DE Palma can be a genius. Like his biggest influence, Hitchcock, he has an uncanny knack of building tension to a feverous pitch before delivering a real knockout coup de grace, writes Richard King.

Unfortunately the opposite is also true and even more unfortunately the director's first science fiction outing, Mission To Mars (12), is quite possibly his worst movie since the terribly misjudged Bonfire Of The Vanities.

A team of astronauts are sent to Mars in search of possible life forms (20 years ago this might just about have worked).

They are attacked by a strange and powerful force from within the famous 'Martian Face' (possibly the most unspectacular spectacle I've ever witnessed on the big screen).

Only one of the party survives. Another team is sent to rescue him and piece together what went wrong. No surprises really. This is after all a Disney Movie and plays like one. It's too long and not enough happens. The characters are shallow unconvincing stereotypes and what could have been nerve-shredding moments are dragged out so long by the time you reach the climax you've practically forgotten what the fuss was all about in the first place.

Mission To Mars pays homage to everything from 2001 to ET with a huge nod to Close Encounters and the cold war sci-fi films of the 50s. It looks like sci-fi but plays like daytime soap. and the cast, who include, Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle and Connie Nielsen must have been paid well.

I'm sure there are kids out there (once more my own included) who'll get a kick out of this. And die-hard sci-fi freaks, so starved of space travel movies in the UK, will show up in hordes. So if you like a bit of space operatics this may be for you but if, like me, you're looking for vintage De Palma I'd wait for the release of his biopic 'Mr Hughes'.