Mars Attacks! (1996) Review

Mars Attacks! (1996) Review

Director Tim Burton first paid tribute to the low-budget alien invasion films of the 1950’s in the biopic Ed Wood (Ed was one of Burton’s biggest inspirations), then two years later, he paid tribute to the entire era of 50’s alien invasion B-movies with Mars Attacks! which is an entirely different kind of homage.

In the opening scene, a herd of cows engulfed in flames runs down a road, and a classic pie-plate-shaped U.F.O flies into space, joining hundreds more just like it, as the opening credits play, accompanied by a typically boisterous Danny Elfman score. With an opening as awesome as that, you’d think no time would be wasted in getting to the action, but unfortunately, it’s a while before anything else quite as exciting happens. 

The star power in the cast is staggering. Jack Nicholson as the President of the United States, Glenn Close as the First Lady, a young Natalie Portman as their daughter, Michael J. Fox as a news reporter, Sarah Jessica Parker as a talk show host, Pierce Brosnan as a scientist, even Tom Jones as himself. I can’t name everyone, that’s like a quarter of the cast. There are many characters, all in different locations, and the first part of the film feels very thinly spread, trying to quickly introduce everyone before the Martians arrive.

Once they do arrive, things get crazy, and much more entertaining. The Martians are big-brained, buggy-eyed creatures that babble senselessly, and are actually pretty off-putting, but also hilarious. They blast people with laser guns, turning them to skeletons, shoot buildings with their ships, cut off Pierce Brosnan’s head and keep it alive without being attached to his body, they even put Sarah Jessica Parker’s head on her dog’s body. It’s nuts.   

At its base, Mars Attacks! is obviously not very original. It’s a standard alien invasion film, but the attack scenes make it worth it. The moments that stand out the most to me are when the Martian leader declares “peace”, only to shoot everyone in congress, and when the Martians pose for a picture in front of the Taj Mahal—as it gets obliterated. There’s also this weird part where a Martian puts on a woman disguise that’s classic Tim Burton weirdness, and has become minorly iconic.

The Martians are all cgi, as are the ships, the laser blasts, and nearly everything else they interact with. It all looks dated, but that kind of adds to the charm of it. When it first came out, the effects were state of the art, but now they’ve become just like the effects in the films being parodied. Tim Burton wanted to have all stop motion effects, but it was considered too expensive, which is too bad, because that would’ve been awesome. 

Mars Attacks! is the only live-action Hollywood-produced film I’ve ever heard of that’s based on a series of trading cards. It usually gets mixed reviews, and I can understand why, as it’s a very mixed film that struggles to maintain a consistent tone. But, when it goes balls to the wall with aliens zapping people and destroying landmarks, it’s great. It came out the same year as Independence Day, but has failed to remain in the pop culture lexicon as strongly, for some reason. 

It seems Mars Attacks! is always playing on cable, and I think that’s fitting. It’s the kind of movie you can tune in to at any point, really, and start watching and enjoying. I recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the kind of movies it parodies, or if you just want to see a star-studded cast get taken down by extraterrestrials.