Brian De Palma switches missions after shepherding Tom Cruise through Mission Impossible and is lost in space with an obviously expensive, decently made but hardly thrilling science fiction epic.

Think Apollo 13 meets Destination Moon, add some Contact and you'll be in its orbit.

You can't fault the craftsmanship: special effects impress, space scenes could pass for documentary footage, Mars looks sufficiently alien (although the massive killer sandstorm wouldn't look out of place in The Mummy).

Unfortunately the characters are hackneyed and the climactic alien encounter, with its Quatermass and the Pit-style message, boldly goes where too many have gone before.