Ghosts of Mars, John Carpenter's (2001)

Ghosts of Mars

7/10

Format- overview, characters, plot, spoilers (marked by ***).

Ah, the unloved stepchild of sci-fi horror. I can understand why many people do not like this film- it teeters back and forth between horror, sci-fi, and action. It doesn't make the movie confusing, just muddled. And the really, really stupid choices the protagonists make don't help. The movie starts as a flashback, but you can't use it as gospel as to what happened. But, like Meh, I am a fan of this film. Some parts tended to drag, and/or were a tad silly, but the initial creepy atmosphere and subsequent action more than makes up for that.

I am going to do characters first so you can get a flavor of what is going on; the actors do make an impression onto the characters. You have Pam Grier(!) as the Commander, Natasha Henstridge at the Lt., and Ice Cube as "Badass". Badass comes with his own posse- Uno, Dos, & Tres. No, I'm not kidding. Jason Statham(!) as Sarge. There are other sundry meat, and would it be a big shocker if I told you there were "ghosts"?

In the future, Mars is being terraformed and a sizable population lives in domes and outlying settlements. They can almost breathe, but need Dune-like nostril plugs to give them some extra oxygen. These domes and settlements are connected by trains. A settlement goes radio dark, so a crack squad (snarfle) of cops/military go to investigate. Upon arrival, the train just takes off before any sit-rep is established. I guess the Pickachu toys were late for the next settlement? Also, Badass is wanted for various heists and may be in the area (I guess Homeland Security has not caught up with securing these trains yet). Our elite commandos (giggle) check out the compound and find nothing good, such as destruction, some dead folk, and weird wind chimes (kind of need to see them to understand).

Our Lt. finds Badass and subdues him after a fight with one of the whacked-out settlement personnel. Strange looking, with a face pierced with all kinds of metal. Badass gets thrown in jail with some others, who may or may not be important (ah, plot point!).

Here we get to were spoilers intrude, so I'm going to keep it plot-light, except for one thing. Since I mentioned Uno, etc., you know they show up. I think it is Dos who does this- while making a bomb, he's smoking "weed/crack of the future", and the funniest scene of the movie unfolds. You can imagine that the 'Ghosts' have turned up, and are not happy. I must say, that the ghosts are pretty damn cool looking (and not CGI'd to boot; though the flashback CGI was pretty bad). Once the 'Ghosts' show up, it is all action, and I must say that it is good, if a bit stretched.

If you have not seen this movie, I would recommend a view. It is not the best of any of the genres mentioned above, but (I think) a fun mixture of them. You will have to sidestep some dumb decisions by the characters, but you've dealt with this before. Henstridge is her usual sexy and semi-emoting self, and Grier is sadly underused. Stathan does well. Ice Cube is an actor I like, on par much with Ice-T before he grew some acting chops. I'd love to see a movie with Cube & T- it would be my favorite drink- Iced Tea! (Yeah, I planned that, sorry). There is violence aplenty, though not really any gore, and some good spooky atmosphere in the beginning. "Ghosts of Mars" has its problems, but I find it to be a fun romp and not a waste of time.

***** Now we shall tread into the spoiler area- here be Ghosts!

Why the heck did Scientist Lady just go blundering into a historic find without calling anyone first? A f'rickn' escape balloon? Could you at least give us a reason why the Ghosts survive this way? Just leave- let the government nuke the Ghosts! Arg! I love those guns Cube's got at the end. Why would being drugged kick out a Ghost? Isn't ephemeral, and since they survived a nuke, why would a drug bother them?