Throughout his career Tim Burton has established a unique look and feel to his films that is undeniably Burton. In 1996 he took on the world of science fiction alien invasion with an adaptation of the cult trading card series Mars Attacks! The film featured an all-star cast including Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Benning, Martin Short, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Luka Haas, Pam Grier, Jack Black and George Stieger.
Mars Attacks follows a normal day for everyone, until President of the United States James Dale announces Martians have been spotted circling Earth. The Martians land and a meeting is arranged, but not everything goes to plan, and the Martians seem to have other plans for Earth. Are they just misunderstood beings or do they really want to destroy all of humanity?
I love all things Mars Attacks! and have even had the pleasure of doing artwork for the brand a few times over the years. Like Burton, my introduction to them came in the form of classic trading cards so when he decided to make this film, I was excited. After seeing it I was sold and do this
day still love the camp and fun of it all. Burton brought his love and passion for the source material and brought it to cheesy fun life with this film and brings all the fun and energy to the brand it should have.
The all-star cast are all over the top and look like they are having a blast with Jack Nicholson’s dual role a scene stealer. The whole thing feels like a comic come to life and infuses the tone of the 60s serials into a modern film in all its glory. A lot of times the effects from a film of this time may not hold up as well and the change from stop motion as he wanted to use to CGI could have gone horribly wrong. I feel it works perfectly and some of the dated looks that he infused at the time of its original release and revisiting it today just makes it all better. The high def conversion looks great bringing all the vibrant colors to life and giving the CGI a whole new look of fresh and classic at the same time.
The story is simple and silly as it should be, and the ongoing violence is handled in a fun way that screams Burton and the old black and white alien films to perfection. This is not a film for everyone, but the brilliant nods to the card series such as the giant robot are just more to make a hardcore fan enjoy the invasion even more. I know the film doesn’t work for everyone, and it shouldn’t. It is made for a specific audience and if you get it you understand. If you aren’t in on the jokes of it all then watch it through the eyes of the classic black and white sci-fi films and witness the brilliant fun of it all as it should be seen.
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In addition to the film this release offers new bonus content including featurettes on making of the film and the impact on effects and other filmmakers. Witness the invasion of Mars Attacks! celebrating its 30th anniversary available now on 4K for the first time ever from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.
