After hearing so many bad reviews about this movie, many of them citing Morricone's score as a downside, I am confident that most critics have completely lost it.

I was worried, as many were, that we were going to see another 2001 rip-off, but thankfully this was not so (although there are more than a few homages). The heart of the film is completely different. I laughed, I jumped, I cried; I didn't touch my popcorn. I also really enjoyed the cinematography.

To make this post more relevant, Morricone's score was definitely a HUGE part of the film. It was absolutely beautiful, and I would buy the CD even if it only had the finale sequence on it. It is absolutely magnificent. I loved it.

I loved the score, I loved the movie. and judging from the reactions, applause, and after-comments of the SOLD OUT crowd at the theater with me, I am not alone.

Hope I'm not starting to sound too much like a critic myself...

The film was all Brian DePalma, I love his movies. The score was good, nothing I would buy RIGHT NOW, but maybe I'll ask for it for my b-day.

I thought this was an ok film, not warranting the negative reviews of this in the local papers. I guess with no swearing and no nudity it must equal "not a good movie" these days.

In my humble opinion, the opening 10-15 minutes could be cut. It does not do anything that can't be, or was, revealed later in the film. The finale of the film was great as is the cinematography. A review I read said something about Morricone's score blocking out dialogue, that wasn't my experience, and this was anything but "bombastic". It reminded me more of "Contact".

If nothing else, I suspect we will be hearing at least the "Theme from MTM" on future "pops" type recordings of sci-fi music.

AAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Phoniest giant scorpions in the History of Cinema!

-Dawk.

I haven't seen Mission to Mars yet... maybe I'll rent it or something. It doesn't look spectacularly original/unpredictable anyway.

I agree that the music created a tense mood, throughout much of the film.

I’d have to agree that in a few places, the music didn’t seem to fit the film. I found the
organ music during one suspense scene grating. Other times, I teared and my throat
closed not from the movie’s content, but from his lovely almost despondent music. Heroic
music at the end, and stay to hear the credits...as most filmscore lovers do.

Nevertheless, a friend of mine gave this score one of the worse reviews of any film music I've ever heard. He said, that not only did the score call attention to itself and distract from the film, but it "sounded like porno film music."

CHRISTIAN CLEMMENSEN SAYS: "Overall, this score is all atmosphere and no energy...I found it to be an uninteresting album...Perhaps that's due to my lack of interest in Morricone's drawn-out style, or perhaps his drawn-out style doesn't hold water for me in a sci-fi thriller setting. There's nothing wrong with a contemplative score for such a film, as long as it has some sense of awe about it that lives up to the wonders of space."

I think that's what happens to those who grow up watching things like "Armageddon"!

LOL!!

The only let down was, of course, the resolution. I'm saying all that cheezy-fussy sequence with the CGI Martian and all the voice-over explanations... Geez! I hate this. Why they need to explain what we are seing on screen?

I think that's why, in the end, "M2M" ended just as an entertaining flick, while "2001" is a classic.

Like Terry Gilliam once said: "The difference between 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and '2001' is that the end of Kubrick's film is a question, while the end of 'Close Encounters' is an answer - and it's a really silly answer - little kids in latex suites".

THE MUSIC

Morricone has always been a very on/off composer for me. I adore his THE MISSION and spaghetti scores (as does everyone else) but do not agree with his "contemporary" approach to several films (HAMLET, thrillers etc.). M2M falls somewhere inbetween. I certainly agree with joan that the organ music became grating in several sequences and that the music overemphasized certain scenes. On the album (and that's what we should be reviewing), the music was alright, but had a hard time "resoluting" if there is such a term - it builded and builded but never materialized into anything. A mediocre score.

THE FILM

Just as John Maher, I love De Palma. Luckily, and as opposed to him, I ALSO love "outer space movies", so this was a double treat for me. The opening scene was terrific - one, long shot to establish the characters, their relations and a general mood, a silence before the (sand) storm.

The film, just as the music, was plagued by the fact that there was so much POTENTIAL there that never materialized. In other words, there was something wrong with the exposition. Whereas certain scenes and locations seemed rushed and flashed by (such as the spinning space station), others took too long to develop (the mars station). Furthermore, I still feel we should have been WITH THE PROTAGONISTS when we first saw Mars. I sort of felt cheated that there was no JURASSIC PARK-like awe when we first encountered people on Mars. But that's just me and not a critique of the film as such.

I also found the "alien scenes" rather silly - another case of overstating something onscreen. The audience actually laughed at this. And the CGI wasn't that good to begin with either.

But all in all, a good film that pleased both the entertainment side of me and the more challenging, intellectual side (to a lesser degree, though).

SPECIAL NOTE ***incl. SPOILER****: