Ghosts of Mars
USA
2001. Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Pam Grier
Jeez, hello, c'mon you guys... what is this?
Heavy metal-zombies on mars? Is this serious? Once upon a time John
Carpenter was one of the greatest and most intelligent American filmmakers
around. He still is, of course (I think), he just don't show it. Today
he only seem interesting in remaking the old western movies of his youth.
Old times are good times at the Carpenter residence where the movies
of Howard Hawks and John Ford are rolling repeatedly around the clock.
He have already made his share of Rio Bravo-variations with Assault
on Precinct 13 and The Thing and Vampires was also
essentially a western, but if it ain't broke - don't fix it. So here
we go again. This time Carpenter has set his story on the planet mars
in the year 2025, using the same premise as in Precinct, the
partneship between the cop and the outlaw, teaming up against a greater
enemy. Here Natasha Henstridge is the cop who arrives to a Mars colony
to pick up criminal Ice Cube. Soon they discover that someone has unleashed
an evil spirit which has taken over all humans and turning them into
bloodthirsty punk-zombies in heavy make-up. Our heroes must fight these
evil zombies, which are lead by Big Daddy, and escape in the cardboard
train on which they arrived.
Just about everything is so bad with Ghosts of Mars. Everything is beyond lowbudget and there's absolutely no suspence of any kind. Is this really from the same guy who did The Thing? I guess so. The dialogue is unbelievably stiff and the actors suck big time. Pam Grier is especially painful and miscast. On the redeeming side there are some good splatter effects (by K.N.B EFX) and a competent Natasha Henstridge in the lead. People say she can't act but that's bullshit, she's the only one here who doesn't feel out of place. Courtney Love was originally set for the part but she apparently got the boot some day before shooting began. Although I can't quite see Love being any good in a physical role such as this, she would perhaps have been more in line with the braindead ass-kicking rock'n'roll feeling Carpenter goes for here. Because the film isn't supposed to be serious. It's so obvious that the pretentions are left behind and the result is nothing but a loud, violent and stupid junkfest, complete with a hardrock soundtrack performed by Steve Vai and members of Anthrax. It's the director's most idiotic movie in many years. Yes, it's even dopier than Escape From L.A. And for that I enjoyed it very much. I only hope Mr. Carpenter would cut the crap and make a straight film some time soon.
© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.