Red Planet received negative reviews. , the film holds a 14% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 3.90/10. The site's consensus states: "While the special effects are impressive, the movie suffers from a lack of energy and interesting characters." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 34% based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C on scale of A to F. Stephen Holden's review in The New York Times was almost entirely negative, calling the film "a leaden, skimpily plotted space-age Outward Bound adventure with vague allegorical aspirations that remain entirely unrealized." In his review Roger Ebert said it "would have been a great 1950s science fiction film" and that "like in 1950s sci-fi, the story's strong point isn't psychological depth or complex relationships, but brainy scientists trying to think their way out of a box that grows smaller every minute." Music The music for Red Planet was composed by Graeme Revell, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Kipper, Joe Frank, William Orbit, Rico Conning and Melissa Kaplan with performances from Graeme Revell, Peter Gabriel, Emma Shapplin, Sting, William Orbit, Melissa Kaplan and Different Gear vs. Police. See also List of films set on Mars Sojourner (rover) (Real-life Mars rover depicted in film) List of films featuring extraterrestrials Mars in fiction References External links 2000 films 2000s disaster films 2000 science fiction action films 2000s science fiction thriller films American disaster films American robot films American science fiction action films American science fiction thriller films American space adventure films American survival films Australian science fiction action films Australian science fiction thriller films Films scored by Graeme Revell Films about death Films about astronauts Films set in 2056 Films set in deserts Films shot in Jordan Films shot in South Australia Mars in film Overpopulation fiction Village Roadshow Pictures films Warner Bros. films 2000s survival films 2000 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films