Subject: REVIEW: MARS ATTACKS! (1996)

From: [email-masked] (Ram Samudrala)
Date: 30 Dec 1996 14:58:54 GMT

MARS ATTACKS!
                       A film review by Ram Samudrala
                        Copyright 1996 Ram Samudrala

/Mars Attacks/ is a cross section of pop-culture America: an
enlightening and sarcastic vision of the current state of society.  Of
course, the situations in the movie are highly exaggerated, but at the
end of the movie I couldn't help but wonder about the various
similarities of the characters to real-world people.

The movie is set in various locations, including Washington, DC (among
the politically-minded people), Las Vegas (the money-minded people),
and Kansas (the gun-loving people).  Most apt is the setting of the
first alien landing at Pahrump, a town just a few miles east of Death
Valley.  Throughout the movie, there are a lot of satirical jokes
infused with a good black humour about American pop-culture that
sometimes work and sometimes don't.  But credit must be given to Tim
Burton for willing to take the artistic risks he chooses to take.

There are some serious problems with the execution of this movie that
distract from the satire and the special effects.  The primary
problems include the editing of the film and the wooden-faced actors
who simply appear to be going through their motions.  Even though
/Mars Attacks/ consist of star-studded cast, including people like
Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker,
Martin Short, Michael J. Fox, and Danny DeVito, there is little
chemistry between them, and the time spent on each character is
minimal.  In fact, the martian characters stole the show more than any
of their human counterparts.

Among the better human characters are Nicholson as President Dale and
as Art Land (a Las Vegas entrepreneur) who had some interesting and
funny moments when he was in a good form, and some horrible moments
when he was not, and Brosnan and Parker as Donald Kessler (a scientist
expert on extraterrestrial affairs) and Nathalie Lake (a TV reporter
covering the incident) manage to generate a bit of humourous
interaction.

But what I think makes Mars Attacks work, providing continuity even
when the scenes themselves seem out of place, is Danny Elfman's score
which is simply amazing.  As I was watching, I felt the score tell me
a story that was more obvious than the one depicting the movie.  The
score and the special effects, particularly in the opening scenes,
blend extremely well.

This is the B-movie for the 90s, and I highly recommend checking it
out on the big screen.

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