Film Reviews

Ghosts of Mars

• Rating:
• Director: John Carpenter.
• Starring: Ice Cube, Natasha Henstridge, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, Cleav Duvall, Joanna Cassidy.
• Details: US / 98 mins / (15PG).

2176, Mars. Sent on a prisoner transfer of a suspected serial killer James 'Desolation' Williams (Ice Cube), a group of police officers, led by the hard-as-nails Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) arrive at the remote outpost of Shining Canyon. There, they discover that half of the area's inhabitants have been savagely murdered, and the other half are zombie-like creatures, intent on wrecking havoc and expelling the human invaders. Cue bloodshed and lots of it. Told in a constant stream of flashbacks, Ghosts of Mars lacks a cohesion, fluency and well, believability. The narrative lacks any real dramatic thrust once the initial premise has been established and the performances are fairly abysmal, with the inept Henstridge in particularly atrocious form. Ice Cube seems to be enjoying himself, but this is still pretty turgid stuff. Mr John Carpenter, you should know better at this stage.

Review by Garreth Murphy