The biggest flaw in this film
Numerous implausible aspects of this film have already been discussed, mainly focusing on the difficulty of pulling off such an elaborate conspiracy with so many people involved. But the biggest and most obvious flaw, in my view, is the central premise. Kelloway (Holbrook) insists that having to cancel the launch due to a design flaw in the life support system would've been sufficient excuse for Congress to terminate funding for the Mars program. Is there an even more compelling excuse one can dream up? Sure, and that would be having three astronauts die because of a different technical flaw! I can buy Kelloway's rationale for faking the Mars landing, but killing off the astronauts makes zero sense given his primary motivation to keep the federal funding flowing!
share