while neglecting the other hugely important elements like story-telling and characters in a way that is almost criminal.

Cheadle plays a lone survivor abandoned on Mars after a mission goes south who sustains himself using the produce of a greenhouse... Wait... Isn't that The Martian? Sadly, his grizzled, oddly briefly deranged loner is nothing like the brilliant Mark Watney though. After years living in constant fear that he's about to die, Cheadle's survivor somehow gets over his lunacy in a matter of moments and it just doesn't ring true at all. Much like the rest of the film, actually.