Updated: 21 June 1997

MARS ATTACKS!

I am trying to think of a Tim Burton Film that I haven't liked, and I'm having a hard time. I haven't yet seen ED WOOD past the first 15 minutes, and it did seem to be headed in a direction that was maybe too odd for me. Besides, any tribute to B-Movies or their creators is probably far better served by this film, a very good comedy.

I watched this with family and friends, and the results were interesting. What started as small and occasional laughs gradually became big and constant laughs. At least for the men. The women remained quiet throughout. There was certainly a divided reaction to the two...disembodied...captives on board the Martian spaceship. I thought it was hilarious. Yes, gruesome at first, but it kept getting so unexpectedly wackier--it was terrific. Intimate exploration of social taboos by two variously bobbing heads.

And the sight gags. A "bomb" that is thrown into a room, scaring the beejeebees out of everyone inside, is revealed as something slightly less dangerous. And the jokes keep coming.

There is a scene where the sort-of-hero's mother is rapidly loading a shotgun with a determined look. She is the very picture of the invincible maternal figure, but it is not her home or children she is protecting. It is her TV. I laughed. Hard.

Equally comic is the first "translation" performed by the translation machine. The "nearly-bug-free" machine hilariously garbles the alien language until it is no more decipherable than when it was merely a series of "ack-acks."

The star-studded cast has some interesting surprises. Martin Short is not playing a very Martin Short type of character, and he's actually very good at it (The scene immediately preceding his demise is a riot, and introduces us to the very-appropriately-named "Kennedy Room" in the White House--a make-out den). Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, and Jack Nicholson-as-President are all very good. Jack Nicholson-as-Las-Vegas-realtor is outstanding, and playing completely against his now-cliché roles. Mostly.

There are send-ups of everything from the new ROMEO & JULIET {a fishtank scene}, to DR STRANGELOVE {a so-quick-you-might-miss-it reference to "bodily fluids"}, to--of course-- INDEPENDENCE DAY. And all of this keeps coming at you as fast as the jokes in an episode of The Simpson's.

Now, there are some important notes to make, here. First: why do I laugh at bobbing heads and call it great comedy when I'm unable to see anything but abject cruelty in the movie FARGO? Good question. I think it is simple, though. See my review of that film for my diatribe on its hatefulness. Here, I'll point out that in MARS, we have social satire. A mother defending her TV instead of her children is a bad thing. We are not meant to think it is a good thing. The writer/director is pointing this out. Humorously. In an age when parents are harming and killing their children, someone needs to stop and say "wait a minute, this is not how the world is supposed to work." Satire serves that purpose, by reminding us in painfully funny doses that the some things are screwed up. We are along for the ride.

Another scene: aliens are running around vaporizing everything in sight--people, animals, buildings. In their midst is a Martian carrying a heavy translation device that is saying "don't run...we are your friends. Stop. We mean no harm." BOOM, another building goes up in smoke. A wonderful juxtaposition. The audacity of the idea is hilarious.

This is a film that knows its target audience. I think I must be part of that audience. Cliches are spun on their heads, modern demented thought is satirized wonderfully, and the bad guys lose. All in all, a very good time.

I really have to see ED WOOD.