MARS
ATTACKS
Nice planet. We'll take it!
Tim
Burton has a ball with this kind of modern homage to the space B movie,
and as an audience, we basically get to play in his head for a little
while.
As the title suggests, Mars attacks,
or rather the Martians do and after initial overtones of peace, it turns
out that they are a mean bunch of little dudes and basically want to
wipe out everything on the planet. President of the US, James
Dale (Jack Nicholson) has it all on his plate to stop them and a cast
of luminaries throughout the States have their own little encounters
with the "little green men".
A big hoot is all you can say about
this. It's a comedy with some nasty little moments sprinkled throughout,
delivered by the nasty little Martians. The cast all play it very
50s in their dramatic poses and plastic dialogue, and none of them has
really got to exert anything to get through the film. I doubt
if anyone had to exert much. Rod Steiger as General Decker and
Glenn Close as the First Lady stood out for me. But is it funny?
Well, yes. Once. It's not a classic comedy you could watch endlessly
by any means, but it delivers enough to make itself a proper comedy.
The special effects are seamless and the Martians are hilarious- their
intensity and organisation, coupled with their total disregard for anything
human, make for a well constructed alien race, albeit a comedy one.
In the end it's all entertainment, isn't it, and Mars Attacks is certainly
that. Worth a one-off watch if you don't mind the premise and
the concept, but not one for keeps, I don't think. DJY
STORYLINE:
60%
ACTING: 57%
SPECIAL EFFECTS: 86%
CINEMATOGRAPHY: 67%
OVERALL:
62%
BEST
QUOTE: Richie Norris: Wow, he just made the international sign of the
doughnut.
Main
Cast List
Jack Nicholson......... President
James Dale / Art Land
Glenn Close ..................
First Lady Marsha Dale
Annette Bening............ Barbara
Land
Pierce Brosnan........... Professor
Donald Kessler
Dany Devito............... Rude
Gambler
Sarah Jessica Parker........ Nathalie
Lake
Michael J Fox..................
Jason Stone
Rod Steiger....................
General Decker
Tom Jones.....................
Tom Jones
Lukas Has.................. Richie
Norris
Natalie Portman............. Taffy
Dale
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