Buy the Poster

John Carpenter's latest film, which he co-wrote, directed, and scored is true to his traditions. It's about a matriarchal Mars colony in which people are becoming possessed by murderous martian ghosts and running amok. In the midst of all this is Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) as a lieutenant responsible for transporting criminal 'Desolation' Williams (Ice Cube) from internment in this colony to Chryse, the capitol city of the newly colonized Mars.

Fans of Carpenter's work will probably love Ghosts Of Mars, but no one else will. It is strongly reminiscent of Escape From New York, with its situation of a criminal-turned-hero trying to escape an anarchistic area infested with mindless mobs. There are also obvious references to John Carpenter's The Thing, including the line 'Who goes there?', spoken by Pam Grier.

As usual for a Carpenter film, effects are bottom-of-the-barrell cheap and the soundtrack home-made. The performances are pretty weak, but it would be difficult for any actor to do well with the smarmy dialogue offered here. Especially annoying is the constant innuendo between Henstridge and Jason Statham (as Jericho), which is intended to build sexual tension but is in fact tedious.

Natasha Henstridge is really the only redeeming feature of the film. Her performance was able and her remarkable beauty is not a hindrance. This is supposed to be a comeback film for her but she deserves to be in better (perhaps Heist will prove more worthy of her talents). Ice Cube is so bad as 'Desolation' that he makes me long for the days of Kurt Russell's Snake Pliskin.

I wish I could say that Ghosts Of Mars is a good film. John Carpenter is responsible for two of my favorite films (The Thing and Big Trouble In Little China). Unfortunately, unless you thought Escape From New York was a work of genius I highly doubt that you will find this one even passable.

There may be other pages on Body in Mind about Natasha Henstridge. Click here to find out.

For reviews on current films visit CriticalMovies.com.