Red Planet (Limited Edition) 4K Ultra HD Review

A Forgotten Mission: Revisiting the 2000 Sci-Fi Film ‘Red Planet’

Two big movies began their cinematic trip to Mars in 2000. Though Brian De Palma’s Mission to Mars came first, Antony Hoffman’s Red Planet followed just eight months after. Featuring a strong cast of Val Kilmer and Carrie-Anne Moss, the movie promised a bleak, survivalist view of the first human trip to the crimson planet. But does this early-2000s science fiction adventure still hold up, or has it been appropriately left in the cosmic dust?

The Concept: Last Hope for a Dying Planet

Red Planet presents a gripping, high-stakes situation. Earth is gasping from an environmental catastrophe in the near future, therefore humanity’s last hope depends on the successful terraforming of Mars. A team of astronauts is sent to see why the oxygen-producing algae we have been spreading on the Martian surface is mysteriously vanishing, leaving the oxygen levels dropping and the terraforming project failing. The competent Commander Kate Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss) leads the mission. An incident in space leaves her remaining in orbit whereas a team including the rebellious engineer Gallagher (Val Kilmer) descend toward the surface of the Mars. As one could expect in a space thriller, things soon go bad, leaving the crew trapped on the unforgiving, rough terrain with dwindling resources and a damaged ship orbiting the earth.

A Capable Cast Walking Through a Familiar Story

For a genre work, the movie has a very powerful cast. Together with Kilmer’s roguish mechanic and Moss’s stoic commander, we have Tom Sizemore as a practical scientist, Benjamin Bratt as the fiery pilot Santen, Simon Baker  as Pettengil  and Terence Stamp as the philosopher Chantilas. The cast does their best with the often ludicrous material, giving committed performances, if not always ground-breaking ones. The interplay among the crew members—especially the simmering conflict and ultimately the connection between Bowman and Gallagher—offers a human anchor among the sci-fi spectacles. Common criticism even during the time of release, however, is that the characters frequently seem like stereotypes rather than fully formed people, and twenty-five-years later, as the visual effects fail to dazzle as much as they did in 2000, the characters come even more into focus and fail to carry the thin story.

A Consequence of Their Era in Terms of Visuals and VFX

Red Planet reveals its age most noticeably here. Visual effects were the main focus of a movie with a projected $80 million budget in 2000. But today, they serve as a stark time stamp of the technical constraints of the period. Although the Mars-1 spacecraft’s exterior photographs are acceptable, they lack the weight and photorealistic detail modern viewers have come to expect from computer graphics.

The true letdown comes in the portrayal of the Martian surface and its robotic occupant, AMEE. Though conceptually magnificent, the large, rusty landscapes often feel flat and overly based on basic digital matte paintings. The most ambitious—and most problematic—result of the movie is AMEE, the military-grade hostile robot. Bringing AMEE to life with dynamic motions, the CGI employed by today’s standards is strikingly unpersuasive. Lacking texture and good harmony with its surroundings, the model seems more like a video game item from a lost age than a real threat. Although the actual suits and sets hold up fairly well, the digital elements have not aged gracefully and draw the viewer out of the suspense the movie seeks to create. Contrast this with the still stunning visual effects of The Martian (2015) which still hold up today.

Behind-the-Scenes Conflict and Legacy

As the mission it depicts, Red Planet‘s production was said to be as turbulent. Rumors of on-set disputes between actors Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore have become a prominent aspect of the movie’s legacy, with reports of throwing weights and totally rejecting being in the same room. The movie’s lack of cohesive energy may have resulted in part from this behind-the-scenes conflict. Becoming a box-office flop and acting as director Antony Hoffman’s first and only feature movie to date, Red Planet ultimately proved to be a critical and financial failure.

The Verdict on the Film

Red Planet is a captivating time capsule of science fiction at the start of the millennia. It has an interesting idea and a game cast that seeks to raise a script replete with standard genre themes. Hard sci-fi and survival narrative fans will still find components to enjoy, including the main enigma of the missing algae and the tense race against dwindling oxygen.

The film’s outdated visual effects, which fall short of producing the immersive and believable world required for such a tale, finally hurt the movie. Although it has its own beauty and moments of suspense, Red Planet feels like a mission never quite achieved its goal, making it as more of a small footnote in the chronicles of Mars exploration movies than a classic.

The Video

Red Planet has been restored by Arrow Films. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned at Warner Bros./Motion Picture Imaging. The film was restored in 4K resolution and color graded at Duplitech. It is presented on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio in a HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement which shows HDR10 metadata with a MaxLL of 742 nits and MaxFALL of 498 nits.

This is an excellent looking transfer held back only by the innate softness and artifacts of the visual effects from the era. Other than these minor issues, the 35mm original source looks organic, crisp, and detailed. The colors have excellent pop, especially the reds, oranges, and greens, and blacks are inky. There are some good highlights that bring out the twinkle in stars and lights on equipment well.

The Audio

Red Planet comes only with a lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. It is dynamic and for the era it is from, very effective. The soundtrack pulses with a good amount of low end, some solid effects run through the surround channels, and dynamic range doesn’t seem limited at all.

The Supplements

Red Planet is not one of the most robust releases from Arrow as far as extras and bonus features, but the inclusions are good. The two new interviews and the visual retrospective bring a new perspective and information on the film and the booklet includes an essay. We also get reversible artwork on the sleeve.

Limited Edition Contents:

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mark A. Altman

Bonus Features:

• The Martian Chronicles (1080p; 00:21:51) — A brand new interview with visual effects supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun
• Suit Up (1080p; 00:10:45) — A brand new interview with helmet and suits designer Steve Johnson
• Angry Red Planet (1080p; 00:18:42) — A brand new visual retrospective with film critic Heath Holland
• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 00:14:24)
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 00:01:35)

The Final Assessment

This is a good transfer of a 2000 sci-fi spectacle. The one hindrance being the CGI, which is not a knock on the restoration or transfer itself. For fans of these sorts of films from the Y2K era, this is a great release.

Red Planet (Limited Edition) is out on 4K Ultra HD November 18, 2025 from Arrow Video

Details

• Rating Certificate: PG-13 (for sci-fi violence, brief nudity and language)
• Studios & Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures | Village Roadshow Pictures | NPV Entertainment | The Canton Company | Mars Production Pty. Ltd. | Zaman Productions | Arrow Video
• Director: Antony Hoffman
• Written By: Chuck Pfarrer | Jonathan Lemkin
• Run Time: 106 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 742 nits
  • MaxFALL: 498 nits
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH
• Street Date: 18 November 2025