Tim Burton has been involved in the production of a lot of interesting movies in his day, and Mars Attacks! certainly shows a lot of the same creative flair that appears in other works that bear his name. A big, broad parody of B-movie science fiction films, Mars Attacks! is characterized by its huge, star studded cast, over-the-top action, and absolute disregard for life, human or otherwise. Now Mars Attacks! is out on Blu-ray and we all have the opportunity for one little piece of 1996 again.
The plot should be vaguely familiar to anyone who has seen a movie involving an alien invasion. Think Independence Day or War of the Worlds, except with a sick sense of humor that permeates every facet of the film. This alien invasion is experienced from several perspectives, as the audience follows several lives: the President of the United States and his family, a down-and-out boxer living in Las Vegas and trying to support his family in Washington D.C., a pair of reporters covering the scene, a scientific expert who is absolutely certain that any alien species advanced enough to travel between planets would be civilized and peaceful, and a young man working in a donut shop who feels alienated from his gun-toting, trailer-park-residing family. Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Jim Brown, Natalie Portman and Jack Black (in one of his early roles as a soldier who perishes in the first martian attack) all appear in this comedy classic. Nobody is really used to their full potential, except for Jack Nicholson, who is probably featured a little too much as both the slimy and incompetent President James Dale and the slimy and disgusting casino tycoon Art Land. Everybody else is on and off, used in small chunks at a time in their archetypal science fiction roles.
Mars Attacks! is spot on as a parody. It has all of the character archetypes that you should recognize from classic science fiction films. It uses a tried and true plot with a grotesque twist and the score by Danny Elfman captures the feeling of 1950s alien movies perfectly. Even the military costumes are reminiscent of the 50s instead of the present day, despite the movie clearly being set in the 90s. Despite all of this, the movie just isn't very funny. Most of this is due to the tone of the film. It is manic and horrific at the same time, and the film's humor is mostly directed into grisly gags or the outlandish behavior of the primary cast. It certainly has its moments and delivers some generic examinations of society through its science fiction lens, but for the most part the laughs just aren't there. Less "funny-as-in-ha-ha" and more "funny-as-in-strange."
