Since the early 2000s, Jason Statham has become a leading figure in the action genre, through iconic roles in Transporter, The Expendables, and Crank. However, as the years have passed by, many people have forgotten his first Hollywood project, one made under a legendary director. In 2001, the actor completed his transition from British comedy and obscure cinema to American science fiction and horror.
Jason Statham began his acting career working under Guy Ritchie, making a name for himself in films like Snatch and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. However, after making his way to Hollywood, the actor rebranded away from comedy and crime, becoming an action star and taking on a variety of projects in that vein. In that transition period, the star worked alongside visionary director John Carpenter, in what has gone down as perhaps the most underrated film in both men’s careers. Blending elements of horror, Western, crime, and action, this overlooked 2001 movie combines an impressive cast with a great story — just one that hasn’t maintained appeal with audiences.
Statham Appeared In One Of John Carpenter’s Most Underrated Films
John Carpenter has been a leading figure in Hollywood since the 1980s when he helped build the careers of acting legends like Kurt Russell, Keith David, and Jamie Lee Curtis. While some of his best films are hugely successful within their respective genre, the director has more cult classics than box office hits. Though the director has very few “bad” films, a combination of niche ideas, strong competition, and low budgets have resulted in some of his best films taking a while to gain steam. One of the best examples of this is 2001’s Ghosts of Mars, a horror-themed space Western that has unfairly gone down as the lowest-rated movie in Carpenter’s career. However, it also helped introduce US audiences to Jason Statham.
Ghosts of Mars begins with a council of leaders in the Martian city of Chryse in the year 2176 questioning a marshal. The sole survivor of her unit after an incident in a small mining town, Officer Melanie Ballard recounts her efforts to find and transport a prisoner, Desolation Williams, back to the city. Upon arriving in the town of Shining Canyon, the officers discover the mutilated remains of several of its inhabitants, some of whom have been strung upside down and left hanging. Ballard’s group is made up of the leader, Helena Braddock, the cocksure Sergeant Jericho (Statham), and a pair of rookies, Bashira Kincaid and Michael Descanso. When Ballard finally comes across Desolation, there’s an initial scuffle, but she’s later able to detain and imprison the suspected killer, along with a small group of surviving criminals and a science officer, all of whom are in the jail cell.
As they investigate, Ballard tells the story from multiple perspectives, explaining to the council what her teammates told her. As the group split up to find their prisoner, they discover the presence of a band of self-mutilated killers, later revealed to be the residents possessed by the spirits of Mars’ native species. As one host is killed, the spirit leaves its body, seeking out the next host to carry on. An aggressive, war-like species, these killers hunt down any survivors they can find. As Jericho hides from the savages, he finds a group of men, who later reveal themselves to be part of Williams’ gang, with the cops locking them up soon after. However, realizing that they’re hopelessly outmatched, the marshals decide to cut the crooks loose, joining firepower to fight their way to the armored train that dropped them off.
Ghosts of Mars Is Evocative of Another Carpenter Classic
Ghosts of Mars is far from the first of John Carpenter’s films that references the Western genre. One of his earliest hits, Assault on Precinct 13, borrows expertly from the plot of Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo, which tells the story of a lawman, played by John Wayne, defending his jailhouse from a band of assailants. Ghosts of Mars pursues a notably different direction, being closer in tone and plot to the stereotypical “cowboys and Indians” style of Western. Here, the themes of settlers and colonists clashing with native people of a perilous frontier play a key role, though with considerably less nuance than the standard Western.
Ghosts of Mars bears a strong resemblance to a more recent horror Western movie, Bone Tomahawk, which focuses on a lost tribe of Native American cannibals. The trope of lost societies clashing brutally with a more civilized group of protagonists has defined a large section of Western movies for decades. In Carpenter’s movie, the absence of any meaningful characterization for the villains allows for a more standard shoot-em-up vibe to the movie. Thanks to the terrifying, inhuman design of the villains and their unrelenting violence, it voids the story of the ethical considerations of a typical Western.
The movie’s use of alternate perspectives allows Carpenter to establish tension in the movie as the various pieces of the puzzle come together to form a clear picture of events. As each character’s part of the investigation is explored, the horror of the situation is compounded, leading to the final realization of the threat they face. When it comes to Western themes, the movie’s inspiration couldn’t be clearer, and the Martian wasteland shows great potential for exploring the genre beyond Earth.
Ghosts of Mars Helped Define Statham’s Career
The Best John Carpenter Movies
#1 – Escape From New York
#2 – The Thing
#3 – Assault On Precinct 13
While his character does meet a grim fate in the film, Jason Statham’s performance as Jericho helped define his career in Hollywood as a cocky but heroic and tough protagonist. From his role as Lee Christmas in The Expendables to his performance as Jonas Taylor in The Meg, he’s remained one of the most consistent actors in terms of the personality he projects. This was a continuation of the people he played under Guy Ritchie, who reflected the same arrogant cockney Statham built himself up as.
Ghosts of Mars suffers one of the lowest ratings of John Carpenter’s filmography, sitting at a meager 4.9/10 on IMDB, though Statham has his share of lower-rated duds. The movie was one of the director’s final films before entering his phase of semi-retirement. The movie’s videogame-inspired structure made it an interesting companion to 2005’s Doom, with both sharing the same themes of terraforming Mars and the secrets of the Red Planet. Both movies also share the same dysfunctional team dynamic between the heroes, albeit in different ways. The character of Jericho almost feels interchangeable between both movies.
Statham had primarily established himself through British movies, namely Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels before migrating to Hollywood. After taking a supporting role in the movie Turn It Up the year before, the actor got into a more action-packed career thanks to Carpenter’s horror movie. Subsequently taking a role opposite Jet Li in The One, the actor finally debuted in a leading role in 2002’s The Transporter, where he proved he had what it takes to lead a franchise. That said, the actor still does some of his best work in a more ensemble setting, as has been shown in The Expendables movies.
Ghosts of Mars Is Worth A Look
Ghosts of Mars, despite what the reviews say, is an enjoyable film, one elevated by its cast, which includes Ice Cube, Pam Grier, Natasha Henstridge, and, of course, Jason Statham. With a terrifying villain in “Big Daddy Mars,” and a desolate setting, the film has all the makings of a fun space Western. The film helped introduce American audiences to a young Statham, whose cockney accent and self-confidence endeared him to a generation of moviegoers. To make things better for the star, Jericho is also written as the film’s most relatable, down-to-earth character, something made clear in virtually all of his scenes.
Though far from the best movie of anyone involved in the project, Ghosts of Mars delivers a healthy amount of scare, action, and world-building for viewers to enjoy. With a special appeal for Western fans, the movie takes the perils of the Old American West to Mars and doubles down, making for a fun exaggeration of the frontier. It’s clear throughout the movie that those involved understood the type of movie they were making, and it’s best enjoyed with some suspension of disbelief. Statham may not be the movie’s star, but he makes the strongest impression on viewers as the then-newcomer to Hollywood, something helped by his character being given some of the movie’s best lines.