Passage to Mars (2016) Reviews

• Loaded with magic and si-fi references. Stylish and powerful.

  francisemos2016-10-11

  If you're a space buff - as I am - this is for you! This doc is out of this world. Super loaded with hidden references and wrapped with pure beauty. Not sure NASA realized what the filmmakers did - I guess it was approved - but the film breaks out from the formatted genre and takes it to a new level: complex and emotional narration, dimensional layers, both in storytelling and visually (the back and forth between Earth and Mars are stunning and so smartly executed). The director definitely pushed the envelop. To a point that it's hard to call it a documentary. It's a movie, tracking with an impossible true-life road trip - and it's the first movie of this kind I see. Watched it twice to make up my mind. First I was just got caught up, blending in the Arctic and other crazy shots (spectacular). Then got deeper into the reflection. Powerful. This film stays with you like a great wine.

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• Magnificent and complex, innovative filmmaking. Very entertaining.

  barbaralew2016-10-11

  Director Jeauffre uses the fascinating landscape and the quest of a NASA crew to create an unusual tale of poetry, cinematography and humanity. A festival of subtle sensations and mind-blowing thoughts on our place in the universe. The blend of action, suspense and scary moments with ethereal drift into the unknown, both on Earth and Mars, makes you feel you are on board this epic extraterrestrial adventure. Balance of nature is restored in this refined, lavish film. Complex, much is hiding under the ice layers, beneath the apparent bold Arctic-Martian road trip: references to our past as a species of explorers, the fine line between science and fiction (smart references to HG Wells - and the haunting voices from O. Welles famous 'War of the Worlds' radio show, Neil Armstrong, JFK... resonate in space discretely like from drifting radio waves. Ray Bradbury, through a moving voice appearance by Charlotte Rampling, quoting over Mars river beds ghostly Martian reflections. "Passage to Mars", beneath and above the icy crusts of its alien worlds, celebrate a once lost spirit of adventure. More, much more than a "doc" about a NASA endeavor, the film reflects on our capacity to go beyond our natural frontiers to search for crucial answers, in a beautiful concert of emotions that all of us can connect with. Magnificent.

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• As an astronaut, I give two thumbs up. Striking doc. The real deal.

  spaceclervoy2016-10-07

  I'm an astronaut. Flew several times to the ISS. I love this film. It's the real stuff. A suspense winner in Arctic adventure and a lesson for future humans on Mars. The goal, the team and the engagement are key. Such battle against the Arctic cold and harsh terrain is definitely the gate to getting ready for Mars expeditions I wish I were there with them feeling like on Mars with its challenges, doubts and joy. On this tough journey in the Arctic we feel like being already on Mars. it's tough, it's cold, it's unknown... The film translates so well the reality of being on a confined space travel. We don't speak, we survive, we plan, we think, we hope and we work. We think of home. A very rare film. Striking.

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• If you need 90 minutes on another planet, watch this!

  jamesparks-865982016-10-09

  Astonishing documentary. Hard to call it "documentary" though. Let's say a film, a tale, documenting a NASA adventure. It's more than a doc, as it triggers emotions and appeals to our imagination, senses. It's an experience, with a complex narrative mode (the voice by Zachary Quinto is the actual expedition's journals). if it had been in 3D, the immersion would have been complete. The characters are simple guys, obviously unwilling to fake the usual TV reality shows dramas. They get along, do the job - you feel the humility and the tension as they face the predicaments of merciless Arctic milieu. The whole goal of the expedition is fascinating: a 2,000 miles crossing on the sea ice on board an experimental Humvee to simulate a Martian long range road trip. Great concept both for a scientific experiment and a movie. if you need 90 minutes on another planet, just watch this!

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• Brilliant, fun and magnetic.

  derrickgomez2016-10-10

  We are now so much immersed into science fiction and fantasy material that we've lost touch with real space adventure. Passage to Mars gives us a glimpse at it. This NASA expedition is not only how we prepare for our Martian treks. it explores why. Why we must go there. And this is when the movie really takes off for me, playing with jaw-dropping concepts about extraterrestrial life and our own small existence. Out of this Arctic survival trip, jumping from Earth to Mars, the film becomes almost a dream, driving through ethereal Arctic snow and at times drifting Martian sands. Quinto's narration is right and subtle, reading the original "shiplog" of the Okarian, the experimental Humvee-rover. The film successfully accomplishes the most important thing: capturing our imagination, keeping us intrigued constantly. Brilliant and immersive. Beautiful and inspired!

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