The plot may not be all that original, but I think The Last Days on Mars is a showcase of excellent science-fiction filmmaking. This is the type of science fiction movie I keep looking for but rarely find, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The colonization of Mars is such a fascinating subject in and of itself, but man's struggle to survive in such an alien environment ratchets up by several factors when the mission is threatened with catastrophic failure. I just wish we could stop having to imagine what might happen on Mars -- but man's long-overdue journey to Mars looks like it may not happen in my lifetime, and that's a bitter disappointment.

So it's 2040-something, and eight astronauts are just wrapping up a six-month mission on the surface of Mars. All but the two main scientists have had all they want of the Red Planet and can't wait for the arrival of the spacecraft Aurora to pick them up.

It would seem that the folks back at the International Space Commission (or whatever it was called) could have done a little more in the way of psychological testing, though. Kim Aldrich (Olivia Williams), upset that she has failed to find any signs of life, is a real queen you-know-what who pisses everyone else off continually. Unlike Kim, scientist Marko Petrovic (Goran Kostic) keeps his thoughts to himself. He makes up an excuse for one last outside mission in an attempt to hide his own discovery of a bacterial life form on Mars, and that sets a whole series of events in motion. The team leader's a good man, but he won't assert himself or make snap decisions on his own. The psychologist in the group is pretty useless to begin with and becomes even more so when things turn ugly. The only two people with solid and dependable characters are Rebecca Lane (Romola Garai) and Vincent Campbell (although even Vincent sometimes struggles with claustrophobia). As Vincent, Liev Schreiber really makes this movie his own with his understated portrayal. He is the only character who always thinks clearly and consistently acts to save himself and his crewmates from what becomes the most unimaginable of dangers.

Those who dismiss this as a horror movie do the film a disservice. Certainly, there is a strong element of horror on display here -- and a somewhat cliched horror at that -- but The Last Days on Mars is first and foremost a science fiction film. The mission itself is all about the search for signs of life on a sister planet and man's commitment to scientific discovery and progress. I really don't understand how some viewers can say the film has no real plot or purpose. These are human beings struggling to survive and make it home to their loved ones. You've got the innate human struggle to live in an alien environment, the psychological effects of unimaginable stress on characters who are supposed to be of the most sound of minds, and the complexity of interrelationships changing in the most trying of circumstances. It all adds up to a fantastic movie, in my opinion.