There are few John Carpenter fans as avid as myself. This guy is easily my favorite of all the horror directors. I've even loved the Carpenter flicks that most people dismiss as misfires (see Prince of Darkness, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man just to name two). The past couple of years have not been kind to the Halloween creator. In fact, I must confess that even I was disappointed in his last three efforts (the rushed remake of Village of the Damned, the sequel Escape From L.A., and the western flavored Vampires.) Sadly, the new Ghosts of Mars is not a return to form for Mr. Carpenter, but rather another step back.

In the future, humans have colonized Mars. A group of police officers are ordered to transport a ruthless criminal (Ice Cube) to prison but are sidetracked when they arrive at their destination, to find it deserted. Soon, they stumble upon the townsfolk who seem to be possessed by the ghosts of aliens that used to inhabit the planet. Before long, the officers team with a group of criminals to do battle with the intruders.

Ghosts of Mars is reminiscent of many other films. It has much in common with Alien 3 and Pitch Black, but mostly, it's a composite of many other Carpenter films (think Assault on Precinct 13, Dark Star, Escape From New York, They Live, Prince of Darkness, and The Thing.) Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as good as those films because it's lacking in rhythm and cohesion. There are also very few scares.

Carpenter co-wrote the sceenplay, and while much of it's satirical edge is humorous, it fails on the level of thrilling the audience. The picture looks good and it does feature some good performances, a few cool action sequences and a fun, trademark score by Carpenter himself. What it's lacking is an interesting villain. If anything, I felt bad for the alien force. After all, this used to be their planet, not ours. It also doesn't help that Ghosts of Mars is sloppily executed in terms of storytelling. This picture is disjointed to say the least. And don't get me started on this film's clumsy flashback technique. There are literally flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks in Ghosts of Mars and while I'm guessing this must have looked creative on paper, it ultimately is more distracting than anything else.

The performances are entertaining in a B-Movie sort of way. Natasha Henstidge (taking over for an injured Courtney Love) is quite engaging and tough as nails as the head of the police force, while Ice Cube has a good time kicking ass and firing guns. I also enjoyed Jason Statham as one of the fellow officers. Pam Grier (a 70's icon who returned to form in Jackie Brown) is also along for the ride.

Carpenter injects a lot of that same western sensibility that went into Vampires, and while Ghosts of Mars isn't a total disaster, it makes me yearn for that Carpenter of old. The last really great picture he made was In the Mouth of Madness. I can only hope that he will take more time with his next project. For the most part, Ghosts of Mars is a confused thriller that never really finds it's way through the stars.