Coverage:

Usually when director Brian DePalma attaches his name to a film, it's like having a signature brand like Coke or Mercedes-Benz -- you know you're getting your money's worth.      Admittedly, DePalma has had his share of flops. But he was also at the helm of top-draw thrillers like The Untouchables, Mission Impossible and Dress To Kill. Fact of the matter is, Snake Eyes was the cat's pajamas.      But in his latest venture, DePalma has abandon the crime genre in favor of bravely going "where no man has gone before." Enter Mission To Mars, the pseudo sci-fi thriller that supposedly unlocks the secrets about life on Mars.      The problem with Mission to Mars is that DePalma has bravely gone where other (more competent) sci-fi directors have gone before. At times the film seems like DePalma's summer intern took the helm and refilmed his favorite scenes from Dune and Apollo 13.      But that could also be the fault of a plot that's an uneven quilt of hand-me-down scenes from 2001, Close Encounters and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In fact, even the alien in the movie looks suspiciously ripped off from Spielberg's Industrial Light and Magic toy shop.      And that's too bad, because DePalma has a stellar (forgive the pun) cast with Don Cheadle, Tim Robbins and Gary Sinise who compose the rescue team to Mars in search of missing comrades. Maybe this film would have been better if the astronauts had discovered a murder script on Mars. At least then, DePalma would have a sense of natural direction.