John Carpenter (“Halloween”, “Escape From New York”) directs “Ghosts Of Mars” and while it is not a great sci-fi picture, it is quite fun. This film can easily be compared to “Starship Troopers” and it works very much on the same level.

Set in the far future where humans have colonised Mars, a group of police officers including Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge “Species”, “Maximum Risk”) are sent to pick up a dangerous prisoner by the name of Desolation Williams (Ice Cube “Friday”) when they discover that an entire mining community has turned into zombie-like savages. Of course, the heroes have to resort to blasting their way out of this tough situation.

Natasha Henstridge does a good job considering as she shoots and kicks her way through hordes of monsters. She is able to act tough but still very charming and seductive. I didn’t particularly care for Ice Cube’s performance. Jason Statham (“The Transporter”) is enjoyable as Sergeant Jericho Butler. Pam Grier (“Foxy Brown”) doesn’t really get enough screen time to leave much of an impact. The creatures are a slight improvement over the regular zombies you see in many horror movies because the creatures in this film often carry weapons.

“Ghosts Of Mars” is a very silly sci-fi picture but it looks stylish, the action sequences are very enjoyable and the music is great. There are tons of over the top moments throughout the movie that are likely to amuse you as well as entertain you. This movie has been harshly criticised but I don’t really know what people were expecting and why they can’t just accept this cheesy film for what it is. If you liked “Starship Troopers” or any of the “Resident Evil” films then you should give this film a watch… it’s so much better than the “Doom” film (also set on Mars).