It's fascinating to examine a director's career; to compare and contrast a body of work and see what patterns emerge and how the quality has changed.
John Carpenter's career is a perplexing one. It couldn't have started off any better or more promising. "Assault on Precinct 13" is a tense and exceptionally well-made action movie and "Halloween" remains one of the best horror films ever made.
In the next few years, he made a string of solid movies: "The Fog," "Escape From New York," "The Thing" and "Christine" are all good, and "Prince of Darkness" and "Starman" are nothing to be embarrassed about.
And suddenly, something happened. Carpenter stopped making good movies. "They Live," "Memoirs of an Invisible Man," "Village of the Damned" and "Escape From LA" run the gamut from disappointing to disastrous.
In 1998, he hit bottom with the poorly-scripted, gratuitously violent "Vampires." Barring the overlooked gem, "In the Mouth of Madness," Carpenter just isn't the director he was.
His latest, "Ghosts of Mars," is a faltering blend of action and science fiction; another gore-fest toploaded with borrowed ideas, poor acting and horrible special effects. Only the score is any good.
On Mars in the future, a small group of cops -- led by Melanie (Natasha Henstridge) -- has been sent to nab a criminal named Desolation Williams (Ice Cube) so that he can stand trial for murder. Along for the ride are Helena (Pam Grier), Jericho (Jason Statham, Kincaid (Clea DuVall) and Descanso (Liam Waite).
Williams is held in some small mining town and somehow the miners have unleashed an airborne virus that makes coming into contact with it turn insanely violent. Under the leadership of Big Daddy Mars (Richard Cetrone), the possessed people band together and kill everyone they can...in as gruesome a way as possible. Decapitation is clearly preferred.
The rest of the movie has the outnumbered heroes fighting the demons and trying to get out of the mining colony alive. Since one of the two surviving characters is recounting the story to her superiors in the beginning, you know who is going to die and who isn't, instantly obliterating any suspense.
There's no character development and the writers (Carpenter and Larry Sulkis) have obviously assumed that people will see it solely for the action and blood. And while there is plenty of blood, the action is strictly by the numbers. As the end approaches, you'll be rooting for the psycho Mars people.
It's sad to see the talented Carpenter make movies as bad as this. He's not even trying anymore, it seems. He takes the paycheck, churns out a quick flick and hit the showers.
Grade: D
"Ghosts of Mars" opened Fri., Aug. 24 at theatres everywhere. Click here for showtimes.
