MARS ATTACKS! (PG-13)
Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Danny De Vito, Annette
Bening, Lukas Haas, Rod Steiger, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J Fox, Tom Jones, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Natalie Portman,
Martin Short, Sylvia Sidney, Lisa Marie, Paul Winfield, Joe Don Baker, Barbet Schroeder, Christina Applegate, Joseph
Maher, Jack Black
Having recently completed his off beat but entertaining biopic about Ed Wood, universally acknowledged as the worst director
of all time, Tim Burton now directs the type of film that Wood himself may have made had he still been alive and making
movies today. As a child, Burton grew up watching B-grade sci-fi movies, and Mars Attacks! is both an irreverent homage
and po-faced, affectionate spoof of the entire alien invasion genre that was extremely popular in the 50's and '60's.
However for a film that purports to be a parody, Mars Attacks! is rather dull, unfunny stuff, and proves to be rather unwieldy
and slow going for much of the first half hour. The pace only picks up and the fun begins when the aliens actually unleash their
ray guns and blow up nearly everything in sight. The action basically takes place in three different settings, and introduces us to
a dizzying array of characters, whose lives are irrevocably changed when alien spaceships, looking suspiciously like "flying
hubcaps", land on earth.
In Washington, the president's scientific advisor (a superbly pompous Pierce Brosnan) convinces President Dale (Jack
Nicholson) that the Martians must have come in peace since they are technologically advanced. But at a nationally televised
historic first meeting arranged in the Nevada desert, the Martians suddenly blast away, wiping out an entire military unit and
hundreds of innocent observers. However, the President remains unconvinced of their hostile intentions until the Martians blast
away during a packed meeting of Congress. Meanwhile, another alien attack takes place in Las Vegas, the gambling Mecca of
the US, where none other than crooner Tom Jones finds himself on the run from the hostile critters, accompanied by a former
boxing champ (Jim Brown) and a loud mouthed, obnoxious gambler (Danny De Vito). In small town middle America, nerdy
teenager Richie Norris (Lukas Haas, from Witness, etc) and his wheel-chair bound grandmother become unlikely heroes in the
fight against the invaders.
Inspired largely by a series of popular trading cards from the 1960's, this tacky, trashy send up of the alien invasion genre is
essentially B-grade film making on a grand scale and an elaborate A-grade budget. Burton has crammed Mars Attacks! full of
big name stars in small roles, and most seem to revel in the absurdity of it all, and they relish the opportunity to play around
with their own screen image. Audiences, on the other hand, may well find the game of star spotting far more entertaining than
the lack lustre action of this rather disappointing film itself.
Nicholson plays a dual role here; but while his performance as the President is as mannered as anything else he has done, his
crooked Vegas land developer Art Land allows him to go outrageously over the top into the realm of caricature. Glenn Close
is superbly bitchy as the first lady who wants nothing to do with the alien creatures, while Annette Bening plays against type in
a comic role as Land's shrill, flaky new age wife who embraces the alien landing as an omen of changing fortunes. Rod Steiger
is bombastic as the war-mongering general who only wants to "nuke the bastards" back to Mars. Sarah Jessica Parker and
Michael J Fox play a couple of television journalists who are more obsessed with personal image than the ground breaking
news.
Burton's feverish imagination, defiantly off beat sense of humour and distinctive visual style are very much in evidence
throughout this outrageous and tasteless but ultimately disappointing comedy. Mars Attacks! certainly looks impressive, thanks
to the cutting edge computer generated special effects from George Lucas' famed Industrial Light and Magic factory, and
some dazzling camera work from cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, who also worked on The Empire Strikes Back. The
computer generated animation techniques that bring the amusing, but decidedly weird looking and extremely aggressive alien
creatures to life on the screen are also quite impressive.