Dir. John Carpenter (2001)
A Martian police force enters the planet to hunt down a dangerous criminal, but upon landing, they discover an army of monsters.
Man, John Carpenter has a fucking wild filmography. There are plenty of amazing directors who have made bad movies, but there are very few who have made some of the best their genre has ever produced and followed it up with... well, Ghosts of Mars. Carpenter gave us Halloween and The Thing, two films that fit snugly within most horror fans Top 5's of the genre, Assault on Precinct 13, which may be one of the best crime films ever, and several incredible action/adventure movies for good measure. And then he made... Ghosts of Mars. It's mind-boggling.
The story opens with Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge, who wears decidedly more clothes than in her Species appearance) being forced to give testimony in front of a tribunal in the matriarchal post-colonization Mars. She is recounting her run-in with interstellar criminal Desolation Williams (Ice Cube), who has escaped her custody after an incident on the surface of the Red Planet. She tells of a battle between the space police, Williams, and a gang of possessed humans whose bodies were controlled by a strange Martian gas that turned them into bloodthirsty savages, weaving a tale that leads up to present day (hers, not ours).
Carpenter utilizes extensive flashback sequences to advance the plot of the film, which actually works fairly well in the context of Ballard telling her story before the judges. It's actually an ingenious way to make the film, because it allows for different perspectives of events that happen at the same time without sacrificing believability or making the plot too convoluted. It's sort of a "Martian possession monsters telephone," as Ballard tells her side of the story along with other stories told to her by third parties who are no longer alive to tell it themselves. As surprisingly dense as Ghosts of Mars' plot is, Carpenter makes it easy to digest for people who would be drawn to this movie as an audience. More on that in a minute.
Ghosts of Mars is all camp, an science fiction/action movie that is simply Carpenter having a bunch of dumb fun with some A/B-list actors. We've got roles for Ice Cube and Henstridge, of course, but also supporting roles for Jason Statham, Clea Duvall, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Carradine, and even the inimitable Pam Grier. It's clear that no one involved took their roles seriously (except for Henstridge, who delivers this performance as straight as possible despite the cartoonish violence and hamminess surrounding her), and the film is all the better for it. This is a brain mush movie, a popcorn horror/sci-fi/action/thriller from a guy who certainly knows how to make them. If you were in for a movie called Ghosts of Mars, you'll likely enjoy what Carpenter decides to put on screen here.
That is not, of course, to say that it's a good movie. It most certainly is not. Ghosts of Mars is arguably Carpenter's worst film, and to be honest it's probably not all that close. Movies are, however, all about entertainment, and Ghosts is entertaining. There are some great effects from Greg Nicotero, a stellar tongue-in-cheek performance from Cube, some punch-and-kick fight choreography that would slide in perfectly for an 80's-90's action flick, and some eye-rollingly awful dialogue from Statham that contrasts the "matriarchal" plot completely. As The Horror Master himself has said, "it's called Ghosts of Mars for Christ's sake, why would people take this movie seriously?" And he's right: if you're not looking for a Carpenter movie, Ghosts is unserious enough for its audience to just kick back and have a good time.
Who this movie is for: Sci-fi/action fans, Carpenter completionists, Space miners
Bottom line: Ghosts of Mars is terrible, but in a great way for fans of 80's and 90's sci-fi/action flicks. Carpenter was just trying to enjoy himself with this one, and you can tell that he largely did. The actors are all perfectly fitting for their roles, the gore is decent and well placed, and the dialogue is cheesy and hilarious. If you don't take it seriously, you might really enjoy this one. If you're expecting The Thing, you're gonna fucking hate it.