Mars Attacks

Mars Attacks is a spoof alien invasion film. It is based on the cult trading card series of the same name from the 1960’s and was directed by Tim Burton. An all star ensemble cast fills out the film and makes it well worth a look. The cast including Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Glenn Close, Annette Benning and Tom Jones.

The film was considered a box office failure in the US but was a hit in the UK and Europe and has since achieved the cult status it deserves. The all star cast is at once brilliant and also slightly distracting. There is really no chance to truly invest in any of the characters and so the audience simply backs the actors they already like. Unfortunately this is tricky as many of the major roles come to a sticky end at the hands of the laughably blood thirsty Martians.

Having said that the film is such a compilation of homage’s to all sorts of films and genres that it is almost impossible not to love it. Plus the aliens are truly alien and although they do understand the concept of ‘we come in peace’ laugh in the face of human government officials.

The plot is simple; Martians arrive at Earth, humans mistaking their attempts at communication for peaceful overtures are completely shocked when the aliens start killing people in copious numbers. Fortunately for Earth an unusual solution is found but not before civilisation as we know it is destroyed.

Cinema release 1996

Certificate PG

Available on DVD and Blue Ray