Watch Ghosts of Mars For Free

Nice effects though.

A different way of telling a story

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Over the course of a career spanning over 50 years, writer, director and producer John Carpenter has been responsible for some of the most memorable and iconic horror/thriller movies ever made. The likes of Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York and The Thing have cemented his status as a genre icon, up there with the likes of George A. Romero and Wes Craven as one of America's finest horror visionaries. His legacy cannot be damaged, although it appeared that Carpenter was trying his best to sully his own reputation between 1996 and 2001 with three utter stinkers. First came Escape from L.A. and that surfing scene, and then the underwhelming Vampires, which wasted a perfectly game James Woods in what was an instantly forgettable and generic undead actioner. Then people thought he had lost the plot completely when he produced Ghosts of Mars, one of the worst movies to be released in 2001.Over a century into the future, Mars is undergoing terraforming, and a matriarchal society of humans have settled on the red planet in the hope of better opportunities. Life is far from peaceful however, and crime is rife in the various remote mining communities. A crew of police officers including Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) are tasked with transporting notorious prisoner (and the amusingly named) Desolation Williams (Ice Cube) to stand trial for a spate of gruesome murders he is accused of. When they arrive in town, the place is deserted, and it doesn't take long until they stumble on a number of mutilated dead bodies hanging from the ceiling in macabre fashion. Ballard and the rest of the group, which is also made up of rapey Sergeant Jericho (Jason Statham) and token lesbian Braddock (Pam Grier), split up to investigate further and locate Desolation. As they plough on, they learn of an alien force with the ability to possess humans and no love for their planet's new colonisers.Anyone who was alive and watching movies in the late 1990s will know that Mars is no place to visit unless you wish to be set upon by a gruesome native. Ghosts of Mars is no different, but the film never feels terribly sure of what the threat actually is. Carpenter throws just about everything at the screen: ghosts, zombies, steampunk rovers, blood, guts, and even some train action. It's a muddle of ideas taken from far better films, including some of Carpenter's very own. It's Assault on Precinct 13 meets The Thing, with a sprinkling of The Fog, but without any of their style, thrills or flair. When the characters stop aiming at each other and have a chat, the dialogue is clunky and fuelled by exposition. Henstridge tries her best with a role that could champion equality if the film didn't insist she takes her clothes off, and the usually reliable Ice Cube and Statham fail to squeeze any life of their stock characters, who never rise above foul-mouthed ghetto survivor and smug sleazebag, respectively. It's a horror show from start to finish, but not the kind you would expect from Carpenter. The years haven't been kind either, reducing Ghosts of Mars to SY-FY Channel-level drivel.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

If this movie didn't give us enough looks at Natasha Henstridge, I would give it 1 star, but we do get to look at her so it gets 2.

John Carpenter has made a pretty decent living out of directing low-budget action-horror flicks in various sub-genres. A couple of his sci-fi efforts are genuinely good fun. This movie isn't one of them.Natasha Henstridge has visual appeal, but delivers her lines with all the emotion of a lump of granite. Ice Cube proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is no actor, despite a couple of passable earlier efforts in 'Boyz n the Hood' (1991) and 'Friday' (1995). Jason Statham's character Jericho - supposedly attractive due to his breeding prowess - couldn't get a root in a brothel.The Martians are about as scary as a good bottle of shiraz... three of which may increase your enjoyment of the movie to a tolerable level. No, make it four. Carpenter doesn't even manage a workable soundtrack... usually one of his strengths. I got really familiar with the bits that were saying: "Go to the fridge and find some munchies. Super-boring bit coming up."If you want some topnotch Carpenter sci-fi, check out cult favourite 'They Live', either of the 'Escape from...' movies, or mega-classic 'The Thing'. This one, however, deserves a swift and permanent burial.

First off, I'd like to point out that I'm quite a die-hard John Carpenter fan, so I'll watch pretty much anything he does. I first saw 'Ghosts of Mars' back when it was released in 2001 and loved it. Then bought it on DVD and continued to watch it a few times since. However, now, in 2016, not having seen in for a while I decided to give it another go. Sadly, I was actually quite disappointed.It's fair to say that it wasn't a hit with fans or critics on its release and – maybe – I'm starting to see what they saw then. It hasn't really aged well. First of all we're told in a section of opening text that Mars is a 'Matriarchal' society. Why? We don't know. It's an interesting concept of the future, but one that's then abandoned. Perhaps the biggest flaw is the beginning, in that the film chooses to start the film at the end and basically give you one huge spoiler from the start as to what happens in the end. This whole story-telling mechanic is pointless and ruins any real tension.A team of space police officers go to Mars to escort a known prisoner back to Earth for trial. Only, when they arrive, they find the Mars colony deserted and have some pretty nasty surprises in store for them. Natasha (the woman from Species) is in the lead and she does her best and being hard-as-nails, while also flawed due to a futuristic drug addiction, but the script is hardly dynamite. Jason Statham has his first major Hollywood break here and is about the one light that still shines in this film. Ice Cube is supposed to be the male lead, but comes across as bored, wooden and even a little on the overweight side. Rumour has it that Statham auditioned for Cube's role, but wasn't a big enough star at the time. If only what could have been...When the action kicks off between those nasty dark forces on the red planet and our band of (mainly disposable) heroes, it's actually quite fun. This is probably the bit that stuck with me. The set pieces are fun, but it's the direction which lets it down – amazingly when you consider how good Carpenter normally is. I've already mentioned that the film is one big story told by one person all the way through. Then every ten minutes or so, the action cuts off and reminds us that we're witnessing a retelling. This is annoying and breaks the pace, but also we have numerous flashbacks from other characters. Sometimes a scene will be repeated literally minutes later from someone else's point of view. This just feels awkward and totally unnecessary. Then, in one case we're even treated to a flashback within a flashback within the main story (which is technically also a flashback!).Ghosts of Mars could have been at least a cult classic, however its flaws which even I overlooked are now becoming very apparent. I seem to remember at the time I rated this film 8/10 on one internet site. Now, definitely a generous 7.