[Movie] Ghosts of Mars

K

Kukident

Still Mildly Glowing
Has anyone seen that movie?

although it plays on mars it has a great post-apocalyptic atmosphere. the film is very trashy but very funny and ridiculous, and the actions of the characters are kind of plausible (while other things arent :D ) and the film is very entertaining, if not taken too seriously. although that film got absolutely bad ratings, i can only recommend it, it's kuki-approved.

there are so many body parts being cut off persons i stopped counting, it's just ridiculous in a however not too stupid way imho.

but i liked the film not for its gruel parts, much more for the cool shooting scenes, the atmosphere, the acting,... i usually dont care for action scenes and all the shooting stuff, but in this movie it was very entertaining because such irrelevant scenes were shown in a (at least to me) new way. very anti-hero, and authentic. Imho it even has artistic value :D

what i didnt like was the dumb story ( teh evil sand gets into peepl and makez them become very evil....) the ending, which was quite okay but a bit unsatisfying, and the kind of copied "enemies"

they looked like any evil guy taken from a random post-apoc movie like waterworld (and their leader like the uruk-hai leader of LOTR part 2) or i dont know... although there are a lot of those kind of movies including such characters


long talk, short sense:
i give this movie :ugly: :ugly: :ugly: :ugly: :mrgreen: (4.5/5) points

discuss!
(or not)
 
One of Carpenters worst movies, but it was a pretty good flick. I give it a 3 out of 5.
 
Not a terrible movie but not even close to Carpenter's best ones (The Thing, Escape from New York, Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China and the original Assault on Precinct 13).

I liked the setting and the gore but not much else.
2/5 (1: bad; 2: okay; 3: recommended; 4: great; 5: fantastic) on my 5/5 system which equals to 6/10 on the 10/10 system (IMDb).
 
Lord Elden said:
Not a terrible movie but not even close to Carpenter's best ones (The Thing, Escape from New York, Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China and the original Assault on Precinct 13).

I liked the setting and the gore but not much else.
Click to expand...
About the same opinion here, though I also have to add a bit about the talent involved.

Ice Cube, while not exactly a favorite actor of mine, was hysterical at times. Natasha Henstridge was at least adequate in the "badass hottie" role, and not completely unconvincing, given the tone of the entire script anyway.

Then of course we had Jason Statham in what was often the first role most folks from the USA had seen him in, and even though the movie itself was less than inspired, it probably helped Statham's career, or at least his international exposure, and he's shaped up to be IMO a pretty decent action star.

So yeah.. I'd say 2/5 also, though I don't equate that to 6/10. My math says that's 4/10. Not horrible, but probably not one I'd recommend except to die-hard fans of the genre, or Carpenter fanatics who absolutely must see everything with his name attached.

-Wraith
 
Funny enough, Assault on Precint 13 remake was on last night and I found it to be better than the original.

But, yes, Ghosts of Mars was quite enjoyable.
 
WraithUV said:
So yeah.. I'd say 2/5 also, though I don't equate that to 6/10. My math says that's 4/10.
Click to expand...
My rating systems can't be calculated mathematically to the other. When you have 10 different ratings you have much more ratings for how bad a movie is: at least 1-3 (or 1-4). Which leaves 4-6 (or 5 and 6) for half-bad to okay and the rest (7-10) for recommended to fantastic. But with 5 ratings I use 3 as a better rating then mediocre, it's on the good side since I see more point in having 3 different grades of good than having 2 ratings for bad. Does it matter how bad a film is (except when it's so bad it's good)? So, I just have 1 point for bad. The second rating is for okay/mediocre/watchable and the 3-5 are the different grades of good. So, basically a 7/10 would equal 3/5 if that makes any sense...
 
Lord Elden said:
[My rating systems can't be calculated mathematically to the other. When you have 10 different ratings you have much more ratings for how bad a movie is: at least 1-3 (or 1-4). Which leaves 4-6 (or 5 and 6) for half-bad to okay and the rest (7-10) for recommended to fantastic. But with 5 ratings I use 3 as a better rating then mediocre, it's on the good side since I see more point in having 3 different grades of good than having 2 ratings for bad. Does it matter how bad a film is (except when it's so bad it's good)? So, I just have 1 point for bad. The second rating is for okay/mediocre/watchable and the 3-5 are the different grades of good. So, basically a 7/10 would equal 3/5 if that makes any sense...
Click to expand...
Yeah, fair enough, and I wasn't actually trying to imply you had bad math skills or anything. ;)

All I really meant was my system is a bit different from yours, and in my eyes, a 3 is "so-so", neither really to the good nor the bad side. That would be (for me) what 2.5 or 3.5 would be for -something more or less borderline, but leaning a bit either way.

By contrast, on my 1-10 system, a dead middle or so-so score would be 5.5, since 5 is below the margin and 6 is above it.

In any case, for clarity, regardless of what scale is being used, I'd call this one sometimes entertaining, and not a waste if you're catching it on cable or a rental on the cheap and have nothing really better to do, but definitely not one I'd recommend for someone's shelves unless again they just *HAD* to own everything by Carpenter and had missed it somehow.

-Wraith
 
This movie has got a flashback within a flashback within a flashback. That's reported speech to the third power. Poe would love it.

Seriously, that is the thing I'm gonna remember this flick for.
 
oh god... not the movie where Marylin Manson is the antagonist and Ice Cube is the protagonist... LAWL
 
i thought those shooting scenes were you just saw the shooter, where intense. I had never seen something like that before, just great.

And when the 4 guys were shooting in the inside of a building, about in the middle of the movie, with always 2 guys in the front and 2 in the back of them reloading and switching each several seconds, i was sold on it.

of course a lot about the movie is total BS,.. but i liked the film for some great details like those mentioned. And the train was also cool.
 
DoughboyJones said:
one of the WORST movies I've ever seen. Carpenter should've quit with 'The Thing.'
Click to expand...
While I'd agree that The Thing was definitely one of his best, and arguably it's way up the list if we were to vote for his "Most recent, best work", I'd have still considered it a travesty had he "stopped there".

If he had, we'd have missed out on Big Trouble in Little China, which is a hilarious blend of action, martial arts, two concurrent yet utterly opposite love stories, ancient gods and myths, magic, and a whole bunch of crazy gang members who think picking fights in front of a moving Mac truck is somehow appropriate.

C'mon, what's not to love here? ;)

Additional titles that came after The Thing which are also worth a look-see (even if perhaps they pale a bit by direct comparison) would include (but not necessarily be limited to):
Starman - Hey, I thought it was a cool story, even if it's *very* different from most offerings by Carpenter.
They Live - Roddy Piper as a hero fighting a bunch of aliens (who are pretty much in total control of society) by wearing 'special shades' that allow them to be seen, along with the massive saturation of subliminal messages in virtually every bit of media, designed to brainwash and control the masses? BWA-Hahahaha! Just priceless.
Escape from L.A. - Ok, this was crap compared to Escape from New York, but... it's a *sequel*! And, um... It's got that cool Snake guy in it again! It *must* be watched... ;)
Vampires - Kinda fun, because all the way through the thing, you aren't quite sure if you're supposed to take any of this stuff seriously or not, and it's got some great cheesy Cliché sprinkled all over the place. Now, admittedly, I found From Dusk Till Dawn (two years previous) a much better offering in the 'comedic yet semi-serious vampire-action movie' category, but eh.

...And then of course, the current film under discussion: Ghosts of Mars, which love it or hate it, you gotta admit it still had that "Wait.. is this an almost could have been decent movie that was deliberately made to feel like a crappy B-movie, or is it a really good B-movie that just falls short of actually being an A-grade motion picture?" thing that Carpenter does so very well. Plus it's got a gun-toting hottie. Gun toting hotties are cool. Even if half the time (for some completely inexplicable reason), their bad-assery suddenly degrades to the point your average 12 year old could probably beat the tar out of them, they're still cool. ;)

-Wraith
 
WraithUV said:
All I really meant was my system is a bit different from yours, and in my eyes, a 3 is "so-so", neither really to the good nor the bad side. That would be (for me) what 2.5 or 3.5 would be for -something more or less borderline, but leaning a bit either way.
Click to expand...
If .5 points are to be used it's basically exactly the same system as 1-10 anyway... I'm favorouring (my) 1-5 system because sometimes less options is better.

WraithUV said:
In any case, for clarity, regardless of what scale is being used, I'd call this one sometimes entertaining, and not a waste if you're catching it on cable or a rental on the cheap and have nothing really better to do, but definitely not one I'd recommend for someone's shelves unless again they just *HAD* to own everything by Carpenter and had missed it somehow.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly.

Escape from LA is the worst Carpenter movie. Not that I was especially fond of the remake of Village of the Damned either...
 
Lord Elden said:
Escape from LA is the worst Carpenter movie. Not that I was especially fond of the remake of Village of the Damned either...
Click to expand...
And here too, we agree.

I mean, yeah, I watched it, and it did have a *few* enjoyable moments, though in the end I think I'd rate it just a bit shy of utterly craptastic (somewhere around a dismal 1/5).

Even before it came to cable TV, I knew it was going to be tripe from everything I'd seen, but it was the sequel to one of my favorites, so I'd already decided that regardless how bad it was, I would endure it.

I would like to note however that any rumors you may hear that suggest I actually watched it from a controlled, clean-room environment are completely unsubstantiated, and nothing short of wild conjecture. A sealed environmental suit was more than adequate, thank you very much.

;)

-Wraith
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top