In a “desolate beauty” sort of way, it’s like “the moon but with mountains”.
The “life” of the “Red Planet” so far, seems limited to the macro-level “life of the whole planet” as in the dynamics of what changing wind, sunlight, and other cyclical conditions produce, moving and reshaping the seemingly barren soil, and not much else.
Which is why I fully understand Val Kilmer giving the finger to Mars in "Red Planet" when he finally split.
The Lewin experiment on the Voyager lander back in the 1970s detected biological activity. There won’t be any “face-builder” civilization though. :’)