“The earth belongs to the Holy One, from end to end. It and all that live upon it” (Psalm 24.1).
There’s this odd game movie studios play with one another. One studio begins making a big summer blockbuster film based on a concept: volcanoes or asteroids for example. Another studio hears about this and begins developing their own film and the battle for the summer is on to see who can deliver the bigger hit film. Think Deep Impact and Armageddon, or Dante’s Peak and Volcano. Or, Mission to Mars, which we talked about a couple weeks ago, and this week’s movie.
Red Planet was released 10 November 2000 and stars Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore, and the late, great Terrance Stamp (General Zod from Superman II) . The movie was a box office disappointment, making back only $33.5 million of its $80 million budget.
In the year 2050, the crew of Mars-1 (neither of these movies were creative about their spaceship names) is headed for the Red Planet. But their mission is not merely exploration. They’re hoping to find a new home for humanity since humans have wrecked Earth’s environment.
We’re given a few vignettes with the crew, including an extremely inappropriate moment when Val Kilmer’s Gallagher walks in on a naked Bowman (Moss) as she’s getting out of the shower. We also meet AMEE, an exploration robot that, for some reason, has a military mode built into it, which is important for later.
In orbit, Mars-1 is caught in an unanticipated solar flare that fries the ship’s electronics forcing Bowman to remain aboard while the guys head down to the planet. After crash landing, they find the hab module that had been launched in advance of their arrival is in tatters. They’re also almost out of oxygen, which is bad. But they find that Mars, somehow, has a breathable atmosphere, which is good.
They manage to regain contact with Mars-1 and Bowman gives them directions to an old, Russian probe they can use to get off the planet. Unfortunately, as they undertake the long journey, AMEE, who they accidentally triggered into military mode, is trying to kill them.
While Mission to Mars made a profit, Red Planet fared better with critics then and now. It’s the more entertaining of the two films, and it’s more watchable. It’s not a good movie though. It tries to do too much in its runtime, which slows the pacing. It also appears to realize it has more characters than it needs and uses the Mars landing to kill a few off for no good reason.
But let’s talk motivation. Both movies, in their way, are rescue missions. Mission to Mars follows the second crewed mission that’s wanting to know what happened to the first crew. Red Planet, as mentioned, has a much bigger mission: to save life on Earth.
Humans, it turns out, have made a mess of our world. I imagine at its time there were viewers who dismissed this movie as propaganda. Yet another pagan, liberal agenda trying to convince us about climate change so they can take away our money or our freedoms. There’s probably some who’d still do that now, twenty-six years later; though, I think that argument’s harder to defend.
Yet, our leadership and special interests continue to argue whether or not we’ve caused harm to this fragile world of ours. Sure, some argue, what is happening may seem bad, but it’s the price of progress. We’re becoming smarter, building greater technologies. And, yeah, some of us are getting really, really rich, but that’s beside the point. After all, we were given this planet to subdue and to rule. That’s the mandate, isn’t it?
Well, yes. But the flaw in that is in that word given. It’s given to us in the same way we turn over care of our cats and dogs when we’re away. The person we leave them with has them, is responsible for them, but they don’t own them (particularly not the cats). They belong to us, and we’ll be coming back for them.
This world belongs to the Holy One. That it has fallen into our care is a blessing and a fearsome responsibility. It means that its have been placed in our hands, but we err if we think that Earth, or Mars, or any other place in this universe is ours to do with as we please.
Because, at some point, the one to whom all this truly belongs will be back for them. And, I imagine, their Creator will be curious about how well we’ve cared for them. This universe and this fragile ball that we call home will be assessed as will we as caretakers.
We haven’t fouled up our world as bad as those in Red Planet’s not too distant future, but we’ve not done much better than them. Ours may not be uninhabitable in our lifetime, but it is not looking like a place we’re tending for someone else.
And I’m not sure I’d trust us with any other worlds quite yet.
Creator of stars, planets, and the dark spaces between, we have not cared for this our home as well as we should. Renew our love for this world that belongs first to you; so, we might tend it as a place we can be proud for you to return.