Tim
Burton (Batman Returns,
Edward Scissorhands) takes
on comic science fiction in Mars Attacks!, a big-screen
narrative version of the cult Topps trading card series from the early
1960s, in which Martian in flying saucers are seen mounting an
invasion of Earth, tapping into prevalent fears, zapping humans and
animals with their flesh-destroying ray guns and stealing away women.
As such, though set in modern times, the film takes a decidedly
spoof-y look at science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, with nods to
such classics as The War of the Worlds
and The Day the Earth Stood Still. As with
Independence Day, also released in 1996,
Mars Attacks! is mostly a setup to images of various
monuments being destroyed by aliens, with Burton following his
critically acclaimed Ed Wood with a schlocky sci-fi film that
seems as it could have been inspired by Wood himself.
Jack
Nicholson (Wolf, Hoffa)
plays the President of the United States, who, as a world leader, must
hastily choose how to confront the visiting Martians, who are
hovering over Earth in an armada of flying saucers. They look
intimidating, but one of Earth's leading scientists (Brosnan,
Tomorrow Never Dies) assures him that,
as the Martian civilization is far more advanced than ours, they will
surely be more "civilized", and peaceful. The Martians land, and
initially speak words of peace, but they suddenly begin to annihilate
every human in sight. The film covers how the alien invasion affects a
wide array of people from all walks of life in several locations,
including Washington DC, Las Vegas and the Midwest. Most of the
characters are quite smarmy, to the point where you may be rooting for
the Martians to kill many of them off before the end.
As with
all of Tim Burton's works, Mars Attacks! doesn't lack for
visual imagination, or inspired sight gags. However, also, like most
of Burton's films, there is a tendency toward an uneven tone, and
Mars Attacks! is possibly the guiltiest in this regard, blending
silly slapstick with vicious violence in ways that erode the
effectiveness of both. As it is a comic-book type of film, the
characters are little more than broad caricatures, which, despite a
very stocked cast of well-known actors, makes it not really a film one
would watch for the acting. The actors are but momentary distractions,
and none of them get enough screen time to make a particular dent,
especially since nearly all of what we know about them is their name
and occupation. In this way, it is reminiscent of one of Steven
Spielberg's rare misfires, 1941, which
dressed up a lot of very appealing actors, who had nowhere to go after
their initial introduction on the screen. Despite the overstuffed
cast, Nicholson is given two roles, with his secondary one as some
sort of rootin'-tootin', faux-cowboy, lush businessman in Vegas.
Burton tries to deliver all of this with tongue firmly planted in
cheek, but without ample setup before tossing us in the middle of the
mayhem, we have no viable vantage point through which to view the
comedy as particularly funny. Not that there aren't any laughs -- any
film that has the temerity to use Slim Whitman's music as a major plot
point is bound to generate laughs just from the absurdity of it all.
While a comedy with ample kooky characterizations, satirical
situations, and lots of other-worldly effects would seem right up
Burton's alley, all he can manage are a few scattered laughs, some
hammy performances, and lots of oddball narrative dead ends.
As a spoof, it's all over the place. Not that old sci-fi films
need a spoof; they're pretty campy and unintentionally funny for
today's audiences all on their own. Burton and screenwriter
Jonathan Gems (White Mischief, The Treat) also send up, quite broadly, Washington DC, military
brass, Vegas lounges acts, local yokels, and various news sources, but
do so in ways that are either too obvious or too over-spoofed to stand
out on their own. Even the Martians, who look quite cartoonish,
especially when compared to the real-life actors that surround them,
are supposed to garner a few chuckles from the element of surprise in
their killings and experimentation with humans, but it all comes
across as rather brutal or grotesque. Seeing heads transplanted
between humans and Chihuahuas might have seemed like a funny, surreal
sight gag on paper, but it plays out like a mildly horrific turn of
events when you see it on the big screen.
Despite its many flaws, I've been surprised to learn over the years
that there is an audience out there that finds many of the things
funny in this film that I do not, and many of the action scenes
exciting that I think miss the mark substantially. To each
his/her own, I suppose, as I consider it Burton's worst movie -- yes,
even worse than Dark Shadows,
albeit that's a close call. Perhaps if you think that changing
actors and scenery every couple of minutes is enough to keep your
interest level high, and you snicker whenever you see some
semi-comical character get eviscerated, this might be the kind of
movie that works for you. As for me, if I find great actors far
from compelling, a plethora of jokes that elicit few honest laughs,
special effects that look tacky and unconvincing, and some major
action sequences that threaten to lull me to sleep rather than raise my pulse
rate, I'd find it a misfire under any circumstance.
