GHOSTS OF MARS
Directed by John Carpenter
Starring Ice Cube, Natascha Henstridge,
Jason Statham, Joanna Cassidy, and Pam Grier
Thankfully no longer playing in the area
In 2176, on a newly colonized Mars, a train pulls up to the station in the governing city of Chryse. There is no crew and only one passenger — Officer Melanie Ballard (emotionless Natascha Henstridge), who’s found sleeping, handcuffed to a bunk. She’s brought before a matriarchal council to tell what happened on a supposedly routine mission. And so begins John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars an amped-up, dumbed-down variation on Night of The Living Dead as well as the director’s own Assault on Precinct 13.
The routine mission is a prisoner transfer. Ballard is part of a crew, led by Helena Braddock (a bored looking Pam Grier), assigned to retrieve famed, wanted felon “Desolation” Williams (surly Ice Cube) from the mining outpost of Shining Canyon. However, when they get there, the interplanetary cops discover that the town is empty — except for the jailed prisoners and the headless bodies hanging in other locations. One of the prisoners is really a scientist (Joanna Cassidy) who explains what is happening. An archaeological excavation nearby has unleashed a sinister red dust (a virus? Ghosts?) that is the planet’s defense against invaders. It will possess many of those it comes in contact with, causing them to file their teeth, pierce their bodies and become mindless barbarians. Those not possessed will be attacked and decapitated. Not long after arriving, the cops and prisoners must team up to rumble with the violent possessed, who are led by a Marilyn Manson look-alike.
Heads are lopped off, things explode, the heroes gun down bad guys. There’s a macho good guy cop (Jason Statham) who hits on Ballard, who retorts with some witless banter. There’s plenty of gore and forgettable dialogue. What the movie lacks are scares, exciting action sequences, and interesting characters.
What has happened to Carpenter? Once one of the foremost genre filmmakers, he created classics in the horror and sci-fi fields, films like the great Halloween and the violently imaginative Escape From L.A. He’s a master at creating suspense, as any man who could single-handedly create a genre (the slasher film) would be. But, with the exception of In the Mouth of Madness (1995), he hasn’t made a good film in years. The film looks good with its grungy, industrial sets, and the music — composed by Carpenter himself — keeps the movie cranking. Yet the movie has precious little tension, replacing it with mayhem and gore. After the laughable Mission To Mars and dull Red Planet, Earth’s neighbor once again finds it’s reputation sullied. Here’s hoping a talented filmmaker will regain his footing and make a new film that blasts off, rather than crashes into the ground.
