I've loved most of John Carpenter's strange, quirky film output. And his bizarre casting choices have tended to enhance most of his films, rather than hurt them. I can't imagine what happened here. The wonderful Christopher Reeve was horribly cast, and was really not able to make much impact here. Kirstie Alley as a government scientist? TERRIBLE. Linda Kozlowski from "Crocodile Dundee" acted circles around her! Now that's saying something. And Mark Hamill? Basically acted like he was at a booth at a sci-fi convention. He just did nothing. There were some good effects, and the ending was effective, but I expected so much more. This has got to be Carpenter's low point. Michael Par was so/so. Big surprise! Kind of nice to see Peter Jason, a member of Carpenter's "stock company". Compared to this crap, Ghosts of Mars (2001)  was Gone With The Wind!!

Ghosts of Mars
I've loved most of John Carpenter's strange, quirky film output. And his bizarre casting choices have tended to enhance most of his films, rather than hurt them. I can't imagine what happened here. The wonderful Christopher Reeve was horribly cast, and was really not able to make much impact here. Kirstie Alley as a government scientist? TERRIBLE. Linda Kozlowski from "Crocodile Dundee" acted circles around her! Now that's saying something. And Mark Hamill? Basically acted like he was at a booth at a sci-fi convention. He just did nothing. There were some good effects, and the ending was effective, but I expected so much more. This has got to be Carpenter's low point. Michael Par was so/so. Big surprise! Kind of nice to see Peter Jason, a member of Carpenter's "stock company". Compared to this crap, Ghosts of Mars (2001)  was Gone With The Wind!! Ghosts of Mars