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Reviewed by Chris McEneany, 31st May 2009
Ghosts Of Mars is justifiably derided. It continues a ghastly career-decline from a former master of genre and reveals a treacherous lack of narrative understanding. From a hack filmmaker intent on shoving his exploitation-opus straight to disc, this would be have been true to form and quite acceptable, but from John Carpenter this is just further proof, if ever it were needed, that his golden apple has fallen very far its tree.
A worthless watering-down of what was fundamentally solid potential. Some atmospheric shots interspersed throughout turgid, ochre-tinted tosh can't save this 24-carat clunker. Being harsh on Carpenter for producing drivel like this is totally justified. No-one, but no-one is a bigger fan of his earlier films than me – as my other reviews will bear out – but Ghosts Of Mars is pure dreck that hurts like hell to sit through when you consider the talent that its maker once wielded and what could have been had he still been so inspired.
The intense lack of love for the movie shines through with its lack of interesting bonus material. Apart from the BD-Live, there is nothing here that wasn't available on the SD edition and certainly nothing that offers us anything even remotely rewarding. Ghosts Of Mars is a wretched film by anyone's standards – although obviously still a classic when compared to something from Uwe Boll – and I simply cannot recommend it. From any other director this would be pitiful, but from someone of Carpenter's pedigree this is unforgivable.
Unless you are a Carpenter-devotee, this is one to avoid.
Read the full review...
Ghosts Of Mars is justifiably derided. It continues a ghastly career-decline from a former master of genre and reveals a treacherous lack of narrative understanding. From a hack filmmaker intent on shoving his exploitation-opus straight to disc, this would be have been true to form and quite acceptable, but from John Carpenter this is just further proof, if ever it were needed, that his golden apple has fallen very far its tree.
A worthless watering-down of what was fundamentally solid potential. Some atmospheric shots interspersed throughout turgid, ochre-tinted tosh can't save this 24-carat clunker. Being harsh on Carpenter for producing drivel like this is totally justified. No-one, but no-one is a bigger fan of his earlier films than me – as my other reviews will bear out – but Ghosts Of Mars is pure dreck that hurts like hell to sit through when you consider the talent that its maker once wielded and what could have been had he still been so inspired.
The intense lack of love for the movie shines through with its lack of interesting bonus material. Apart from the BD-Live, there is nothing here that wasn't available on the SD edition and certainly nothing that offers us anything even remotely rewarding. Ghosts Of Mars is a wretched film by anyone's standards – although obviously still a classic when compared to something from Uwe Boll – and I simply cannot recommend it. From any other director this would be pitiful, but from someone of Carpenter's pedigree this is unforgivable.
Unless you are a Carpenter-devotee, this is one to avoid.
Read the full review...
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