Review of Mars Attacks! (1996) by Darren P — 12 Jan 2011

Bad timing affected this underrated social satire when the studio rushed it out in time for a Christmas release (in the same year that alien invasion flick "Independence Day" broke box office records just five months earlier).

In a sendup of the campy 50's alien sci-fi movies and the ensemble all-star 70's disaster flicks, Tim Burton directs this adaptation of the trading cards series, as sadistic, fun loving aliens invade the world.

Don't take the movie seriously for one minute, and think of it as just a black comedy that's having too much fun. Every character in some way, parodies the stock characters from the aforementioned genres: Nicholson (pulling double duty) plays the earnest in-charge politician, Brosnan as the all-too-liberal-for-his-own-good heartthrob scientist and Steiger as a trigger happy military general among others.

Film is an amusing parody and Burton does a strong job of realizing that.