Ghosts of Mars

Summary

I have been steadily knocking out movies by filmmaker John Carpenter over the last few years. The majority of his career is marked by greatness, but he had a few stumbles or at the very least “divisive” films in his canon. One such film that has proven very divisive is Vampires, but I find myself in the camp that really enjoyed that movie. I will gladly defend it for what it was. Another film that has proven very divisive is Ghosts of Mars, which I am sad to say I found to be a little weak overall. It still has its moments, but it is not my favorite film by the great director.

In 2174, Mars has been heavily terraformed allowing humans to live on the planet without space suits. As the film begins, Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstride) has arrived handcuffed on a train back at the station. She had been sent on a mission to retrieve a prisoner named Desolation Williams (Ice Cube.) No one has returned with her from the mission, so she is questioned by a council as to what happened. She tells them what happened to her and her team. In flashbacks, the mission had begun under the guidance of Commander Helena Braddock (Pam Grier.) The team was filled out with members Jericho (Jason Statham,) Bashira (Clea DuVall,) and Michael. They rode the train into the station at the mining town where Desolation Jones was being held, but the normally bustling streets were empty. As the team begins to investigate the area, they find some decapitated corpses hanging upside down in a building. There has obviously been some form of conflict. They go to retrieve Desolation Jones from his cell. Along the way, they meet some other inmates that let them know that the town has become overrun by the townspeople who are acting erratically. The area has been overrun by some Martian ghosts that had been released accidentally through the miners’ actions. The ghosts possess their human hosts, and cause them to mutilate themselves and become violent. Soon the group of policemen find themselves pairing up with Desolation Jones, some bandits, and the other townsfolk that had been locked up in the jail to try to survive and catch the first train out of town.

Unless my internet sources were liars, Ghosts of Mars was originally meant to be a vehicle for Snake Plissken and Kurt Russell. Watching the film through that context, it is easy to see what this film could have been. The critics who approached the film as if it was meant to be some piece of serious art probably were too hard on the film with their incredibly negative reviews, and the defenders of the film that try to build it up as one of Carpenter’s better films are also missing the mark. I feel like the film has so many elements that I love about the films of Carpenter but there are elements that simply don’t work. First and foremost – let’s get past the fact that the plot is ridiculous. This should not color somebody’s opinion of the film considering it is called Ghosts of Mars. It is not going to be Hamlet. Carpenter is certainly smart enough to know while he was writing the film that he was just writing a throw-back pulpy science fiction film. Critics who missed that aspect should just hang it up for taking the film too seriously. The plot is ridiculous but honestly the plots for most of his best work – The Fog (dead leper colony returns for revenge,) Escape from New York (Manhattan is a prison,) and Big Trouble in Little China (Chinese black magic runs amok!) – have always been ridiculous. The difference here is that the ridiculous plot is not backed up by other elements – namely setting and amazing protagonists. 

The main elements of the film that fail to connect can be easily explained. The biggest issue is that the central characters are miscast. If Kurt Russell had been in the film, we would have had a winner. No way around it – Russell adds so much to a film, that this movie would have worked. In second place, Jason Statham was meant to play Desolation Jones. Ice Cube was put into the role by the studios to help generate more interest. I like Ice Cube as an actor, but he seemed to be misused here. Statham is definitely enjoyable as Jericho, but imagine if that had been the role played by Ice Cube and Desolation was played by Statham. Then we really might have had a movie, With Ice Cube in the role of Desolation, the dialogue of the film falls apart as Natasha Henstridge plays her role with a detached coolness while Ice Cube is still Compton. I don’t think the writing held up to that drastic casting change. Natasha Henstridge actually is fine in her role, but she could have put a little more energy into her line delivery. Look – I have had a crush on her since I was in fifth grade and saw a VHS copy of Species at a friend’s house, but there is just no real spark between the two leads and that hurts the project immensely. A secondary issue is setting. Mars is so foreign to us on Earth and in the film the idea of Mars is so underdeveloped that it never really can take off in the viewer’s imagination like the seaside town in The  Fog. I think this hurt the film’s ability to connect. The final issue is that the villainous possessed miners in the film look silly. Somebody online said they looked like Marilyn Manson and that is not that far off of a description. While the film was meant to be campy, this part could have used some more work.

Overall – Ghosts of Mars is the last John Carpenter film that feels like it has a lot of his trademarks. I enjoyed having the opportunity to watch it in high definition as a collector of all of his films, but viewer expectations should be set fairly low. 

Video

Mill Creek Entertainment have done a more than capable job on this release. This film was originally released on Blu-ray by Sony Entertainment, and that commitment to quality control shines through on this release. The film looks great on Blu-ray with an MPEG-4 AVC encode in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The widescreen photography in John Carpenter’s filmography has always looked great in high definition, and this film is no different. Fans should be very happy to see the  film get a substantial facelift from the old DVD.

Audio

Mill Creek has provided a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track that replicates the original sound design very capably. The soundtrack to my ears was one of the weakest of Carpenter’s career largely because of his reliance here on musicians from Anthrax and Steve Vai. I prefer his more synth driven work, but it is definitely exactly what the great director wanted. This track will definitely please fans.

Supplements:

These supplements are the same as appeared on the original Sony produced Blu-ray.

• Audio Commentary: With Director John Carpenter and Actress Natasha Henstridge.
• Video Diary: Red Desert Nights – some behind the scenes footage.
• Scoring Ghosts of Mars – this piece is interesting because it shows Carpenter employing musicians from Anthrax and Steve Vai to perform his score.
• Special Effects Deconstructions 

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 3/5

Overall – 3.5/5

Ghosts of Mars is certainly one of the weakest films by John Carpenter, but it is also the last film by the director that still feels like a John Carpenter film. I am a bit biased in that I have no regrets for adding the film to my collection or for watching the film the other night. The biggest regret is when I think of what the film could have been with Kurt Russell in the lead role. Fans will be pleased to see that the Mill Creek Blu-ray features great video and audio along with all the previously released supplements. At this bargain price, fans should surely upgrade.