`Mission` is a plodding space opera

Gary Sinise can act the heck out of a role, even buried in a space suit. That`s an easy conclusion anyone can come to after watching "Mission to Mars" (Touchstone, PG, VHS/rental. DVD/$30). Sinise is NASA pilot Jim McConnell, a man with a big dream and a broken heart. His dream is to fly the first spaceship to Mars. The broken heart comes from the grievous loss of Maggie, his wife, co-pilot and fellow member of the NASA Mars Team. She died from a lingering illness during training and McConnell abandoned the project to care for his wife in her final days.

Does he miss the boat to Mars? You bet. His best friend, Luke Graham (Don Cheadle), takes over and leads the quartet of adventurers to the Red Planet`s surface in the year 2020. All is well until a bizarre "storm" blows out communication with the World Space Station. But not before Graham gets off a curious message. The disaster triggers a rescue team, lead by Commander Woody Blake (a gray-haired Tim Robbins), who insists that McConnell - discredited in the eyes of NASA authorities for walking away from training - "fly the right seat." Also on the rescue crew is Woody`s wife, Terri (Connie Nielsen, most recently seen in "Gladiator") and the requisite techno-dweeb Phil (Jerry O`Connell of "Scream 2").

Of course, the term "rescue" in this film doesn`t carry the immediacy of something like reality TV programming like "911." It takes six months to get to Mars and sometimes it seems as though director Brian De Palma is trying to make us "feel" the vastness of time in space. For an action-thriller, this movie kind of plods along. I think De Palma had pretensions of creating his own "2001: A Space Odyssey" with its majestic absences of dialogue and its visual grandeur. Even disasters, like the penetration of the rescue vessel`s hull by bullet-sized meteors and the decimation of the first Mars team, unravel at a Prozac pace, to which composer Ennio Morricone set oddly out-of-sync drawing-room background music.

Robbins` and Nielsen`s husband-and-wife duo don`t generate as much on-screen heat as their behavior would like us to think. We`re faced with Sinise`s tragic character, who carries the memory of the loss of his own wife like wet clothes on his back. Then we`re distracted by this happy couple in space, dancing in weightlessness, teasing each other, cuddling - it seems "mean" to put them in the same ship with McConnell.

When torn between offering visual candy and developing characters, De Palma was content to feed our visceral senses rather than satisfy our intellectual curiosity. We don`t really know these people we`re expected to care so much about. And yet, we`re awed by the Martian landscapes to the point that we feel more empathy for the "storm" than the space explorers. With superior computer-generated imagery, the movie does give a tantalizing presentation of the prospect of other life-forms and even ventures a succinct and beguiling explanation for life on Earth.

Given the high-end development of the visual and aural aspects of this film, and given the fact that it is a Disney product, I`m left with one conclusion: This is the seed for a future theme park ride. It has that feel to it - and I know Disneyland had to junk its aging "Mission to Mars" space experience years ago. You know, just like first there was a "Mighty Ducks" movie and suddenly there is a Disney-owned NHL franchise in Anaheim called the Mighty Ducks. Look for the "Mission to Mars" 3-D ride in a Disney theme park near you someday. I`d almost bet on it.

One last gripe: Product placement really cheeses up what is an otherwise elegant if uninvolving production. The Martian land-rover has Penzoil and Kawasaki stickers on it? Dr. Pepper and M&M`s are part of the spaceship diet? This is one area where subtlety is lacking.ALSO THIS WEEK:

"This Is Spinal Tap - Special edition" (MGM, VHS/$15, DVD/$30) - They`re laughing at us. They`re really, really laughing at us. The hapless metal gods are back and they`re everywhere - on radio, TV, movie theaters, magazines.

Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are bending reality again with the release of a new single, appearances on VH-1 show "The List" and apparently an actual tour. Even the very real Mick Fleetwood is filling in as drummer - following the "death" of the last sticks man. The original mocumentary itself, meanwhile rolls on.

The DVD is especially fun with a commentary track from the band members; an all-new interview with Rob Reiner and alter-ego Marti DiBergi; a "rare" appearance on "The Michael Franklin Show"; commercials and four music videos.

"East is East" (Miramax, R, VHS/ rental, DVD/$30) - The inevitable clash between culture and generations becomes the substance of this comedy set in England in the 1970s. George Khan is a tradition-bound Pakistani father of seven independent, Western-oriented children, who all have different ideas about their future than the family patriarch. Life, as the father learns, is about compromise.

"The Quarry" (First Run, unrated, VHS/rental, DVD/$30) - John Lynch stars in this suspense thriller about a mysterious fugitive who kills a Baptist minister en route to take over a new congregation in a small South African town then takes on the man`s identity. Based on the novel by Damon Galgut and filmed entirely in his native South Africa, the movie raises provocative questions about race, religion, justice and morality. In English and Afrikaans with English subtitles, the movie won the Grand Prize of the Americas at the Montreal Film Festival.

"Stiff Upper Lips" (Miramax, R, VHS/rental, DVD/$30) - A spoof on the British period pieces that clutter art houses these days - perpetrated by some of the actors and actresses who populate those very films like Prunella Scales and Georgina Cates. Think of this comedy as an inside job. In the tale, the British class system comes between a well-bred woman and her object of desire, a lower-class peasant boy.

"Voices of Cabrini" (Facets, VHS/$30) - This documentary followed the mostly African-American residents of Chicago`s infamous public housing project for three years as the wrecking balls and bulldozers of urban developers hoping to capitalize on the gentrification movement threatened their homes. The movie raises troubling moral issues about the treatment of the urban poor and the shifting, sometimes opportunistic goals of social engineering.A WEEK FOR ANIMATION

"Underdog" (Golden Book, DVD/$20) - The popular 1960s animated super hero makes a comeback just in time to rescue girlfriend Sweet Polly Purebred from a host of evils. The disc contains three episodes from the TV series, "Underdog vs. Simon Barnister," "Underdog vs. Riff Raff" and "Underdog vs. Overcat." You`ll find four mini-episodes, including the original pilot "Safe Waif," unseen since its TV premiere in 1964. So no need to fear, "Underdog" is finally here and it`s hip, hip, hip and away!

"Tweety`s High Flying Adventure" (Warner Bros., VHS/$20) - The little yellow canary with the speech impediment finally gets a movie all his own. He hooks up with a host of better-known characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tasmanian Devil, Pepe Le Pew and, of course, his old foil/sidekick Sylvester the cat. The movie marks the debut of a new canary in town, Aoogah. The story: Granny has made a bet that Tweety can circle the globe in 80 days collecting the paw prints of 80 canary-hungry cats along the way - Tweety! What was she thinking???

"It`s the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown" (Paramount, VHS/$13, DVD/$20) - Snoopy stars in this debut animated special, which includes an 11-minute retrospective on the work of the late Charles M. Schulz. Good old Charlie Brown narrates the classic story to his younger sister, Sally. The DVD version also includes an archived interview with the late creator of the Peanuts gang.DVD UPDATE:

MGM Home Entertainment releases a few classics on disc this week: "The Amityville Horror," "Stranger than Paradise," Frankie and Annette`s original "Beach Party" and "Bikini Beach." Also from MGM, "A Bucket of Blood," "Heavy Traffic" and "Pajama Party." Each is priced under $20.

Walt Disney Classics debuts the DVD version of the animated feature "Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World" priced under $30. The sequel is set in London and voice artists include Irene Bedard, Billy Zane, David Ogden Stiers, Jean Stapleton and Finola Hughes.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Sept. 26: Italian horror picture by the late Lucio Fulci, "The Beyond," in a widescreen, uncut version. Also, from Paramount, the animated feature "Faeries."

Oct. 10: More "classic" horror: the 1974 zombie shocker "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie." Two Werner Herzog films: "Aquirre, The Wrath of God" and "Cobra Verde."

Oct. 24: Feature-length animated film "Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker."

Nov. 7: Robin Dunne and Keri Lynn Pratt in "Cruel Intentions 2."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Robert J. Hawkins