Mars Attacks!, 1996.
Directed by Tim Burton.
Starring Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lisa Marie, and Sylvia Sidney.
SYNOPSIS:
If you’re a Mars Attacks! fan, as I am, then this one is likely a must-buy for you. The film looks great, thanks to a new 4K remaster, and while the bonus features are paltry for a movie celebrating its 30th anniversary, they’re a lot more than has ever been available for this one on disc in the past. You don’t get a Blu-ray included here, which is par for the course for Warner Bros. these days, but you do get a code for a digital copy.
Mars Attacks! has its detractors, but I’m not one of them. Directed by Tim Burton and released in 1996, it features a large ensemble cast and a storyline based on a 1962 Topps trading card series that caused some consternation with parents back then.
Jack Nicholson headlines the cast in dual roles: U.S. President James Dale and Galaxy Casino owner Art Land in Las Vegas. The rest of the starring parts include: First Lady Marsha Dale (Glenn Close); First Daughter Taffy Dale (Natalie Portman); Art’s wife, Barbara Land (Annette Benning); pompous professor Donald Kessler (Pierce Brosnan); Donald’s love interest and talk show presenter, Nathalie Lake (Sarah Jessica Parker); news reporter Jason Stone (Michael J. Fox), Nathalie’s boyfriend; and others.
The plot is a bit convoluted, since all those stars need at least one or two meaty scenes each, but the early computer-generated special effects still hold up (for the most part — there are a few admittedly janky moments), and I love all the chaos and craziness that accompanies the attack, which begins with a very funny misunderstanding.
While Mars Attacks! seemed very satirical 30 years ago, it now feels like it could play out in the same way if Martians really did land in Pahrump, Nevada today. President Dale was a caricature then, for example, but he seems tame compared to the buffoon occupying the White House in 2026, and the destruction of Las Vegas is a perfect metaphor for the seemingly impending downfall of the glitzy, vapid American empire.
This is a movie with a bright, comic book-y color palette, and those tones have been captured here with a new remaster based on a 4K scan of the original film negative. The colors pop off the screen, as they were no doubt intended, and the original film grain has been preserved, resulting in a nice little time travel trip back to movie theaters in the mid-90s.
There’s only a 4K Ultra HD platter included here, however, although you do get a code for a digital copy. This is a film that was sadly bereft of bonus features on Blu-ray and DVD, aside from a couple trailers and an isolated score track, and the two new featurettes commissioned for this edition don’t really improve its home video showing.
Running just under 20 minutes total, the extras are called Looking Back on Mars Attacks! and Ack! Ack! Aesthetic. The former is what the title says it is, and the latter has a behind-the-scenes focus that even includes glimpses of some Martian props that weren’t used in the film. A bunch of folks who worked on the film were interviewed for the extras, although Burton and the cast are noticeably absent (not a surprise, really).
Maybe a better special edition will come along eventually, but if the film’s 30th anniversary wasn’t enough to get Warner Bros. to give Mars Attacks! a proper home video budget, then I don’t know what will. Ack! Ack!
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
