Subject: REVIEW: MARS ATTACKS! (1996)

From: [email-masked] (Enrique Conty)
Date: 17 Dec 1996 21:16:24 GMT

MARS ATTACKS!
                       A film review by Enrique Conty
                        Copyright 1996 Enrique Conty

At one point in Mars Attacks!, director Tim Burton decided to use
1970's B-movie stock footage to show crowds running away from the
Martian onslaught.  It was at this point that I knew the movie had
its heart in the right place.

Mars Attacks! is based on the notorious 1950's trading card set from Topps.
Said card set depicted an invasion of Earth (well, mostly the US) by aliens
from the red planet, who are eventually beaten by humanity (well, mostly
red-blooded American men).  The cards lurid illustrations depicting
things like a Martian incinerating a dog as its young owner watches in
horror were considered too extreme for their time, so the card set was
removed from the market shortly thereafter.  Through the decades (maybe
because of the controversy?), the Mars Attacks! cards have become an icon
of counterculture Americana, like the B-grade sci-fi films of the era
and "gentlemen's magazine" model Betty Page.  Given Tim Burton's penchant
for wonderfully grotesque humor and the same "cheesy is good" sensibility
that made shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000 so popular, it was
natural that he eventually would get around to try his hand at some sort
of B-movie spoof.

In Mars Attacks!, bug-eyed little green men from the rocky red planet
board their shiny flying saucers, and come to Earth under the guise of
peace, but their sinister intentions are revealed as they pull out their
bright primary-colors disintegrator pistols and start shooting death rays
at everything that moves.  Yes, there is a certain sense of *innocence*
to the Martians, who carry on with child-like glee as they play gruesome
practical jokes and generally have fun blowing up things.  At the same
time, one wants to keep seeing them go through their antics, and be
soundly defeated (they're *evil* martians, after all).  It's a strange
and quirky brew, certainly not suitable for everyone.  But if you're the
kind of person who can find the humor in a scene where the martians
topple the Washington Monument and push it around juuuust right so it
lands on top of a Boy Scout troop trying to run away, you'll find
Mars Attacks! a rewarding experience.

Like a disaster movie, the story has *4* major arcs, and plenty of "hey,
I know that actor!" faces in the cast:
- Two vacuous TV reporters from NYC cover the aliens' arrival.
- A redneck family from Kansas whose older son is on "Martian detail" at
  the Martian landing site in Pahrump, Nevada (an actual place!).
- A motley cast of Las Vegas wheelers and dealers (including Tom Jones as
  himself) flee the martian troops.
- The President Of The United States and various cabinet members
  deal with the situation (including Pierce Brosnan as a perfectly dashing
  and smarmy Science Advisor).
This is the movie's fatal flaw:  there is just too much stuff going on in
the movie, and too much time wasted introducing the large cast.  I'd have
cut 1/4th of the movie's cast, and tightened up the pace of their
introduction:  most of them are eventually going to be vaporized, crushed,
clobbered, stabbed, mutilated, defenestrated, and otherwise disposed
of anyway.  Bring the martians on, they're the true stars of Mars Attacks!.

Don't get me wrong, though:  I enjoyed Mars Attacks! quite a bit, and many
of my sci-fi fan friends absolutely loved it.  But, again, it's not for
everyone.

--
Enrique Conty  |  [email-masked]  | http://www.mcs.net/~conty
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