Let’s put it right away: mentally, I understand that this is a very bad movie. Burton was so inspired by the biography of thrash director Ed Wood that he shot something in the same spirit as the hero of his previous film. There is a clear overkill in everything, the film is not in vain raked from critics in full program. But. That's Tim Burton! I love him. Yes, I can tear up 'Dark Shadows' from my heart and say 'Alice' unflatteringly, but it's more about love. I know how Tim can. That's why I'm going to praise you! Yes, I do, because I love this movie!
To begin with, 'Mars Attacks!' was born from drawings on gum. Again. Drawings on gum. Who but Burton could have taken this as a basis? Keep going. Cartoon aliens, a completely thrash atmosphere and a complete lack of seriousness are also Burton’s ingenious find. Tim deliberately filmed the thrash. He deliberately did everything to make the picture as ridiculous as possible. That's one thing that fascinates me. What director can afford to spend a budget of $70 million to make, deliberately make, frankly delusional and satirical parody film?
So, plot. It's as simple as 5 cents. The Martians came to Earth to capture it and destroy the miserable people. Okay. In the same year, Emmerich’s Independence Day came out with exactly the same plot, only on serious occasions, with wild pathos and Will Smith in the title role. Emmerich broke the cash register, 'Mars attacks!' failed miserably. Undeservedly, wrongly, and years later, I would rather revisit Mars than Independence Day. Uh, yeah, sorry, I was distracted. What am I talking about? Mars Attacks! is a very stylish movie. Yeah, it's kind of a style, but-- Eager-eyed, absurd, ridiculous, deliberately parody and hypertrophied. I've been fascinated by Burton's decisions over and over again. Think about it, Tim has gathered Hollywood superstars to show them off for a few minutes before their characters are killed by evil Martians. A lot of people don’t like it either.
Humor. Mars Attacks! is set in Burton’s favorite and signature genre. It's a black comedy. Very black. Humor here is built on the abuse of aliens, on murder and violence. A lot of people don’t like it, but the tone of the film is that you can’t take it seriously. Everything here is as hypertrophied as possible. Until it turns out that you can defeat the Martians. Tim in this picture frankly did not keep himself in any framework and this is very good. You can feel how cool and comfortable he was at work. That’s what you want, but I can’t bring myself to write about the shortcomings of this film, although I understand that there are many in fact.
In short, if you are an ordinary viewer, it is better not to take up the viewing of this picture. 'Mars Attacks!' is a specific thing that will appeal only to fans of such a spectacle. But if you love Burton, if you love movies like this, but for some reason you haven’t watched it yet, fix it now!
If you haven’t seen Mars Attacks yet, you should do so soon! Immediately!
Maestro Tim Burton, for a while moving away from his fabulous-Gothic gloomy projects, in the mid-90s presented a very different project from his own work: the story of how humanity was preparing for a meeting with an extraterrestrial civilization, but did not expect a serious catch, because the first meeting, supposed to be peaceful contact, was the beginning of a real war!
The film has nothing to do with the festive and, in particular, Christmas theme, but was supposed to be released (and released) the film in the run-up to Christmas (December 12, 1996) and specifically for this occasion Burton decided that it was necessary to add bright colors. Snow and Christmas trees in Nevada are nonsense, so the atmosphere of the holiday was created thanks to human skeletons! When the aliens killed people, their flesh evaporated, and the skeletons turned out to be either green or red, which, as you understand, is a reference to Christmas! By the way, the skeletons of such flowers were already in Burton’s “Beetlejuice” in 1988.
That's funny. During the filming, Burton repeatedly heard that he could not kill the hero Jack Nicholson in his film. Because it's Jack the hell, Nicholas! As a result, the actor played two roles in the film at once - American President James Dale (not distinguished by high intelligence) and businessman Art Land. It is not difficult to guess with both of them, given the numerous “advice” addressed to Burton:
Well, Nicholson himself did not resist the fate of his heroes, especially since the actor dreamed of working with Tim Burton again after playing the role of the Joker in his Batman.
In general, there are so many celebrities in “Mars Attacks!” that the picture from saturation with them could burst exactly like a human body struck by an alien blaster! In addition to Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Annette Bening, Glenn Close, Jack Black (whose career at that time was just accelerating), Danny DeVito, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Natalie Portman, the then muse of Tim Burton - Lisa Marie, repeatedly starred in the director and Christina Applegate. I agree, the composition is more than impressive!
Given the large number of films already released at that time and telling about the contacts of people and aliens (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, Something, Arrival with Charlie Sheen and others), Mars Attacks! was created by Tim Burton as a rather satirical project full of well-established truisms - well-known platitudes that are characteristic of films about aliens.
That is, in the case of “Mars Attacks!”, Martians are presented as little green men (what is not truism?!), they move on flying saucers, are a more advanced race than Earthlings, and of course are warlike (like many other aliens who once came to Earth).
The presence of an abundance of truisms in the film is confirmed by numerous dialogues, including between the US president and one of his generals on whether to fear Martians. As confirmation, here is one of the dialogues that make it clear that Mars Attacks! is a kind of cliché film for other alien films, but combining comedy, horror, satire, and to some extent drama, and of course apocalyptic.
- Are they friendly creatures?
- Logically, a high level of technical development indicates an advanced culture. They are peaceful and enlightened. Humanity, on the other hand, is a very aggressive and dangerous species. So I think they should be more afraid of us than we should be of them.
All the characters, as well as many characters of the second plan represent the most diverse categories of citizens. Against the background of the capture and possible destruction of our planet, Burton shows various people, some of whom have a sober view of things, and some are deprived of any direct gyrus in their heads.
Scientists building their guesses on the basis of unconfirmed data, military generals who just press the nuclear button, a US president who cares about his own image, a dull-headed family in a trailer that only lacks foil on its head, one single normal guy in the whole of Nevada who cares about his grandmother, grandmother herself, whose role is much more important than just sitting in a wheelchair, a stupid soldier who never held a machine gun in his hands, but very much dreams of fighting, journalists chasing after the tinkers in the city, and many other businessmen who work in the city!
Each of these characters, regardless of the screen time allocated to him or her, characterizes individual people and reflects the so-called collective image of a person in real life.
Mars Attacks! is a great movie. I am sure that many of those who watched it are happy to turn it on again, and those who have not seen this movie – I repeat the phrase from the very beginning – “You have to do it!”
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
About the capture of aliens of our planet filmed a lot of tapes: some are designed for mysticism, others for drama, but the version of the gloomy Tim Burton does not fit the specifics of one genre. The director wanted to show not so many aliens, but the animation technology in the film, the humor of everything that is happening and his personal ingredient. However, there were no places for Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
Martians are invading Earth. How do we know if this is the Red Planet? They're notifying the residents themselves. And then the viewer faces all the surprises of people. Classic genre: only America saves the world. Therefore, the White House has all the necessary devices to communicate with Martians. Although, I admit, Jack Nicholson looked pretty good as president. Contact with another race turned out to be funny, some characters came out of their cartoon image and began to do something in the frame. The presence of many familiar faces made it possible to follow all the characters to reveal their individual storylines.
The exposition of people turned out to be attractive, each character had a story behind them. This is so that the viewer became attached to the hero, so that the design of the shooting followed the plan. Everything would be fine, but when big-headed Martians are born, you shudder with animation, with technology. I don’t know what caused this reaction, because in “Beatlejuice”, which came out before “Attacking Mars”, there were similar special effects, even worse in some places, but “Jack of Beetles” looked easier, there was no sharp emphasis on animation, and in “Mars” a sharp blow to perception. Perhaps against the background of more modern details and people, such “puppet” villains just took all the attention on themselves, thereby slapping the audience. But over time, you get used to the picture, because then there is another hard detail, adding oil to the fire.
The Martians had no motive! They couldn't deliver it. Of course, based on the title, it is clear that the intentions are hostile, but there is no basis for this in the picture. The U.S. government is still friends with logic: either the earthlings deal a crushing blow or come into contact with friendly intentions. No one knows what this choice leads to, but the attempts to satisfy both sides of the dispute are understandable. And Martians first introduce the inhabitants of the Earth into a stupor, and then the spectators. The attack is to save people from themselves... “how familiar!”... but no. Kidnapping individuals and experimenting on them, but for what? For fun.
The episodes perfectly fit Burton’s color scheme, allowing you to enjoy his vision, albeit with the mistakes of the Martians. When the graphics are no longer straining, you can follow the storylines of many characters whose fate changed with the arrival of the invaders. And then familiar faces cause a smile and nostalgia. In addition to Jack Nicholson, we are met by Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Natalie Portman, and Jack Black – in general and in particular stars of different eras. Burton didn't lose it.
The completion sneaks up close to finally putting an end to the Martian invaders. To the foreground are secondary personalities who hide behind the global actions of more significant people. With this move, the film shows that one should not underestimate the quiet and unpopular characters. Such a loyal move, when the hero is not the one on whom hopes were pinned. The Martians' weakness, their kryptonite, was found unexpectedly, comically playing the character and introducing him to the foreground of this story. According to the cliché, after the whole mess, they show new values, mistakes in people’s behavior, and everyone goes on the path of correction. I've seen this before.
The film, although average, with many gaffes, but it shows the face of the director. After all, everyone has ups and downs, and there is a balancing level. Separate plus for the cast. To get acquainted with the filmography of the director is mandatory, for cultural knowledge too, for the film-geek - at your discretion.
(approximately 75th minute of the film)
Mars is attacking!
Turn on Tom Jones for the atmosphere. What song? Ahahaha, naturally - "It's not unusual."
Critics criticized, but ordinary viewers did not understand. Only true Tim Burton fans started dancing. Why? Because "Mars Attacks!" is Tim Burton's joy and positivity. The man decided to have fun (and still fuck). I've loved this movie since I was a kid. Funny, stylish, sloppy (in a good way).
A scatter of gorgeous actors in unusual roles for themselves. Glenn Close with curlers on his head, Martin Short shoots girls on the street, two Jack Nicholson for the price of one, Sarah Jessica Parker and her nasty dog, Pam Grier drives a bus, even about Danny DeVito did not forget.
And when the Martians appear, the orgasm becomes prohibitive. Hand on heart, some of the most beloved aliens in cinema. That's how I always imagined them. Brain-shaped head, ahaha. What alien? Out of the egg, don't make my diapers laugh. Burton's Martians are made to squeal with delight.
God, how do they talk? Uh-uh-uh! We came in peace, ahaha, shooting at everyone. It’s a shame that a lot of people didn’t like this movie. Understand one thing, old Burton filmed it after Ed Wood. If you forgot, I'll remind you. "Ed Wood" is Tim's best film!
He's just resting here, fuck. What about the director who made his best movie? Just dancing to Tom Jones, of course. And confess your love! No, Helena's a long way from here. To various fantastic classics dash treshaku. Plan number 9 for real moviegoers.
Stupid? Well, let it be, because Burton's funny. Bitten fingers swim in the aquarium, Jack Black runs with a rifle, Martians dance with Tom Jones, oh-oh, baby. They came in peace and we must respect their choice. The people in this film are portrayed as idiots, as in many fantastic blockbusters. Irony from Timushka.
Edward Scissorhands will be better, no one argues, but I love Mars Attacks! You can't order your heart, even if your computer graphics are old.
P.S.
The last feature film for Sylvia Sidney. She was a great actress...
1996 gave us two films about an alien attack on Earth. The first "Independence Day", which was a hellish mixture of plot stupidity, delirium, idiocy and American pathos. Then came the parody version of what happens from Tim Burton "Mars Attacks!". I was hoping for a second film, because judging by the appearance of local humanoids, the film promised to be a wild comedic absurdity with black humor at the level of "Living Dead Man" and a mockery of American greatness in the style of Spielbergovsky "1941". But in fact, “Mars Attacks!” was just boring and absolutely not funny film.
The main problem is that the film is not funny. Well, here the characters behave unforced and about the invasion of aliens talk as if about raising taxes, but this is not enough. Aliens appear and begin to kill people, and people also seriously flee from them. And it's not funny done at all. Aliens just go out to people and start killing them. Or a person just approaches the alien, asks not to kill him, but he is killed. And sort of, where to laugh, why in a comedy movie it's taken so seriously. Or there's a woman under the chandelier, the chandelier starts to fall, the woman screams and dies...again, it's exactly a comedy where I was supposed to laugh. All the death and destruction here is not a bit funny, they just happen as if I’m watching War of the Worlds.
To be fair, there are funny moments at the end. When the aliens are photographed in front of the destroyed Taj Mahal and when they peeked at the pair. That's funny, yeah. But this is at the very end and such moments are just a couple, otherwise the aliens are seriously just destroying the Earth, I personally can not remember, not a single joke about it.
Some would argue that this film is a political satire of American power. Yes, there are attempts to make it cool, but it is so awkward, again without laughing. I don’t understand where the banter is in this film, because politicians and the military and the president acted properly. They tried to establish contact, then again, correctly thinking that the conflict was due to a misunderstanding, and then they decided to use force. Where it's not right. In the animated film "Monsters vs. Aliens" there was a banter on the government, but here is not, I did not see it.
And because of the lack of humor, the movie is not really boring. It's not funny, it's about the story. Why was this scene like a former boxer being recruited for a new fight? This scene is foreign and does not affect the plot at all, why was it inserted? Why was this scene like a grandson taking grandma home for a long time? That's what I expect to see in an alien attack movie. Nice conversations with grandma. And you know, in the film, there’s this star cast: Jack Black, Natalie Portman, Denny de Vitto, Michael J. Fox (he’s somewhere else besides Back to the Future). But all these star roles are meaningless, he is not very important in the film. Is that what Black's character contributed to the film? Why was Portman's character needed? What was the point of J. Fox in this movie?
“Mars Attacks!” is not a funny, satirical, and simply not an interesting movie. No banter, parody, ridicule and just adventure I did not see. Everything here is served on a serious scale, which makes the film just boring.
4 out of 10
Unfortunately, the genre of fiction is still far from being so well managed by the gloomy Gothic genius, but as a parody he, as always, is on top.
"Mars Attacks!" is a satire of pure water, U.S. politics and numerous films of the same country about the invasion of aliens from space. In fact, this film mocks all sorts of cliches of cinema, for example, in every fantastic film about the war of people and Martians should be a professor-scientist, preferably with a Sherlock pipe; a couple in love who managed to confess their feelings to each other and touching kiss at the last second before turning to dust from a laser beam; a hero-warrior who killed as many invaders as possible and died with a rifle in his hands; a head of state who does not know what to do, but pretends that everything is under control, his more sensible relatives (here is a touching kiss at the last second before turning to the dust from a laser beam), a man, the old man, and finally the old ones who are ready to fight for the losers. Well, you can also add a crazy old lady for color.
In fact, this is the whole plot of the film and the characterization of most of the characters. It is difficult to say anything specifically about the actors themselves, since they all deliberately ridicule themselves, with the exception, perhaps, of the then young Natalie Portmanta, the very daughter of the president.
As for the aliens – outwardly they really resemble the inhabitants of the afterlife from “Beatlejuice”, in which Burton also ridicules That Light. Deliberately grotesque, running around their ship in their underpants, these eccentrics, of course, will be remembered for a long time and more than once have fun.
The only thing that didn’t like about the film was its excessive tightness, sometimes (until the Martians opened fire) it became boring, 25 minutes could definitely be removed, they look superfluous. But in the rest - everything is very interesting, also amused by a parody of glamorous presenters with dogs and an alien masquerading as a "sexy" blonde who has a head, sorry, more than something else.
In general, we can say that this is not the best film by Tim Burton, but as an introduction to watch it is worth at least to laugh at the fiction of the 70-80s of the last century, when special effects still looked wonderful, and the characters had nothing to do with real people.
6 out of 10
I love Tim Burton very much. All his films are good, and many are just beautiful. Good movie, too. But I didn't like him. Why? Is it possible to be cruel? It's not that simple, let's try to figure it out.
We have before us a cruel satire on American society, comparable in strength to the so popular crafts of Comrade Baron Cohen. But with a completely different approach - if the above-mentioned comrade is betting on vulgarity, then cruelty dominates here, and what is there, a real meat grinder. The meat grinder is generally not a phenomenon, but in films like Schindler’s List and Titanic, it is justified by historical authenticity. And what we're seeing here is cutting an eye with its extraordinary, unjustified, absurd cruelty in the context of a funny farce. Yes, the characters of the film are quite pathetic and primitive, but they are people! Alive! And here they are exterminated like cockroaches, while ruthlessly deceived, assuring them of peaceful intentions. To look at all this is not fun and unpleasant. It's not funny, it's something other than black humor. And the saddest thing is that this is not a movie by anyone, but by Tim Burton. You know his style, his tricks. But that beautiful dream movie that you expect from him, there is no mention. The film itself is made well and well, but here is the style and plot! You look at it with disgust.
It's a really tough satire. The trouble is that humanity is not shown to be so bad as to deserve such a fate. We see enough stupid and superficial, funny and harmless people. But nothing more. Think of Edward Scissorhands. And the villagers who first accepted and then rejected him. If the society in this film was just as disgusting, we would even gloat a little, so, they say, you need it! But these unafraid puppets - for what? Unjustified is sadism.
From this review of mine, one would think that I am a rare prude or something like that. But it's actually the first movie where I've had violence. No, I'm not for violence in movies, but usually you don't take the disgust of violent scenes in a movie for the whole movie, when you realize that this scene in a movie is really necessary, and sometimes you even admire it in something - how scary, convincing, disgusting, or vice versa, not very naturalistic, but spectacular, which is great in this film. Take, for example, some “Irreversibility” with scenes of violence – yes, they are shocking, but they are relevant in a particular film, because they clearly explain the need for revenge of the main character. Take "Sleepy Hollow" - severed heads, a lot of blood, creepy, but all this is organic in the context of this story, the cutting off of the heads of an adequate person of course will not like, but the very atmosphere of the film is admirable. This is a necessary plot component of the story. In the mass murders in Mars Attacks, I do not see any plot necessity. The way it is done, without any measure or logic. It could be even so – without rules and reason, but take 2-3 times less screen time.
Now for the good. The actors in the film picked up remarkable and play quite at their level. I especially liked Jack Nicholson as President of the United States. Pierce Brosnan was very funny as a professor. It’s nice to see Natalie Portman and Michael J. Fox in small roles, as well as many others. The second good thing about this film that I liked is the unexpected (though not for a thoughtful viewer) and funny ending.
But in general, the film left a oppressive impression, as from some psychotropic substance-influenced delirium or bad sleep. Quite the opposite of the usual impression from the films of this director. Yes, the film is not an integral and important component of the best films of Burton - best friend in the lead role. So who's a friend here? There is simply not enough interesting character. Can you make a good movie if you don’t have an interesting character? In this film, you do not have time to become interested in the character, as he is already killed, or his line is not sufficiently revealed.
To watch or not? Try it. Make up your own opinion, my opinion is personal rather than objective.
Mars Attacks is a science fiction film from brilliant director Tim Burton. The roles of a whole galaxy of masters: Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Sarah Jessica Parker, Natalie Portman, Jack Black and Tom Jones cameos.
Briefly about the content: blizzard, humour. Tim mocked modern consumer society and American politics (blind belief that it is always possible to negotiate peacefully, according to the laws of trade and exchange). The picture is not focused on the mass viewer after all. The film is not a masterpiece despite the presence of big names. It's a short-sighted, humorous, embodied idea to make a movie based on a series of inserts from packs of chewing gum.
Unconventional humor, abnormal, in good sense, fantasy, black humor and political satrire. Mocking things that society places too much importance on, like diplomacy and logic. I'm sure that's what Burton imagined as a kid. It is also a parody of blockbusters.
The movie begins the way I don’t like it the most, with long credits. I think the titles should always be at the end. But if at the beginning of the film, the credits did not write what kind of director this movie has, I would never have guessed. The fact is that the director of this film is Burton, but the picture I watched is completely opposite to the usual style of Burton. The film does not have the gloom that is inherent in all Burton’s paintings. But, on the other hand, as befits this director, fairy tales at least not bad humor.
This is the story of how very funny painted Martians attack the Earth and begin to destroy everything around, destroying everyone who comes in their way.
In fact, the movie is very easy and simple. It looks easy. Sometimes, however, this ease is too much. I mean, I want some seriousness. But the seriousness can only be seen in the look of Nicholson, who plays the president of the United States of America. However, this seriousness is drowned in a huge amount of fabulousness and therefore looks just as funny.
There are a lot of good actors in the picture. The lineup is very well selected. And Nicholson generally managed to play two roles at once in this film.
You can see the picture once. It is great for relaxing or watching with friends. But the second time it does not bother to look.
Tim Burton is a fabulous eccentric, the enemies of the United States can not be counted and so, and he gathered the “stars” under the banner mockingly shouts “Mars attacks!”
Irony comes first, because what are all the pompous, abstruse phrases about political instability, social turmoil, lack of metaphysical values next to one short but juicy sketch? And what happens if this sketch is extended to planetary scales, deepening it to the absurd? This is what director Tim Burton did in the not too distant 96th, deciding to create a multi-universe comic canvas for the entire American society and its way of life.
The breadth of the scope of this idea is evidenced by the fact that the original budget of the film was supposed to be $ 200 million, which naturally caused a hysterical fit among the studio bosses (who, today, i.e. in the 2010s, are already used to it). So everything Burton begged for was a measly 70 million. After such a turn, the famous director can be considered the most calculating, dexterous and economical master in Hollywood, because the number of computer special effects (at that time innovative, because yesterday movie monsters were made from cow guts using animation) is simply huge. But that's not even the point! After all, the film lit up almost half of the entire Hollywood “starry sky”. Nicholson, Brosnan, DeVito, Short, Tom Jones, Michael J. Fox, Glenn Glose, S.D. Parker, Natalie Portman, Jack Black, Rod Steiger and even Berbet Schroeder (director of the films Drunk and Desperate Measures). And everyone appears in the most unassuming role of a loser, a womanizer or a dummy and is mercilessly incinerated by a formidable alien weapon.
How Theme Burton managed to sew all this star canvas, threading it with green computer mutants remains a mystery. But the corporate directorial style appears with all clarity - even a film filled with green aggressive freaks looks kind, fabulous and touching comic at Burton. The film has a perfect sense of balance, in which the joke looks sarcastic, but does not turn into outright mockery, while humor balances on a very thin political and ideological line.
After all, as you know, Americans are very fond of space themes about alien invasions from space (Body Snatchers, Something, The Day the Earth Stood Still, etc.). Interestingly, they were most popular during the Cold War, when all of America was shaking at the threat of (actually alien) communism. The fear of Americans was indescribable (read Stephen King’s memoirs), and this project is in many ways a first-rate parody of these highly outdated tapes (starting with a title made in the style of the 50s). And in the year 96, when the totalitarian horror that was hanging over a free country literally disintegrated, America itself partially disintegrated, having lost such a serious external enemy that pushed it to unceasing development. Therefore, the aliens somewhat changed the image, acquiring an evil comic appearance. But did Tim Burton take into account the fact that old-fashioned horror films brought up more than one generation of Americans who do not find it funny to laugh at legendary images and stories of their childhood? Probably not fully. But our viewer certainly can taste the film, causing both a smile and surprise, because where else can you see how the face of the nation (Hollywood stars) so sincerely mock their own ugliness?
So, despite the film's unpopularity and meager fees (or in connection with them?), this fantastic comedy is an exceptional example of political satire and black humor. Given that films of this genre are with the frequency of a solar eclipse (and maybe Dr. Streiglove was the only one?), the appearance of this large-scale and caustic (like Martian blood) green-striped monster can only be admired.
This is perhaps the most atypical, mysterious and peculiar of all Tim Burton’s films. “Mars Attacks!” was supposed to be shot at this time in the maestro’s career.
I had a lot of strange thoughts about America in particular. It seemed that everything was not so, and the material attracted me partly with its dynamics. I was anarchic, and I liked the Martians for their energy.
Despite Tim’s claims that he never thought of styling for 1950s science fiction films, that’s exactly what happened. "Mars" became for Tim the second in a row after "Ed Wood" successful stylization: if not at the box office, then the atmosphere and acting certainly. The viewer, familiar firsthand with the original fantastic stories of the 50s, is sure to tear at the sight of precisely repeated stylistic features.
Particular touching picture give naive-romantic scenery and graphics. The depiction of Martians as little men with disproportionately large green heads, their funny quack-like speech, primitive but colorful weapons. All this looks deliberately unmodern, but brings to the tape soulfulness, reminds of the connection of times.
Tim Burton gathered in “Mars”, perhaps one of the most star bands in the history of cinema. Jack Nicholson as President of the United States. Impossible Pierce Brosnan played a venerable scientist. Sarah Jessica Parker as Paris Hilton of the '90s. Very young Natalie Portman looks like the heiress of the heroine Winona Ryder in “Beatlejuice”. And this is not all participants in the grand spectacle. Each of them got a colorful character, with which actors and actresses cope more than decently.
However, some of the parallel storylines could well have been omitted: for example, an elderly boxer or a young patriot from the outback. The film suffers from an overabundance of characters, as a result of which the plot looks cumbersome and not always coherent. Some episodes could generally be cut to shorten timekeeping without compromising comprehension.
The meaning of this creation lies on the surface: it is a beautiful parody, so rare for Tim Burton, which ironies the many prejudices of the American nation. Some of these vices are conspicuous, like the desire of the President of the United States to speak on behalf of all mankind. Others are not as significant as the comic scene in the trailer, where an ordinary provincial family is ready to give the aliens anything but a TV with their favorite TV shows.
Yes, the plot sins absurdities, and often catch yourself thinking that you see not another masterpiece of the master of directing, but some cheap fake, smelling of mothballs. But isn’t this the kind of effect that the film crew was trying to achieve? In this outdated presentation lies respect for predecessors and the desire to do with little blood, demonstrating that even in the age of large budgets and complex special effects, it is possible to remove a special tape, amusingly mocking compatriots.
Not to mention a clever way to fight the Martians. If in the original films of the 50s in his role was some earthly disease, in “Mars” the decisive role in the battle belongs to art. This is an unambiguous hint that humanity in any catastrophe should hope not only for science, but also for art - even as avant-garde as the film Mars Attacks!
A professor of astronomy informs the US president that hundreds of Martian flying saucers are parked in low-Earth orbit. At first, Earthlings are glad that an alien civilization has made contact. At the training ground in the Nevada desert, aliens are arranged a warm meeting, but then it turns out that their intentions are far from harmless.
Despite the broadcast advertising campaign, Tim Burton's tape unexpectedly failed at the North American box office (only 42nd place in the annual register). Even the global rental did not cover the cost of production and advertising. In part, such a disappointing result is explained by the “secondary” of the picture in relation to Independence Day – the box office champion of the year, which was released a few weeks earlier and collected as a result 8 (!) times more. The failure of Mars Attacks, which was predicted the glory of the main hit of the season, was especially annoying against the background of Batman’s dilogy, which made Burton one of the main hitmakers of the Dream Factory.
As soon as he had finished his work on Ed Wood’s biopic, he proceeded with the film, shot in the favorite aesthetic of “the worst director of all time.” The basis for the modernized thrash was a series of pictures (count comics) on the inserts to the chewing gum of the 1962 issue. At one time, little Tim was a consistent collector of these wrappers. A third of a century later, with their help, one of the most original creators of Hollywood made another dive into the field of American mythology, based in this case also on the paranoid fear of the nation before invasion from outside.
Here, more than conveniently, the unbridled Burtonian fantasy, visual luxury and unusual style techniques of the 47-year-old director, who once began his career as an ordinary draftsman at the Walt Disney studio, came in handy. Now Burton, whose peculiar vision consists of a synthesis of feature films, animation, comics, video clips and special effects, made the main characters of eccentric buff-eyed Martians, similar to aggressive teenagers like Beavis and Budhead, whom he clearly sympathized with.
The combination of such seemingly incompatible things as children’s dreaminess and social satire, seasoned with parodied horrors, creates a sense of dissonance between the playfulness of the form, designed to develop fashion for cinema à la Ed Wood and the importance of the topic of possible interplanetary war. Roland Emmerich, who carefully observed all the proportions on Independence Day, fell into the epicenter of mass expectations. Burton, adopting Ed Wood's passion to dump everything that catches the eye, did not remove a parody (as it is somehow commonly believed) of the main mega-hit of the season.
He couldn’t make it by definition (both summers were parallel) and in fact Burton was too independent to cultivate a secondary genre. In fact, he sang a song to the same conveyor thrash, which he admired in a distant childhood. It is clear that waiting for a mass pilgrimage of viewers to such a movie was pointless. And, perhaps, the main thing: Burton is, first of all, a storyteller, and then a satirist, first - Hans Christian Andersen, and then - Jonathan Swift. In Mars Attacks, the ingredients of this proportion change places. Perhaps that’s why it’s rare for a Burton fan to list a movie as one of his favorites.
1996 was marked by the release of two iconic films about the invasion of aliens on our planet. The first and most recognizable project is the blockbuster master of the disaster genre Roland Emmerich called "Independence Day". The second is Tim Burton's parody "Mars Attacks!" And despite the fact that both tapes were born in the same year, Burton’s film can largely be called a parody of Emmerich’s creation. It is also worth noting that Mars Attacks! is the first one hundred percent comedy in the career of a director who has always been famous for his dark sense of humor, which permeated all his past Gothic projects, whether it is touching Edward – the hands of a scissor or the unforgettable Batman. And after years and a lot of branded ribbons Burton decided to take on a real consumer picture for Warner bros. Given all his past merits, the producers allocated a fairly significant amount (70 million dollars), and the cast turned out to be solid stars of all generations - from Jack Nicholson to Pierce Brosnan, and further up to Natalie Portman. And these are just a tiny fraction of star names. All the actors at Burton’s direction played a real satire on the genre of alien invasion and in some places it turned out to be a rather funny action, but it is worth noting that the picture is very unbalanced, and many moments are so long that they do not mix and do not promote the plot. It becomes clear that Burton was too heavy hand of a major Hollywood studio, which did not allow him to expand his unique vision to the maximum. And at some point you realize that removing the name of the director from the credits, it will be almost unrealistic to tie “Mars Attacks!” to its creator.
The plot of the picture is quite simple: an armada of Martian spacecraft flies to Earth. Peace talks led to disaster and a full-scale invasion began. And the entire surviving world is looking for an opportunity to defeat the aliens, and the most unexpected methods are suitable for this. From the characters, you can distinguish the President of the United States with his wife and daughter, persistent reporters, generals, provincials and casino regulars. Each of them is played by a real star and each gets his moment of fame from Burton. The only thing bad is the lack of a sufficient number of witty jokes and uneven dynamics in various scenes. Personally, I watched Mars Attacks! as a child and it made a pretty strong impression on me. But after reviewing it in adulthood, I realized that this is not the most interesting and funny comedy. This film is not the gem of Tim Burton’s filmography. But still in the film, in addition to the stars involved, there are interesting and funny scenes, and the special effects still cause admiration despite the rather long time since the premiere of the tape.
Despite all the pressure, Burton was still able to saturate the picture with his ideas and created a real black satire on the apparatus of American power led by the president, played by Jack Nicholson. As we see from the movies, Americans are ruled by real fools, who have only such idiots in their environment, and real intellectuals always remain in the background. So this aspect of the tape can be safely called the most valuable in artistic terms.
The studio tried to do everything to "Mars Attacks!" became a hit - invited a brilliant director, just stuffed the project with celebrities, hired the best masters of special effects, but the masterpiece still did not work. In the end, we have a rather interesting parody, but nothing more.
9 out of 10
By 1996, Tim Barton, an honored freak of American cinema, had already become famous for such unforgettable films as “Beattlejuice” (a humorous deconstruction of the popular plot “a house with ghosts”), “Ed Wood” (a biopic about the worst film director of all time), “Edward Scissorhands” (a lyrical deconstruction of the Frankenstein myth that turned Johnny Depp into a gothic “ic icon” of the 90s), besides managed to inspirationally spoil the franchise. And I decided to experiment with computer graphics as a locomotive method of cinematography. And along with the genre of "Wells" apocalyptics and war of worlds.
As an aesthetic landmark, he chose a series of collectible cards made by comic artist Wally Wood in 1962. This series is called “Mars Attacks”, and is dedicated to a large-scale invasion of Martians on Earth with the participation of a fleet of “flying saucers” and amphibious units. The Martians appear in it as ruthless green scarecrows with the eyes of the kilkata and hypertrophied brain.
Several storylines allow Barton to show a broad panorama of invasion and (the author's favorite theme) a merry beating of the American consumer society. The brilliant cast (from Jack Nicholson to Glenn Close, from Danny de Vito to Tom Jones) is designed to dilute the spectacle with successful sketches and wit.
During the first contact, with the words "we came in peace", the ugly Martians burn the meeting delegation of blasters. Then they seem to be going to apologize to Congress for this annoying misunderstanding, but as soon as the senators are in the sight of the Martian ambassador, everything repeats itself. Martians are devious and unprincipled. Sent to the presidential bed saboteur in the form of a blonde supermodel. In the spirit of the classic novel Belyaev, the head of Pierce Brosnan is separated from the body, and the head of Sarah Jessica Parker is generally sewn to her levretka. They destroy and burn everything in their path.
The only thing that can resist them is Tyrolean yodli, from listening to which with impressive Martian heads, about the same thing happens to an egg if you try to cook it in a microwave.
Bright buffoonade, kitsch film, grotesque film, flavored with Barton's signature black humor on the verge of macabra and recklessness on the verge of an idiot.
Speaking of this film, they like to recall that in the same year Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day, a blockbuster about an extraterrestrial invasion, similar to Barton’s kitsch as two drops of water, came out. With one striking exception - if Barton seems to be joking, Emmerich is all serious, with a tear, with an epic sweep, here and filled with righteous anger presidential speeches from the wing of the fighter, and fluttering in the furious wind star-striped banner and swirling army salutes palm from the temple.
This remarkable fact cemented Barton’s ominous reputation as an aesthetic mouthpiece of a generation supposedly able to anticipate the worst of future cultural innovations. Once again confirmed his image of a kind of stupid “drunken master” of Hong Kong militants, who seems to be braided with his feet, and his cassock is crumpled, and more falls on his beard than into his mouth from the pumpkin flask. But how to take the battle stand, how to jump, how to hit!
And the viewer exhales admiringly: you see what he does!
Tim Burton is one of those directors you recognize by style. For Burton, this is surrealism and a gloomy Gothic atmosphere. However, the movie “Mars Attacks!” was an exception and is a mixture of all the same Burtonian madness along with a fantastic parody of everything that can be parodied.
For many viewers, the film may seem silly and farcical, but “Mars Attacks!” can not be viewed as another fantastic action movie about aliens from space. This is a pure “black” comedy, which contains a lot of all sorts of allusions and metaphors, which are the bulk of the satire in this movie, as well as a full-fledged parody of the genre itself.
The film is not boring at all, it draws into its atmosphere and makes us take a different look at our sick society: it shows a combination of human belligerence and naivety, which is well shown in many characters, and the most unexpected (but least spoiled, by the way) characters and art suddenly and completely accidentally become the saviors of the Earth. The cast, by the way, suggests: Jack Nicholson (who played two roles in this film!), Glen Close, Natalie Portman, Pierce Brosnan, Denny DeVito, Sarah Jessica Parker. All the actors played delightfully, were able to fully convey their characters, each of which personifies a particular human vice or weakness.
To take over the Earth you will need lawyers
Special effects, of course, are not the best and refer rather to the films of the 70-80s, when they would have looked more spectacular, but this is again another feature of this movie. Still, most of the expenses went to legendary actors and to create aliens, the image of which is just amusing and at the same time a little scary.
The verdict.
Burton is always brilliant, and was able to create a chic cocktail of misanthropy and comedy, placed in a fantastic action movie. “Mars Attacks!” is, in my opinion, a classic that should be appreciated by everyone.
9 out of 10
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Earth were attacked by evil aliens intent on pulverizing our species? Which country will the aliens choose to kill first? These questions were easily answered in his 1996 film Mars Attacks! cult director Tim Burton.
“Mars Attacks!” is a pure parody of all sorts of disaster films telling about extraterrestrial invasions, and at the same time a very interesting stylization for such paintings of the 50s and 60s, because the plot in the tape is straightforward.
The picture is occupied by an amazing cast. Jack Nicholson and Glenn Close delightfully played the President and the First Lady, who have very caricatured features in the film.
Pierce Brosnan brilliantly played the role of a grotesque Briton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Annette Bening played no less funny heroines and even Natalie Portman, Denny De Vito, Christina Applegate, Michael J. Fox and other famous Hollywood personalities contributed to the picture.
From a visual point of view, the film also makes a funny impression. Evil green men from Mars do not look scary, but funny, although the quality of computer graphics in the film is high.
The work of the cameraman Peter Sushicki in the film is large-scale and interesting, and the soundtrack of Danny Elfman became a real decoration of the picture.
I recommend this tape to all fans of film parody and the work of director Tim Burton, for whom this picture is perhaps the most unusual.
10 out of 10
Do not trust the Martians under any circumstances!
That seems to be the only thing I can get out of this movie. If not, what's the point? What specific genre label should be attached to this film? Firstly, it is absolutely impossible to take it seriously. For some characters amaze with their logic, their actions, and their hard-headedness. It's not a drama, not a thriller. More like a parody. But here's a parody of what exactly? Other space movies about alien invasion? Real people, especially Americans? Maybe America in general, in some way? Personally, I, with my modest film amateur baggage, could not detect the purpose of ridicule in terms of film art because I watched a little movies about the defense of the Earth from alien illegal aliens. This part of the film is out of my sight. Here are some common human types.
In my opinion, this is a good parody. Not the most sparkling comedy, of course, and not the best film Burton, using not the most brilliant scenery, but at least the director took a new look at the green men. And there also starred G. Close, D. De Vito, D. Nicholson and P. Brosnan, etc. Plus a ton of black humor. And we don't need another one.
Right?
In a number of films about aliens, it turns out, it is easy to find a funny, funny, bold in its absurdity “black comedy”. It seems as if the fantasy of some eccentric joker turned into a product of cinema: he thought, imagined, and what would happen if Martians arrived on our planet. Of course, they would come in peace. Peacefully incinerated the pigeon and peacefully declared war. America would shudder under the laser sights of aliens. All of this is "Mars Attacking!" This is a big banter over the topic of an alien invasion, which absorbed all the most banal fears of people who believe in the existence of UFOs.
As always, back in 1996, Tim Burton assembled a bunch of celebrities, hired a bunch of cheerful screenwriters ready to laugh at the universal annihilation of humanity, and made a bunch with a brave team ... not at all what you might think. And it turned out to be the director Excellent!
The plot is built in the most imaginable, predictable way that already makes you smile. Throughout the whole session, the feeling of some childhood fun does not let go, when suddenly someone managed to destroy the adult world with all its seriousness, because if this happened in reality ... no, no, such as was in the film, it can not be, believe me. It's too much cool to be even a tiny bit reliable. This is the handwriting of a master of sound absurdity, salted with unhealthy humor.
Here they are, Martians! Enslavers, pests, destroyers, after all, are very nice evil creatures. Having entered into confrontation directly with the American president and his entourage, they do not forget that they came in peace. The whole film is a rescue from annoying “brains” (the appearance of the aliens is unforgettable), it is an explosive fight, it is an adrenaline that replaces any drug.
Whatever you say, Mars Attacks! is a great fantastic comedy, the only one of its kind that broke stereotypes by showing them! After watching once, it will be difficult to forget the film and, of course, soon want to reconsider.
Deserved assessment -
First of all, I would like to warn all Tim Burton fans: yes, I also admire this director and consider him a genius of modern cinema. Few can boast of such an irrepressible fantasy, go against everything and desperately climb beyond the established. But! You need to know the measure. Sometimes Burton is so flirting that he probably does not notice the meaninglessness of the created. And this film is a great example of how important it is to stop in time and think about what you offer the viewer!
No, I don't argue, the film is not without meaning. He could make us think about things like government, state, family and so on. Good idea. But its execution distracts from all this thinking.
Terrible actors (except the sweet daughter of the President, but why she’s in the movie, I don’t really understand), stupid transformations (what is only a dog with the head of Sarah Jessica Parker!), delusional story and terrible Martians. All this together is such a nightmare that brains melt just like Martians!
I didn’t like it, that’s all!