Ghosts Of Mars (2001) ***

John Carpenter's Ghosts Of Mars (2001) is essentially Assault On Precinct 13 (1976) meets Escape From New York (1981) (review) with some bits of Prince Of Darkness (1987) (review) thrown in. Ice Cube isn’t the best lead but he does a solid job. The action isn't always the best either but I rather enjoy the artifice of the production design, the way the film plays with time structure and flashbacks is engaging, and there are lots of interesting fades.

The biggest fault of the film is that there is no emotional weight for any of the characters, save the two leads (i.e. everyone is fodder) and even then sparingly. Even a similar film like Predator (1987) (review) has better character development so that when people die, you at least care a little bit. GOF is pretty silly at times, but it's mostly fun, and much more entertaining than its reputation suggests.

You can find my John Carpenter Films Ranked list here.

You can find my Top 20 Directors list here.