i 'm not quite sure what to say about mars attacks ! , which is obviously the work of a deranged genius .
when tim burton 's twisted alien invasion comedy really works , it 's breathtaking and hilarious in equal measure .
and when it does n't work , it 's just dull .
i 'm not even sure it works more often than it does n't , but where it counts -- that is , when this gleefully evil invading force from the red planet gets down to the business of blasting us to kingdom come -- mars attacks !
is brilliant .
mars attacks !
is based on a rather unsavory series of trading cards released by topps in the 1950s , and it takes its cues from the same sources as this summer 's independence day -- old alien invasion flicks , disaster movies , and big - budget special effects extravaganzas .
but unlike independence day , which was a painfully middle - of - the - road appeal to the hearts , minds and wallets of america , mars attacks !
has a fully developed and very personal sense of wonder about it .
the big difference is that while independence day celebrated the resilience of human beings , mars attacks !
portrays us as the greedy and hapless schmucks that we are .
the title sequence is just splendid --
an incredible swarm of flying saucers rises out of the canals of the red planet and then storms earthward through the solar system in formation .
the spinning metal saucers are dead ringers for the invading forces of movies past , and their first appearance on the big screen in combination with danny elfman 's thundering , theremin - driven score is absolutely jaw - dropping .
it 's so overwhelming that , i swear to you , i had trouble breathing .
the movie lays low for the next 40 minutes .
we get a glimpse of the alien leader , resplendent in a purple - sequined cape , when a television message is broadcast to the people of the world -- naturally , the only way to communicate with earthlings is to preempt our regularly scheduled programming .
but mostly , the first act is spent developing characters , setting up mildly comic situations , and drawing a quirky but dishearteningly drab picture of america according to tim burton .
it 's a good thing that the most compelling personality in the movie belongs to the aliens , because burton 's just not interested in making more than caricatures out of his human stars .
anyone who comes to mars attacks !
expecting to see a lot of one favorite actor is bound to be disappointed -- with few exceptions , these characters are dispatched as the film progresses .
jack nicholson is a lot of fun as the president of the united states but fizzles as a sleazy las vegas hotel developer .
rod steiger does an amusing enough take on dr .
strangelove 's buck turgidson , glenn close brings some star power to the role of the first lady , and martin short is a presidential aide who meets the martians in the white house 's " kennedy room , " a secluded nook where he unwittingly tries to seduce an alien dressed up as a big - haired , pointy - breasted sexpot ( lisa marie , the burton flame who played vampira in ed wood ) -- in an earlier scene , it 's made clear that the aliens studied human sexuality in the pages of an old issue of playboy .
sarah jessica parker hosts her own tv show and michael
j .
fox is her newsman husband .
the octogenarian sylvia sidney has a funny part as the old woman who cackles , " they blew up congress ! " and plays a decisive role in the defeat of the alien menace .
jim brown and tom jones are the film 's vegas - based heroes , and director barbet schroeder ( reversal of fortune ) has a funny cameo
as the unfortunate french president .
also on hand and underutilized are annette bening , pierce brosnan , pam grier , lukas haas and natalie portman ( the latter two also show up in woody
allen 's
everyone says i love you ) .
the real stars , of course , are the computer - generated martians , and they 're fantastic .
with bare brains glistening atop their grinning skull - faces , round egg - eyes with red pupils darting this way and that , these animated invaders are malevolence incarnate -- joe dante 's gremlins are the closest equivalent in recent memory , but burton 's little monsters are more inventive .
the film 's raison d'etre are the scenes of crimes against mankind -- the most famous monuments of the world crumble under the alien assault , easter island is turned into a bowling alley , and the nasty little buggers perform hideous medical experiments on captured humans .
the sheer level of mayhem is staggering , especially when the aliens make their first attack , blasting human beings into iridescent skeletons .
parents are urged to pay special attention to the pg-13 rating -- it 's earned .
the special effects vary from charming to astonishing to deliciously cheesy , and at least a couple of shots of mass destruction seem to have been engineered specifically in response to independence day , although mars attacks ! was in production long before that film 's release .
cinematographer peter suschitzky , who makes the most of wynn thomas 's wildly imaginative production design ( thomas helped define the spike lee style ) , actually took time off from his mars attacks !
regimen to shoot crash for david cronenberg .
cronenberg 's movie will almost certainly be more somber -- it wo n't be released in the u . s .
until early next year -- but mars attacks !
is surely a similarly elegant nightmare .
this is not a nice movie .
( and which studio executive was duped into giving burton $ 70 million to make it ? ) by setting the film 's final scenes in the nearly empty , holocaust - ravaged america that independence day conveniently avoided , burton 's invasion epic suggests that the world we 've got may not be worth saving until many of the people on it are dead .
the victims of his invasion are naive , greedy , or disastrously self - absorbed -- and a good thing , too , since the movie 's wicked charm is dependent on our ability to take this invasion partly as a wish - fulfillment fantasy .
the surviving cast members are the innocents and the entertainers , who triumph by determining that the alien invaders -- the ultimate elitists -- are actually susceptible to the kitschiest strains of american pop culture .
ultimately , this messy masterpiece is the year 's funniest comedy and a weird , winking affirmation of the power of the people .
just splendid breathtaking and hilarious brilliant a lot of fun they 're fantastic a fully developed and very personal sense of wonder absolutely jaw - dropping wicked charm has a funny cameo the year 's funniest comedy