Review: Last Day on Mars

Unfortunately that’s where his research ends as he falls into a pit,  and comes back to life looking like something out of Mars Attacks meets Dawn of the Dead.  As more crew members get the bug that makes them lose their minds, lose their pulses, and turn into undead berserkers, lead actor Liev Schreiber tries to cope without any shoot-them-in-the-head weaponry, and to help spare fellow astronaut Romola Garai as well. Schreibers’ character, and Johnny Harris as an overly chipper team physician come therapist, provide character complication. Inhibiting Schreiber from being all the hero he can be is an event from the journey over. What happens throughout this movie as Schreiber tries to salvage as much as he can will leave you at the edge of your seat.

It has all the blood, horror and gore that all zombie thriller films demands. It has many unexpected elements that attracted the strong actors in its cast.

Robinsonhas seen to it that the characters and their interactions are natural and in the midst of it their interactions come down to a key quote from one of the main characters. “People don’t really change, put them under enough pressure and you find out who they are” and boy do we ! Robinson is expert at creating that pressure. Working with editor Peter Lambert and composer Max Richter, he ratchets up tension as the dwindling crew members play cat and mouse games with those zombies, trying desperately to stay one step ahead of the undead.

In this sense, the film is above all a promising maiden look at the Ireland-born Robinson’s ability to control atmosphere. Best known to date for his short films (Blinky™, the Oscar-nominated Fifty Percent Grey), Robinson is at his finest in the film’s opening passages, during which he finds compelling ways to contrast the exterior surface of Mars (mammoth dust storms, empty vistas) with the interior of the crew’s base (rigid doors, hallways, panes of glass). As the film moves along, he gets to interweave certain plot-derived happenings into these base compositions.

 The Mars landscapes—captured in real life in the deserts of Jordan—are handsomely treated by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, who seems in the midst of a breakthrough (he shot Philomena, for instance) after years of hard, strong work for director Andrea Arnold (Red Road, Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights). Production designer Jon Henson, meanwhile, helps lay the groundwork for a sci-fi film that, on a relatively meager budget, has no problems persuading us of its surface authenticity.

The cast is quite an eclectic bunch, each one playing a vital part in the story. Schreiber’s always been a charismatic guy, and he effortlessly pulls off a more action-oriented role, and makes for a strong lead. Each of them seems fair game in the face of their infected crew-mates. Romola Garai, who’s usually seen in period parts like ATONEMENT , makes for a likable astronaut. Fellow Brit Olivia Williams (famous for playing the object of Max Fisher’s affection in RUSHMORE) plays against type as a bitchy scientist, who’s bent on making a name for herself no matter what the cost. Imagine her as a more sympathetic Ash from ALIEN and you’re not far off. The great Elias Koteas is also on-board as the Tom Skerritt-like commander. Wanna bet there’s also a squirrely guy who totally loses it once people start turning into zombies? Check.

“Last Days on Mars” is a fine example of creating science fiction/horror on a budget. Using the bleak deserts of Jordan to stand in for Mars and doing a chunk of its special effects work in Ireland, the Red Planet has rarely looked so convincing.