GHOSTS OF MARS (2001)
Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widecreen (2.35:1)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Clea DuVall, Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Duane Davis
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001) is a film I caught in the cinema on it's first run, and I honestly hated it right from the start, but much like similarly unloved Escape from L.A. I've re-watched it several times in the years since and have come around to it to a degree. I don't love it, but it is a fun if cheesy sci-fi Western set on Mars, while it ain't good, it is an entertaining watch.
The troubled production began life as a sequel to Escape from L.A. but when that film tanked at the box office it was reworked into this film, and interestingly it features a number of pulls directly from Carpenter's own filmography, such as opening with a retelling of the events after the fact like we saw in Big Trouble in Little China, a Western genre mash-up as with Vampires, and the story itself is basically Assault on Precinct 13 on Mars with an imprisoned criminal who becomes the anti-hero of the film.
The story is set in the 22nd century on a now colonized Mars that been partially terraformed, at least so much that our cast can walk around without wearing restrictive spacesuits. We have Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge, Species) and her squadron that includes Commander Helene Braddock (Pam Grier, Coffy), Sgt. Jericho (Jason Statham, The Meg) and rookies, Descanso (Liam Waite) and Bashira (Clea DuVall, HBO's Carnivale). They're on a train headed to rural mining outpost Shining Canyon to transport a prisoner locked-up there, and this is no ordinary prisoner, they're picking up the infamous criminal James 'Desolation' Williams (Ice Cube, Friday) who stands accused of a massacre on Mars.
When they get to Shining Canyon they find the place is deserted, except for Desolation Williams who is still in lock-up, along with a handful of other prisoners. While taking him into custody and readying him for transport they discover that he is the least of their worries, it turns out the miners at the outpost recently uncovered an ancient Martian doorway buried beneath the surface of the planet, opening it they unwittingly released the disembodied spirits of an ancient indigenous race of Martians. Once unleashed the spirits possess the bodies of the miners, who then proceed to mutilate themselves and dress-up like Shout At The Devil-era Motley Crue. Aside from being keen on body manipulation they also have a penchant for slinging buzz-saw blades and cutting the heads off their victims and mounting them on sticks in the ground.
While on the run from the titular ghosts of mars the squad team-up with scientist Dr. Arlene Whitlock (Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner) and a small band of survivors, and the expected horror scenario plays out as they encounter the hyper-violent alien threat, with Cube's Desolation Williams becoming the anti-hero of the film, mugging for the camera and spitting out really bad one-liners.
The movie is totally cheesy but it's not without it's charms, just seeing Henstridge, Statham, Cube and Pam Grier all on the same screen together might be worth the price of admission all on it's own, it's a strange brew of personalities, even if they don't mix all that well. Pam Grier is gone far too soon and is regrettably killed off screen, while Statham is the douche of the bunch, he was initially cast in the Desolation Williams role before the studio pushed Ice Cube into the role. The anti-hero is a bit of ill-fitting role for Cube in my opinion, but he at least offers up some cheesy entertainment value.
It's also fun to see the western tropes filtered through the whole space opera setting, along with some minor gore by way of severed limbs and decapitations via those flying buzz-saw blades, which are the baddies weapons of choice. A lot of the early-00s digital FX don't look great, and the red-stained/lit desert setting is a bit of eye-sore, it feels cheap and underfunded on all levels.
The villains are cool-looking if a bit ambiguous, with their leather-bound body modifications and blade-slinging, but the fight/action sequences look like a metal video mosh-pit with fiery explosions peppered throughout, but that riff-heavy score from Carpenter and company fit it quite nicely. It's a film that doesn't set anything up or button it up very well, getting by on the charisma of the cast and some interesting ideas and visuals, but it feels aimless and undefined, there's plenty of action, but when the credits role it feels rather unsatisfying. Re-watches and tempered expectations have gone a long way to at least allowing me to enjoy it for the cheesy sci-fi action/western that it is, but I still wouldn't say it was a good film, just a fun bad one.
Audio/Video: Ghosts of Mars (2001) was previously issued on Blu-ray from Sony, now picked-up for distribution by Mill Creek Entertainment who present the film in 1080p HD and framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The image looks solid enough, grain is present, fine details are plentiful and the colors are saturated, over-saturated by design actually, this is an unnaturally color-pushed film with a lot of eye-sore red throughout.
Audio on the disc comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround mix with optional English subtitles, it's a solid track with some fun use of the surrounds. The track highlights the Carpenter synth score, probably the best thing about the film, which is bolstered by collaborations with rockers Anthrax as well as guitarists Steve Vai, Elliot Easton of The Cars,Robin Finck of NIN, and Buckethead. The riff heavy soundtrack absolutely feels early-00s dated, but it suits the cheesy film to a large degree.
Extras are ported over from the previous Sony Blu-ray release, this includes an audio commentary with Director John Carpenter and actress Natasha Henstridge that's pretty lively, plus a 17-min video diary, a 6-min scoring the film featurette, and a 6-min special effects extras that has some cool behind-the-scenes shots of the miniatures used in the film.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, this is a film that's never had good artwork in my opinion, and this release remedy that, still ugly.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Actress Natasha Henstridge.
- Video Diary: Red Desert Nights (17 min)
- Scoring Ghosts of Mars (6 min)
- Special Effects Deconstructions (6 min)
Ghosts Of Mars (2001) is fun albeit bad film from director John Carpenter, a film coming at the tail-end of a storied career of a man who brought us genre fans so much joy through the years, as such I can still find plenty to like about it, even if it is a bad film.
