GHOSTS OF MARS (2001)
Tagline: You Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance
(Action, Sci-Fi, Probably Just Better To Leave) [R]
Let me put it this way. Maybe I'd sleep with you if you were the last man on Earth. But we're not on Earth.
In this one, we are taken to the future a couple of centuries from now. The police on Mars are charged with transferring a prisoner thought to have killed several people and they send a small armed group to do it. However, when they get to the town on Mars where the prisoner is, it’s abandoned and nearly everyone is dead. After finding a scientist who knows what’s going on, they discover they are badly outnumbered by people possessed by mysterious entities not willing to just give up the planet.
First off, I typically don’t post horror movie reviews outside of October, and this movie is considered a horror flick, but for me, it was more in the arena of the RESIDENT EVIL and UNDERWORLD series where, sure, there are horror elements, but it’s not designed to scare you. This movie is pretty outrageous and that tone pretty much sucks this flick into the action sci-fi zone at least for me.
John Carpenter was actually going for an outrageous tone when he made the movie rather than trying to make a serious horror film. The production level is high outside of a few “space” shots at the beginning of the movie. The rest of the sets are stellar. The effects are fine and the practical effects are quite a bit of fun. The score is guitar-driven awesomeness. The movie takes place at night, but the lighting is very good, so we never have to guess what everything looks like.
When it comes to the cast Ice Cube (FRIDAY) is solid in this as Desolation Williams. No one is really expected to show too much range, but he was perfect for this role. Apparently, Jason Statham (THE MEG) was going to play the lead, but Ice Cube is just way more popular even to this day. If you want to test that, just go on Twitter. Ice Cube had 5.6 million followers. Jason doesn’t even have half a million. Not that Twitter is everything, but it’s an indication of Ice Cube’s fan base being pretty committed. Statham did take on the lesser role of Sgt. Jericho Butler and is fine, but not great. Natasha Henstridge takes the lead role of Lieutenant Melanie Ballard in this and kills it. She is most famous for her role in the SPECIES series but is still getting quite a few roles these days. Clea DuVall (THE FACULTY) is just okay in the role of Bashira Kincaid. We also have a Pam Grier sighting as Commander Helena Braddock and she is good in the role but gets too little screen time for my taste. THEY LIVE fans will also recognize Peter Jason who plays train conductor McSimms.
When it comes to the concept of this movie, I would love to see a series built around this idea. It’s crazy enough when you basically have people going mad and turning into murderous Wal-Mart customers on a Friday night, but the concept of ghost-like creatures coming out of them when they die and just tracking down the next living thing they can find? That’s awesome! Then on top of it, the whole thing is on Mars in the future? Sign me up!
If I have any complaints about this movie it’s all the “heads” on spikes. I get that Carpenter was just trying to be super absurd, but we already had people going bonkers and scratching themselves up and making crazy weapons and all of that. The heads-on spikes things for me were just pretty lame. Having said that though, some of the other elements in this flick are just really rad and I actually thought it was a lot of fun with a lot of fun characters. It was worth watching just for Ice Cube’s character alone. I am not sure why this thing gets so much hate, but it didn’t even make half it's budget back at the box office.
I give this thing a 5 out of 7. Taking out the “heads on spikes” (especially for one particular character) part of the film would have sent this into the 6 out of 7 range.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF SCREEN GEMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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