I remember this 1996 release being in production when Independence Day was released and a friend of mine wrote into one of my favourite magazines to moan about Independence Day and finished his letter by saying he hoped Tim Burton's Mars Attacks is a better more realistic movie. Well the two movies should not be compared as they are two very different movies. This one is question made just over $100m at the box office but on a budget of $70m it sounds to me that this struggled to turn a profit. It was as usual star studded with affair with the likes of Jack Nicholson (in a dual role), Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Pam Grier, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lisa Marie Smith and Sylvia Sidney. [And breathe] Dare I go and check the verdict sites? OK I gave it 72% IMDb 6.3/10 and the tomato as low 54%. Directed by Tim Burton it has his usual zany approach to the story but not the gothic touches like so many other of his films.
The story will be a short one as the President of the USA (Nicholas) breaks into the usual programming to announce that a load of Martian spaceships is circling the earth. The Aliens arrive and are met with various dignitaries and using a translation devise announce they have arrived in peace. Instantly killing a bird as it flies past. They kill the entire welcoming party and the fact they ain’t so friendly after all. The war of the worlds has begun but rather than tripods and fire rays these guys land and shot everyone with handheld guns that attack everyone. The Martians have far superior weapons and technology there is realistically only going to be one winner.
Another short plot description here for a rather thin plot and as it was just reminded to me. I once described this movie as Tim Burtons Sharknado as he has a star-studded cast that are introduced and killed in amusing and inventive ways. This is a good movie I enjoyed it and it is funny. Its not a typical Burton affair, the gothic overtones are not there and its not one of his bests but it plays for laughs and it teases a few out but not as many as it promises in the trailers.
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