Review of Stranded: Náufragos

Introduction

Man has always been fascinated by the heavens. The earliest explorers navigated by the stars and even the ancient Egyptians had divided the cosmos into constellations. The first civilisations saw the skies as having mystical significance, but as scientific knowledge advanced so did our understanding of the universe. From reverence came aspiration, and in 1969 man set foot on our nearest neighbour the Moon, a barren airless rock. Far more tantalising is Mars, the next planet out. While it currently possesses a tenuous atmosphere of carbon dioxide, and any moisture is sealed up in the ice caps, it is believed that in the distant past it may have been a far more hospitable place, possessing oceans and maybe even that elusive characteristic, life. In fact Beagle 2 is on its way to the small red planet, to search for evidence to that end. Currently, much of space exploration focuses on Mars, with unmanned probes aplenty destined there, and eventually, hopefully a manned mission. Inevitably a lot of fiction has arisen concerning Mars, with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury and most recently Kim Stanley Robinson all producing works of speculative fiction. Cinema has also been inspired and ever since The War Of The Worlds, various ideas have been explored on screen, Total Recall, Red Planet and Mission To Mars among others. Stranded is the European take on the sub-genre, sending a badly dubbed collection of astronauts on a pioneering mission.

The Ares arrives at Mars in the not too distant future after a lengthy transit from Earth. Six explorers aboard the shuttle Bellos begin the descent to the Martian surface on the final leg of their epic journey of exploration, when tragedy strikes. A software glitch send the shuttle off course and plummeting to the surface, resulting in a crash that kills the mission commander and leaves the five survivors stranded with limited resources, with rescue the better part of three years away. As they take stock, it becomes rapidly apparent that they aren`t going to make it. There is food, air and water enough for two people and three must make the ultimate sacrifice. But there is still an amazing discovery to be made on the desolate world.

Video

The picture, presented in 2.35:1 letterbox format is somewhat problematic. Being a recent film, the picture itself is pristine, with hardly any print damage worth mentioning. However the lower resolution of the letterbox transfer is combined with digital artefacts to render a less than ideal picture. There are occasional white flecks, some minor pixellation and the rare horizontal glitch. There is also a touch of colourbleed that ironically is in the red area of the spectrum. The effects are also a mixed bag. The CGI spacecraft effects are very slow and atmospheric, reminiscent of 2001 and are well accomplished. The spacecraft sets and related paraphernalia also seem quite authentic. However Mars itself looks like a volcanic beach filmed with a red tint. It just doesn`t feel like another world, and the thick fluffy clouds do little to dispel that. Besides isn`t Mars supposed to be a pale pink?

Audio

The sound is a DD 3.0 English track. That is discrete left and right tracks and one dedicated surround track. The sound itself is nothing special, the dialogue, such as it is, is clear enough but many of the European cast have their lines dubbed making this film something of a Spaghetti Martian. There are no subtitles by the way.

Features

There is a well dodgy trailer as well as a 1-minute slideshow of film stills set to music from the film.

Conclusion

It`s a case of great idea, shame about the movie. Stranded fails to deliver in almost every respect. I was sort of expecting a Robinson Crusoe on Mars scenario, but the film rapidly disabused me of that preconception. The concept is simple enough, as five people stranded in an inhospitable environment must play a game of lifeboat to see who survives. Unfortunately the performances are hardly up to the task. If there is one thing that we have come to expect from astronauts, it`s their consummate professionalism. Life threatening catastrophes are greeted with a laconic "Houston, we have a problem". This was more a case of "Don`t Panic! Don`t Panic! Captain Mainwaring" It`s as if five people are thrown together on one of those company sponsored team development exercises, only on Mars. You have the optimistic, the pessimist, the scientist, the spiritual one and the one who doesn`t give a toss, because they know it`s all a load of corporate bull and who needs a promotion anyway! The most ridiculous dialogue I have heard uttered in a long time tops all this off. For example, the optimist having discovered ice forming in the lee of the ship brings his discovery aboard to celebrate. When little exuberance is forecoming, he emphasises the fact, "Look, this is water, water Ok, Do you know what it means wa… (Ten-second pause) … TER!" This being a mostly Spanish production, I would have preferred a native soundtrack with English subtitles. It may not have sounded so ridiculous in the original Spanish.

The ridiculous dialogue and unrealistic performances along with a lack of pace conspire to hide a germ of a story. The story`s structure is quite familiar. A small group of individuals cast into dire straits, fighting to survive, and when everything looks bleak and hopeless, an unexpected twist ensues, leaving only an ambiguous ending for the viewer to ruminate upon. It`s a perfect Outer Limits story. Indeed, cut the running time by half and edit out the tedium and you would have the ideal episode. The film looks quite good, once you get past the lacklustre transfer, and there is just enough real science thrown in to keep pedants interested. But the film wastes a good story with unrelenting tedium and miserable dialogue. An interesting contrast to Hollywood takes on the idea, but ultimately unrewarding and well worth avoiding.