Three astronauts - heading for Mars - are told to get out of the module just before takeoff. The space agency then fakes the trip and landing to Mars, with our heroes presumably providing just the television bits. Just like the conspiracy people said about the Moon landing (where are the stars in the sky and the dust on the lander feet etc etc?) The movie has a nice feeling of All The President's Men in places.

"You could cut the conspiracy custard with a knife."

"The fact that this movie is rubbish in the second half is a conspiracy in itself. Why didn't the studio want to make a better conspiracy movie on the subject? Very suspicious."

"A movie of two halves. Great until they steal the plane that promptly runs out of gas."

"The ending is just terrible. So his funeral was being held about 30 miles away from the desert they tried to escape in...?"

"If they were going to Mars this is exactly how they would have done it. Kudos."

"Shows once and for all how NASA faked the moon landings. And while we're on the conspiracy subject: Why won't anyone say what the Aurora plane is? (The 6000 miles an hour secret plane the US authorities have developed?) Do Hollywood have to think up everything?"

The conspiracy story was going to plan until the module supposedly bringing the astronauts back to land crashes. This leaves the problem: what to do with the very much alive astronauts? Realizing their lives are in danger they promptly escape and steal a plane that is sitting outside. Unfortunately the plane sitting outside doesn't have enough fuel in it to go anywhere so they promptly have to ditch the plane in the middle of the desert.

They spilt up and escape into the desert. Two of the three are stopped. This leaves one left who manages to make it to his own funeral by the end thus presumably revealing the conspiracy to the world. (Assuming the media aren't in on the conspiracy as well.)

On paper this looks like a moon conspiracy lover's wet dream but it degenerates into a rude awakening by the end.

May ,10, 2010