The Chinese come to the rescue of NASA and the movie literally concludes with one of the American heroes fist-bumping a Chinese astronaut on a joint mission back to Mars. It's a sad reminder of how bad the new cold war has become in just a few years.
2015: :wholesome: We can explore space together! :solidarity:
2022: President Xi is going to invade Taiwan at any moment LAUNCH THE NUKES NOW! :guts-rage:
:sadness:
I struggle to remember every detail, but, Forest Whitaker plays an american Colonel(?), and explains why it might be preferable to attack and kill the aliens totally unprovoked by explaining through analogy how the landing of the american colonists "didn't work out so well for the indians", and not a wink of irony all throughout.