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Another GHOSTS OF MARS Review!!
Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
So the more I've been thinking about it, the more I don't know if I can review this film. I liked it quite a bit (it's been growing on me since my viewing a few weeks back), and I'd say that any Carpenter fan should go. My problem boils down to conflict of interest on this one. For reasons I can't really explain fully here, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to write and publish a full review.
I'll say this: Natasha Henstridge is cool. Way cool. So are the subtle signs of the matriarchal society. So is Jason Statham. So is the score. Oh, god... the score. I could write 5,000 words just on the score. You have to see this in a theater that will play it loud. If you have to, bribe the projectionist to turn it up a little extra. At the press screening I attended, they had it pushed so loud my balls shook. Screen Gems, you have my permission to put that in the TV spots next week. "My balls shook!" - Moriarty, AICN.
I think the flashback structure of the film robs it of some of its effectiveness as a horror film, but I'm not so sure this was ever meant to be scary. It's freaky in places, but it's never really scary. This is more of an action movie at heart, and by the end, it's ZULU in space.
Still, like I said, I'm uncomfortable publishing a whole review of my own on this film, so let me hand you over to one of our readers, "Thalberg," who got a chance to peep at the goods himself:
Hi Harry.
Long time reader, first time contributor if you want this review. I just came back from a screening of Ghosts of Mars, the new Carpenter flick. It does have some spoilers. The film is typical B-movie fare. Natasha Henstridge plays a cop in a future matriarchal(?) society assigned to Mars, which has been colonized by Earth. It's unclear whether this matriarchal society is only on Mars or on Earth as well. She has to bring back Ice Cube, who has been accused of killing some miners. Also, she is incredibly gorgeous and I was hoping for some nudity a la Species, but there's none of that in this movie.
The film is told in flashback form by various characters in the film, but this does not interrupt the story in any way. I don't want to give away the whole plot, but I will comment on some things. First, this is a great looking
film. Carpenter obviously had a nice budget on Ghosts of Mars. The Mars sets are great and the sound effects and music are amazing! Carpenter does an excellent job with the tension track, helping to keep the audience on edge.
The film itself plays like a combo of Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape From New York. Basically our group of heroes and anti-heroes has to fight off a nasty group of posessed miners, posessed of some type of Martian evil spirits who do not like foreigners (read: Earth colonists). Lots of violence/fight scenes and a great deal of dismemberment and decapitations. The audience seemed really geared up for Ghosts, probably because they were radio station promo winners and wanted to be there.
Some negatives though. There was a lot of laughing at unintentional places, due to the ridiculous dialogue. Also, I never understood the mentality of cops and bad guys hooking up and becoming buddies, especially with the bad guy (Ice Cube) becoming a good guy spouting cliched dialogue indicating he's now a good guy. Ice Cube is particularly nasty at the beginning of the film, but becomes quite likeable and heroic by the end. If Carpenter had kept this film really
tense between the main characters throughout, I think it would have made a much better film. The bad guys are, well, bad, but they are easily killed so they don't seem to have any special powers or strengths. But there's lots of them, so they keep on coming.
I really like John Carpenter and have followed his career for years, but I've felt his films to be uneven over the last few years. Ghosts of Mars, while not his best work, is a worthwhile effort, a really fun B-movie. Hope you
can use this.
Call me Thalberg
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sounds fun, wil keep us happy until the next one, which apparently he wants to make a balls out horror film, good!!!
I liked Vampires, apart from the fat Baldwin (Daniel ? ) brother who has zero screen presence or charisma. -
Aug 24, 2001 7:58:24 AM CDT
I'm going to skip into this after the Kevin Smith movie.
by foreskin_jones
I just hope it's better then "Vampires".
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Swarm is my master, I work for swarm!!!!!!!
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Sooooo what's Moriarty's problem with JC then? Excuse me if i'm missing something I've been offline for some considerable lenght of time...Still you do the Crime etc...
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I have a feeling that this will leave me with the same feeling I had after watching Vampires... What happened to the John Carpenter who made The Thing, Assault, and Halloween, not to mention the Fog and Christine, two that while not good still managed to convey Carpenter's trademark mood, and atmosphere.
Some suggestions for those going through good horror withdrawal for the past ten or so years: 1. Lady in a Cage. A surprisingly cruel film considering when it was made(1964)starring a young James Caan. Found myself saying "What the Fuck!" more than once while watching, especially after that ending. 2. Ravenous- an underrated gem in my book.
And on the indy side: The Spooky Incident, a nice little moody flick over at ambitiousfilms.com, and Dead Bitch Army, an underground novel thats been making the rounds here in Philly. You can find excerpts from it at www.Rosedog.com -
Let's face it, AICN has been accused of conflict of interest A LOT, from Harry's infamous Godzilla review to persistent (and in my opinion, false) accusations of being in Jerry Bruckheimer's pocket. The problem is a simple one: quite often the people sent to special events, such as on-set tours and interviews with directors, are the same people who then review the film, with makes a positive review look very suspect. The fact that your questioning reviewing the film after seeing Carpenter working on the score (I think that's the conflict you're referring to) shows real progress for AICN. Personally, I think you should stick with your instincts and not review it. Don't get me wrong, I like your revciews, but in this case it could only be used against you by AICN's critics. Either way, it's nice to see stuff like this addressed.
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I think i'm the only person who actually enjoyed "Vampires." Granted, James Woods made that film, it was still funny and campy enough to be a Carpenter flick. The whole "did you get wood?" thing still makes me laugh my ass off. Speaking of asses, I should get mine out to see "Ghosts" before it ends its 4 day run in the theaters...
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How many more terrible Mars movies do we have to go through before we finally get one that's worth watching? Please sign the petition to re-release the R-rated version of Pearl Harbor. http://www.petitiononline.com/ph2001/petition.html
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Ghost of Mars is terrible.
This film is a cash grab, plain and simple. There is no other excuse for such a dreadful film.
When the dialogue isn't cliched, it's idiotic. The actions of the characters don't make sense. The FX work isn't anything to get excited about. Most of it is quite pedestrian, except for the 1 or 2 slicing scenes. There is no attention to detail, i.e. if the year is 2150 or whatever it was, why does the majority of the technology look like 2001 (eg. security monitors are normal monitors, rather than flatscreen or some other technology). The sets are cheap, blinking lights ala the death star control room don't cut it for the 22nd century. This may seem nitpicky, put there are bigger issues that would require spoilers, so I won't get in to it.
The score sucks.
Moriarty is right on not writing a review, as obviously being so close to the production of this film has skewed his view. It's like a friend saying his buddy's garage band is great, and not understanding why everyone else thinks the band sucks.
Save your money, don't see this film, and don't rent it when it comes out.
Go buy the special edition of The Thing instead. For the cost of movie and popcorn lately, it's a much better bargain. - Ayii
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Aug 24, 2001 10:52:43 AM CDT
wait, I thought "Starship Troopers" was "Zulu" in space...
by capt jack aubrey
...no, that was "90210" in space...no, wait, "90210" was "Space: 1999" in Beverly Hills...no, "Space: 1999" was "Wagon Train" on the Moon...or was that "Battlestar Galactica"...no, "Battlestar Galactica" was "Bonanza" in space...it was "Star Trek: TOS" that was "Wagon Train" in space...or Horatio Hornblower in space...if the Patrick O'Brien books have been called "Horatio Hornblower meets Jane Austen," then clearly "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was Jane Austen in space...so was "Zulu!" Jane Austen in Africa? no, wait, it was Michael Caine in Africa...Jane Austen in Africa was "Handful of Dust," which was really Kristin Scott Thomas in Africa...Martin Amis loves Jane Austen and he wrote "Saturn 3," which was Farrah in space with Kirk Douglas and Harvey Kietel, which makes it sort of like "Charlie's Angels" in space... or "London Fields" with a giant, horny, killer robot...which would have been a much better read...so then it's settled: "Zulu" is "Lucky Jim" in space...right?
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Hard to believe, huh? I about crapped my pants when I heard their reviews. It's so trendy now to hate everything Carpenter does (which I can understand to some extent), that I'm shocked that Ebert and Roeper liked anything about it.
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So, when are you JC bashers gonna get a clue? I saw a screening of Ghosts and I'm gonna go again this weekend with some buddies. This movie was fun. Vampires was fun. Escape from L.A. was fun. Mouth was fun. And so on and so on. I'm not saying any of these were Oscar conrtenders, but theyre horror/sci-fi/action/whatever movies. The kind that are supposed to be goofy fun. You want something with great dialogue and a believable plot? Why don't you guys all go see Life is Beautiful again? Oh yeah, that doesn't have monsters or space ships. And we all know monsters and spaceships are a huge part of a good serious believable movie. I mean come on, The Thing was awesome, so was Halloween, Escape from NY, Mouth of Madness, but Jesus, the bottom line is theyre all just cheesey horror rides too. Carpenter can dish those out better than anyone. So quitcher gripin'. Don't make me stop this car and come back there!
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Carpenter 2 started after Memoirs of an Invisible Man (or after They Live, if you disliked Invisible Man--I liked it) and everything that Carpenter 2 has done (Village of the Damned, In the Mouth of Madness, Escape From LA, Vampires). The basic skills are still in place but Carpenter's heart is clearly no longer in it. He's on cruise control and his films have the vibe of someone who is washed up and doesn't give a shit anymore. That was the great thing about his early films: no matter what you think of The Thing and Prince of Darkness, Carpenter clearly cares about the characters and takes them seriously. That said, I will see Ghosts of Mars this weekend, even though I know I'll hate it, just as I'll see the new Woody Allen film, in spite of the fact that he doesn't give a shit anymore, either.
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I don't know much about this film, but is sounds like it's biting Pitch Black, which was a surprisingly cool flick.
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You guys keep saying the same things over and over and over. Points taken. I'm just glad MY life isn't so miserable I can't take some light hearted entertainment for face value. Get some sunlight for Gods sake. Don't worry, theres no monsters out there. Monsters aren't real.
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If you remember HALLOWEEN or THE THING from the theatres or first run cable, please shut the hell up! John Carpenter has not lost it. He doing what he has always done. Yes, some of his movies are better than others. But at 35 your to damn old to expect to be frighten like you were at 15. It's okay to be entertained by a simplistic story. You guys know everything about something that means nothing. Horror movies are expanded campfire stories (ala the FOG) simple entertainment not political statements.
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Aug 24, 2001 4:21:50 PM CDT
What happened to the old white-on-black "Carpenter font" credits
by charles grady
As a devoted Carpenter fan since I was a kid, I actually enjoy his post-THEY LIVE stuff, including GHOSTS, which was decent enough cheesy fun. But what's frustrating is how he's dropped a lot of the creative elements that made his early work so awesome. Face it, "new" Carpenter doesn't quite look or feel like old Carpenter. I know filmmakers move on and can't beat the same drum forever, but the grimy, intense, somber aesthetic of his early pix seems so watered down these days. Despite his continued use of the Panavision ascpect ratio, his films too often now look like they'd be right at home as made for USA flicks. Gary Kibbe is a good DP and the films look handsome, but they lack the haunting blue-and-black sheen Dean Cundey brought to HALLOWEEN, EFNY, and THE THING. In general, flicks like VAMPIRES and GHOSTS have a flatter "look." And what happened to collaborating with Alan Howarth on the scores? I guess synth droning hasn't aged well, but HALLOWEEN (esp H3) or PRINCE OF DARKNESS still sound creepy to me; his metal scores for VAMPIRES, MOUTH, and GHOSTS are fun, but face it, heavy metal isn't especially SCARY. We now get the "new Carpenter" ensemble (Peter Jason, Pam Grier, Robert Carradine), but what happened to casting cool old Carpenter regulars like Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Buck Flower, Victor Wong, Harry Dean Stanton, etc.? What's with the dissoloves DURING the action shots? Bring back more of the Carpenter trademark rack focuses! And man, do I miss the old creepy white font on black background opening credits. Again, I still enjoy the man's work, and I'm thrilled that he's still doing the HIS movies HIS way, while a lot of his peers ( Hill, Milius, Kaplan, Hooper, etc, etc ) have been banished to hacky projects or obscurity. But it just seems that JC has let a lot of his very particular trademarks fall by the wayside, giving his more recent work a generic look and feel that doesn't befit a true "auteur."
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If Val Lewton pioneered "thinking man's horror" (and he did), then certainly John Carpenter can be credited with following faithfully in his footsteps. Above all else, Carpenter is a storyteller, and GHOSTS OF MARS is vintage Carpenter. Once again, we have the "anti-hero" and the no-win situation (replete with supernatural villains) that have become Carpenter's trademarks. While there are some who contend that this is some kind of indication that the man is somehow "slipping," one should consider the way Alfred Hitchcock mined his own chosen genre. Carpeneter, like Hitchcock, moves within the framework of his chosen genre (fantasy) with the assurance of a master filmmaker. He remains the finest American filmmaker we have (no one else even comes close; put it to the test if you doubt me: COMPARE his body of work with the output of ANY OTHER AMERICAN FILMMAKER). From the black humor of DARK STAR to the eerie feel of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 to the sheer terror of HALLOWEEN, Carpenter showed, from the very beginning, that he had what it takes to be a topnotch storyteller. [And, now that I see it here before me, I realize that GHOSTS OF MARS in many ways is a return to his roots as a filmmaker.] The IDEAS ring of Poe and Lovecraft... and beyond. I'll see it again, because it's vintage John Carpenter- and THAT'S something we desperately NEED on The Big Screen. It's amazing that no one has bothered to chronicle the career of this man. When HALLOWEEN first opened, it was Yours Truly who first championed the man in print (in FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND) and, years later, it was again Yours Truly (in FANTASTIC FILMS) who predicted that the critically-unacclaimed version of THE THING would come to be hailed one day as a true masterpiece (and it HAS). When the final tally is taken, Carpenter won't be found lacking. Take my word for it.
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Yes it was, and I'm still pissed I saw it. I guess it's one of those films where it's going to get a mixed reaction. My brother loved it, and I heard a few people on the way out saying it was good. The fx was cheap looking, and it was just plain bad. It had a few funny moments, and the ghosts made no sense. It may have been better if the ghots were taking over people for a reason, or for some ultimate plan, but their was no plot. Joanna Cassidy was underused, and although Pam Grier is a decent actor, she was underused. Ice Cube, and Natasha Hedstrindge were the only bright spots of the film, and that ain't saying much considering the script, they did as well as cme be expected with what they had to work with. Well at least Ice Cube got 5 million for this garbage.
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I believe that the statement that John Carpenter doesn't give a shit anymore is only half-true. I believe that he cares passionately about the films that he makes, however, he DOES NOT give a shit about whether the masses will like them or not. Folks, this is a sign of a true artist, like it or not. In fact, I imagine he probably goes into these projects anticipating that they will largely be regarded as "schlocky" or "cheesy" or whatever dismissive term you wish to use. Why should he expect anything different during an age of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer sequels not only making money, but making LOTS of money? Sadly, his brand of film-making is no longer as marketable as it once was simply because he refuses to allow (and has always refused to allow) pop-culture to take over his movies. I am quite sure that he is aware of this self-imposed handicapped (the studios that he works for probably remind him constantly) and he gets unending praise from me for staying true to himself and making the films HE wants to make and not the films that the mindless masses want him to make. Ironically, in John Carpenter's case, it's seems likely to me that the day he makes a true box-office hit will probably mark the day that he TRUELY no longer gives a shit at all. Imagine..."John Carpenter's I Have Carefully Considered All Of The Evidence Before Me And Am Now Quite Certain Of What You Did Last Summer" Starring: (current Vanity Fair cover-girl) and (current Seventeen cover-boy)...In Theaters Summer 2015. This is a thought that could easily wake me up in a cold-sweat screaming in the middle of the night. I take comfort in the knowledge that he will never sell-out like that and that, in decades to come, his name will be regularly sharing space in sentences with the likes of Hitchcock, Kubrick, Lynch and a handfull of other film-makers who are considered true artists and masters of their medium. Shit, in some circles his name already shares space with these legends.
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Why do all the Martians look like Marilyn Manson?
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Just got pack from this pile. It's hard to imagine this is from the same guy that brought us "Big Trouble in Little China" but then Carpenter didn't do the script for "Big Trouble." The premise of this film was neat. The dialog was nasty, jsut plain aweful. The FX were weak, with the exception of one CGI shot of the Martians in their true form, this movie could have been made in 1978. Now cheesey FX are fine if they back up a great story, but there is none here. There is less story than JP3. Leaving the theater a friend noted "it's like porn, withtout the porn."
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With a score by Anthrax, & some of the most cheesy dialog & efects around (great make up though) this movie with it's excessive gore ruled, but only in a cheesy B-movie type of a way!! I will deffintly pick this up when it comes to DVD!! Hail & Kill
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Oh my gawd, what was John thinking with this picture?! I am a huge Carpenter fan and have liked just about everything he's ever done, but geeZus this was an absolutely horrible picture. This movie made Escape from L.A. look like a masterpiece. Basically, this was just a piss poor attempt at mixing Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing and a bit of Escape From New York with like Night of the Living Dead, and why you might be saying to yourself..."yeah, that sounds pretty cool", believe me, it was painfully bad. There is nothing original in this movie and virtually nothing good about this movie. And while I could see some elements of John here and there trying to emerge, they were quickly smothered with bad dialogue and bad action sequences. How bad are the action sequences, you ask? Oh my gawd, if your idea of cool is to constantly show the head bad guy stop, look at the camera, sneer and then let out a very cheesy sounding yell like something you might hear from a guy popping out from around the corner at your local haunted house, then hey, this is your kind of action. That and constant explosions of the kind where you see the explosion, then you see some bad guy jumping out of the smoke and fire like he was running from a mouse. Hell, it got to the point where I kept thinking to myself...maybe this is supposed to be a spoof of action-horror movies. Oh, and to those who said this movie had a lot of violence and gore in it, which would have at least made up for a bad story and bad dialogue to some extent...well, what movie did you watch? There was very little violence in this movie...mostly just some badly choreographed fighting that had zero of the blood and gore that I've grown to expect from JC and then it had some really lame punching, kicking and hitting with clubs and such that looked liked it was shot in the 70's...it was reminiscent of Warriors. Some of the very few times I actually said "cool" were after a couple of decapitations from some lethal frisbee deals they were hurling, but these were very few and far between. Anyway, let me end this negative rant by saying that I have a great deal of respect for John Carpenter. I sincerely appreciate the majority of his films and I thank him for making those films. I hope this film is just a momentary lapse in his filmmaking career and he quickly moves on to his next project, which I will continue to look forward to.
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This will not end his carear!! what do you think USa is the only market? for films!!did you know GOM is going to teh Venice film festival??The rest of the world must be out of their mind fot thinking Carpenter as a master? i don't think so....HAIL to JC
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if there ever was one poor acting poor sets and poor writing. But hey the Anthrax score was cool.
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I haven't counted this many groaner lines, lines that had me squirming in my seat to escape, since Planet Of The Apes...
HOW does Carpenter, who hasn't made an intelligent movie since The Thing (I admit a classic), keep getting big money for his movies? Is it purely a box office thing? Are there enough brain dead Carpenter fans out there to show a profit margin?
Carpenter is a pro at only one thing...taking a potentially good, or at least entertaining (lets be honest, those two can be mutually exclusive) story and reduce it to a sixth grade reading level.
Horrible and here are just a few points...
Carpenter, for some strange reason, has never learned the art of conveying what's in his mind to the physical movements of his actors. I mean, does this guy even USE a story board? It's like he lets them read the script and lets them do their own thing...then always uses the first fucking take! It's almost like he doesn't even review the footage and just sees what he originally saw in his head.
The movement of the action sequences in GoM was awful, wooden and illogical. The battle sequences were absurd. Being a sci fi freak, I'm all about suspending my disbelief, but please don't insult my intelligence.
For instance, just for instance, the nuke plant that was supposed to have a blast radius of a couple of miles, was shown from orbit...taking up a good tenth of the planetscape. That's not a little town...that's a seaboard. Just an example.
We got no background whatsoever on Desolation Williams. And the guys in his "posse" were horrible actors in the extreme.
Carpenters scripts may look good on paper, but damn, the execution is horrible. -
This past weekend, I took the time to view one of the greatest filmmakers of our time newest installment. John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars definitely belongs in the Carpenter category. All of his fantastic elements are in this film. From the great score to the amaning wipes and dissolves. I've read numerous reviews that knock this film for its cheesey lines. Well, I don't know if these people have seen any other Carpenter flicks, but a lot of them include cheesey lines (but thats why they're cool...they're supposed to be cheesy) For instance, when Roddy Piper walks into the bank in They Live and says "I have come to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of bubble gum!" it doesn't get much cheesier than that, but that is one of the greatest lines of all time...and don't even get me started on all the cheesey lines in Big Trouble in Little China, but again, that is one of the coolest movies of all time. Whats wrong with cheesey lines? Sure, the don't belong in a serious drama about the Holocaust, but they're fine in films like these. Ok, off the cheesey lines theme. Watching Ghosts On Mars was like watching a sequal to Assault on Precinct 13, which is another Carpenter classic. Any Carpenter fan should see this film, and anybody who sees this film that hasn't seen a Carpenter flick before...All I can say is get ready for a completely different world in the film universe!!!
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