Ghosts of Mars Blu-ray Review

Ghosts of Mars Blu-ray Review

Story

Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people now live and work all over Mars, mining the planet for its abundant natural resources. But one of those mining operations has uncovered a deadly mother lode: a long-dormant Martian civilization whose warriors are systematically taking over the bodies of human intruders.

Review

I hadn't watched Ghosts of Mars for years, I believe I was around 13 years old the last time I actually watched it. I would be lying if I said I remembered much of it so I was looking forward to watching it again after such a long time.

We start off with Melanie Ballard, a police lieutenant on Mars that is sent to a remote region with her squad to apprehend the dangerous criminal, Jame's "Desolation" Williams. What is supposed to be a simple operation turns into much more when martian spirits begin to take over human bodies.

The story itself sounds quite simple and that's because it is. There is not much to digest. That to me is both a positive and a negative. A positive because it lets you just enjoy the movie without thinking too much about what you are watching but a negative because it does leave the viewer with a lot of questions and we all know that all leads to us discovering plot holes. Honestly this did not bother me one bit, I found myself enjoying the cheesy lines and watching a jacked Ice Cube kick some ass.

The only thing that Ghosts of Mars suffers from is that it was made back in 2001 and it shows. You can either nitpick and gripe about the lack of production quality or you can choose to enjoy it and see how movies were made before a lot of CGI started to take over. I personally chose the latter. Something about early 2000 movies that I just love, it's when I first started to really enjoy watching movies so it holds a special place in my heart, as cliche as that sounds.

Ghosts of Mars is widely considered one of John Carpenter's weaker films but honestly I had a ton of fun with it. I found myself constantly remembering being a kid and skipping through cable channels and finally landing on some random movie on TNT or the SyFy channel. It took me back to going to Blockbuster on a Wednesday night to take advantage of rent one get one free and picking movies that had interesting covers. In this day and age, I like to enjoy whatever nostalgia I can get.

Video

I was a bit apprehensive the first time I popped this into my Xbox One S but I was then pleasantly surprised by how good the video quality was. I mentioned earlier that the production value on this film wasn't top tier and the superb video quality just allows that to come through a bit more. That is not a huge issue except for maybe a couple of scenes. The blacks look great which is a huge plus since it is draped all over the main characters. The Mars red that is present throughout also looks great. As expected with most older films of this quality there is some mild grain but nothing that would turn me away from purchasing this transfer. If you're looking for a video quality improvement over previous releases then I can safely tell you that there definitely is an upgrade.

Audio

The main track is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and it does a great job. This film is like a thrill ride filled with action and a soundtrack full of hard hitting music just with a bit of your typical sounds that you expect from a John Carpenter film. All I can think off watching and listening to this movie is how great of an arcade game this would be.

Extras

• Audio Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Natasha Henstridge
• Video Diary: Red Desert Nights
• Featurette: "Scoring Ghosts of Mars"
• Special Effects (SFX) Deconstructions

Language

• English

Subtitles

• English SDH

Final Thoughts

Ghosts of Mars was a throwback ride that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. Whether you're looking to upgrade your current copy or looking for something to watch with a tub of popcorn, Ghosts of Mars is worth picking up!

Ghosts of Mars is available on Blu-ray on May 14th from Mill Creek Entertainment