Matrix started one of the greatest hypes in the history of the cinema in 1999. Everyone wanted to look like Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves with cool sunglasses and leather coats. Science fiction boome and Moss delivered Just a year later the next sci-fi action film: Red planet. But hardly anyone remembers the space adventure.
Red Planet with Carrie-Anne Moss was 17 million more expensive than a matrix: So hardly anyone remembers that
Even if you don’t have much left for numbers, this calculation hurts: Matrix cost $ 63 million and recovered over 460 million in the cinema. Red Planet was even more expensive, cost 80 million and made the box office … 30 million that is Not even half of the production expenditure.
What was it?
Red Planet is not a particularly good film: In the (only) film by director Antony Hoffman, both the reviews and the enthusiasm for the audience left a lot to be desired. The Metacritic criticism collection is encouraged to Miese 34 out of 100 points. At Moviepilot, Red Planet has a defective assessment of 5.7 of 10. For comparison: Matrix has a 7.9.
The action begins promising. The Mars colonization is being prepared because the earth will soon be uninhabitable. In 2057, a science team has to go to Mars to examine a problem with the major project. However, the sci-fi thriller is lost in unnecessary accidents, amok-running robots, garnished with moderate CGI and wooden dialogues.
In the trailer you can see Carrie-Anne Moss as a tough sparkling ship pilot
Red Planet – Trailer (German)
Carrie-Anne Moss as commander Kate Bowman is great, but cannot make up for the lack of originality. Another success for Moss would have been nice because at the start of Matrix, she still had to go to waiters to keep afloat.
According to Matrix, everyone wanted more matrix: After Matrix there was no resounding sci-fi success in the cinema for a while. Hardly anyone remembers sci-fi films like The 13th Floor and Mission to Mars, which started in Matrix’s fairway. Red Planet is no exception.
Not only did sci-fi fans prefer a second time a matrix, also had red planet direct Mars competition. Mission to Mars appeared just a few months earlier and breastfeed the Mars thirst of the cinema audience. But even mission to Mars remained behind the expectations, writes the film magazine Collider. In 2000 people simply not interested in the planet, but for artificial realities here on Earth – and where these cool sunglasses can be bought.
If you still want to get your own picture of Carrie-Anne Moss and Val Kilmer (HEAT) in Red Planet, you can borrow the film on Amazon, for example. Matrix is available from WoW in the subscription.
This article was first published in a similar form in June 2023 at Moviepilot.