Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4135 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-05-11
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Turkish, Hungarian, Polish, Icelandic, Arabic, Croatian, Czech, Greek
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's enlightening to view Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! as his twisted satire of the blockbuster film Independence Day, which was released earlier the same year, although the movies were in production simultaneously. Burton's eye-popping, schlock tribute to 1950s UFO movies actually plays better on video than it did in cinemas. The idea of invading aliens ray-gunning the big-name movie stars in the cast is a cleverly subversive one, and the bulb-headed, funny-sounding animated Martians are pretty nifty, but it all seemed to be spread thin on the big screen. On video, however, the movie's kooky humour seems a bit more concentrated. The Earth actors (most of whom get zapped or kidnapped for alien science experiments) include Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rod Steiger, Michael J Fox, Lukas Haas, Jim Brown, Tom Jones and Pam Grier. --Jim Emerson

Special Features
Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Surround 5.1 English
Dolby Surround 5.1
Interactive Menu
Production Notes
Scene Access
Arabic\Croatian\Czech\English\Greek\Hungarian\Icelandic\Polish\Turkish

Synopsis
Director Tim Burton unleashes MARS ATTACKS!, a vicious, affectionate, brightly-colored homage to 1950s alien invasion movies. When a shiny silver flying saucer lands in the Nevada desert, a group of skull-faced Martians exit the gleaming craft. Although they claim to be peaceful, they promptly "vaporize" a gathering of unfortunate Earthlings, kicking off a bizarre high-tech war with wild special effects. This studiously campy sci-fi spoof, based on a series of Topps bubble-gum cards, gleefully parodies not only schlock B-horror movies, but also overblown blockbusters such as INDEPENDENCE DAY. This subversive film is helped along by an all-star cast including Jack Nicholson in dual roles as both a clueless U.S. President (with First Lady Glenn Close) and a Las Vegas sleazebag. The film follows the wacky WAR OF THE WORLD--like proceedings from the points of view of numerous colorful characters, from the inane U.S. Press Secretary (Martin Short) to a trailer-park family (Lukas Haas and Sylvia Sidney), singer Tom Jones (as himself).

Customer Reviews

Take us to your leader - so we can blow him away !
It's difficult not to be fond Tim Burton's big-budget 50's sci-fi spoof Mars Attacks (1996).

The lead actors were clearly having a real laugh whilst making this, with hilariously cheesy over-acting and some great one-liners. Amid the mayhem, you don't really care what happens to most of these characters anyway, most of whom come to a gory end, but towards the end of the film, you'll want to get in there yourself to sort out the vicious little Martian creeps.

The admittedly shaky plot is pretty secondary to the excellent visual effects, and there is an eery 50's-esque score underlying the whole film, which is a good touch.

The scheming, skeletal aliens have a genuinely nasty look about them, whilst also coming across as quite comic, and go about their murderous human annihilation / experimentation with a twisted glee. In fact they are the most unsympathetic aliens to have graced our movie-screens since H R Giger's ultra-aggressive 'Alien' back in 1979.

The 50's B-Movie cliches are used to full-effect, with body-pulverising ray guns, saucer-shaped spacecraft and large-brained/puny-bodied aliens running riot throughout.

You just cannot take Mars Attacks too seriously (as did the producers of Independence Day in the same year), so if you'd like to see half the US Presidential Administration and Chiefs of Staff wiped-out within 90 minutes, this is your movie !

WICKEDLY WACKY...
Tim Burton outdoes himself with this silly, but funny, spoof of 1950s flying saucer/alien invasion movies. It is absolutely zany and quite funny. There is also nothing politically correct about it, as there are no sacred cows. The film is totally irreverent of American culture and icons. Everything and everyone is fair game.

Martians have come to Earth, and they do not come in peace. Diabolical and deadly, they are bent on wreaking havoc wherever they go with their death ray guns, which serve to incinerate living beings. These bulbous headed martians with their own brand of deadly humour are hell bent on destroying Earth, while laughing and cackling maniacally.

The special effects are meant to to be reminiscent of those found in 1950s UFO flicks and in this it certainly succeeds. The cast is stellar with Jack Nicholson playing dual roles, that of President James Dale and that of entrepreneur Art Land. Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Jim Brown, Natalie Portman, Sylvia Sydney, Paul Winfield, Pam Grier, Lisa Marie, Christine Applegate, Lukas Haas, and Tom Jones round out the star studded cast. With tongue in cheek performances, the viewer is bound to get a good laugh out of this film.

Spoof on American paranoia
This is a spoof on American paranoia. Creative license is derived from 'V' with similarities with the Martians implying that "We come in peace"
Other inspirations are 'War of the Worlds' and 'Independence Day'.
Nevertheless, this is a brilliant film with immense repeat value. The Martians are well well mean and seem indestructible ;that is until they hear the voice of ......
Find out, appreciate the triple role of Nicholson, the brilliant head of Brosnan and give it 5 stars like myself