Carrie-Ann Moss copes with a zero-gravity fire in this stunning sequence from Red Planet. How do you put out a fire when the fire extinguisher sends you flying in the opposite direction? Trinity's on the case.
Red Planet gets a bum rap, and it's true that stretches of it are a bit slow, especially a lot of the sequences on Mars. But unlike the other Martian adventure movie that came out in 2000, Mission to Mars, Red Planet never abandons science and always offers a kind of scientific explanation for its weird events. And the space action sequences are both scientifically plausible and thrilling. It's a fine addition to the subgenre of "semi-realistic space films set within our solar system in which mind-expanding shit happens," a category which includes Sunshine, 2001: A Space Odyssey and several others.
And Carrie-Ann Moss makes a fantastic commander, during the period of the film where she's not just sitting on the ship waiting for news. (She stays behind on the ship to deal with the crisis that leads to that zero-G fire, because the captain goes down with her ship.) The other great space action sequence in the film comes at the very end. Here are the film's truly awesome last 10 minutes: