Rating: Summary: Possibly the worst studio release of 2001. Review: The recent career path of cult-director John Carpenter has proven quite depressing. They Live (1988) was the last time he made anything resembling a satisying film. Ghosts Of Mars is an utter abomination. It's weak box-office performance may signal that the end is near for the man once responsible for rousing genre classics as Halloween, Assault On Precinct 13 and Escape From New York. Carpenter wastes a perfectly functional B-list cast: Jason Statham, Clea Duvall, Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Ice Cube and the gorgeous Natasha Henstridge. They're all given some of the worst dialogue i've heard in quite a while. What should have been a simple and familiar B-movie plot is rendered incoherent by a baffling flashback within a flashback plot device. Ghosts Of Mars is also the worst looking science-fiction films in quite some time. The production design and visual effects are an embarrassment. The chance that Henstridge may remove her shirt is the only reason to indulge in this shambles.
Rating: Summary: Music by John Carpenter Review: That should have warned me right there, "Music by John Carpenter." The whole movie in about two sets, more like a play. Red dust blowing everywhere. I love "Escape From New York," but I couldn't wait to escape from this dog. The music was bad.
Rating: Summary: Predictable...Weird...Just Plain DUMB Review: I saw this movie over at a friend's house and I thought I was actually going to like it. I like John Carpenter, I think he's a genius when it comes to horror movies, but this one was a doozy!! Ghosts of Mars is weird and very very predictable. You pretty much know exactly how it's going to end as soon as the movie begins. It was not scary at all, it was just plain boring. I was just praying for it to be over! Natasha Hendrige needs to stay away from Sci-Fi, she was only good in Species. Ice Cube got on my nerves! Pam Grier wasn't even needed, I have no clue why she decided to be in this movie. Don't waste your time with this one...
Rating: Summary: A great vision by John Carpenter for 21 century Review: I have to say that i lucked out when i saw the movie promo on yahoo, because this movie when i went to go see it did not even last about a month in the theatre. This movie is worth the money i paid for. the movie was close to two hours. The movie is very action packed. The actors do a superb job at their characters; the movie takes place in the future and in the planet of mars. this movie is about the human race opening by accident some cave that lets out the spirits of the planet(mars) that later possess the humans who are creating a civilization-and chaos erupts. I am not going to give out too many details, but Ice Cube(a great actor in this motion picture), Natash Henstridge(beautiful lady), and Pamela Grier for me are the right actors who did this film. I believe that this film is the greatest work John Carpenter has done. It is Worth it,i recommended this film to all fans in the states and abroad-russia japan mexico,etc and to all actors who admire John Carpenter
Rating: Summary: The best action movie of 2001 Review: In a year of dreary, nonsensical action films (like Tomb Raider, Pearl Harbor and The Mummy Returns...), "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars" is our salvation: an action-adventure movie that actually works. It's a quasi-remake of "Zulu" set on Mars, with some of "Assault on Precinct 13" and "Rio Bravo" in the mix for good measure. This is a wildly entertaining film with great "attacking horde" action scenes like those not seen since George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" in 1979. A brilliant siege movie, this film has good (not great) special effects, terrific B-movie performances (especially from the fetching Hentridge...), clever structure, and kick-ass music. There was no better time at the movies this year, and though Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up, most critics really missed the boat! Buy this one and watch it again and again...You don't have to like John Carpenter to enjoy this film: it's just rip-roaring action in the horror-sci-fi tradition.
Rating: Summary: Does the world really need more John Carpenter movies? Review: Be prepared for 98 minutes of hateful druggies knocking each other off, as in his arctic "Thing." The year is 2176, and race-relations, Marilyn Manson costumes are mired in 1980s splatter-violence. We get to see a lot of the sneering Cube and pretty Natasha . There's nothing here that works, simply layers of exposition through layers of flashbacks. J.C. won't stop copying "Rio Bravo." If Mr Carpenter loves Howard Hawks so much, I suggest he simply light his pipe and enjoy those movies at home, saving us all a lot of trouble.
Rating: Summary: "B-Movie" that stands for "BAD" movie Review: Easily the worst film I have had the misfortune to buy for some time. As SciFi, the premises of the movie stinks...the year is 2175, we have the technology to change a planet's atompshere but we are still using guns and dynamite? The acting is worse than typical B movie acting and frankly, I found it closer to performances I saw in my younger days when the principals wore less clothes and had a reason to make the film.RENT this baby before you drop any cash on it!
Rating: Summary: I like most of John's movie Review: but this is not one of the ones I liked. The movie is fairly incoherant, with Natasha Henstrich and Ice Cube trying to out-bad each other. Overall, just not that good.
Rating: Summary: A shallow plot that could have been saved Review: I had no idea what to expect from this movie, since I've never seen one by John Carpenter before. There was too much gore for me to like it. The plot and the actors had quite a bit of potential to make this an awesome movie. However, there were so many inconsistencies in the plot that it made it less and less believable. (E.g. Why didn't any of them explore how Ballard fought the "germs.") Ballard (N.H.) and her fellow officers go to this town to transfer a convict, Desolation Williams (Ice Cube). They soon realize that something is wrong in the town - you have decapitated heads on poles, people hanging by their feet, etc. And the action starts. The perpetrators are miners who have been infected by these... what should I call them... evil germs who have the planet's memories somehow engineered in them. Like I said, the movie had potential. If you're going to watch this, watch it with no expectations.
Rating: Summary: Complete and utter garbage Review: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, John Carpenter was synonymous with quality. Whether it was the brilliant minimalist work of Halloween or his underrated masterpiece of The Thing, he was a very talented filmmaker. But increasing box office duds forced him to resort to terrible and clumsy garbage. And so now John Carpenter offers his new horror work, Ghosts of Mars. And it is simply one more terrible film in a career of terrible films. The plot is basically Assault on Precinct 13 on Mars with a little bit of Pitch Black thrown in. That should make for a great film if it wasn't so laughably inept. Its structure is hilariously bad. The situation get's worse with horrid writing and acting. The dialogue wants to be tough but is gruesomely artificial. And why does "Ice Cube" keep getting casted? And Natasha Henstridge? Uh, yeah. The production is bargain-basement quality, with laughable effects. The result is a straight-to-video atmosphere. One can only conclude that it's time for John Carpenter to reflect on his future. One more dud like Ghosts of Mars, and even his no-taste fans might run.
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