"Mars Attacks!"

Title: "Mars Attacks!"

Director: Tim Burton
Producers: T. Burton and L. J. Franco
Editing: Chris Lebenzon
Composer: Danny Elfman
Starring:
- Jack Nicholson as President James Dale and Art Land
- Glenn Close as Marsha Dale
- Annette Bening as Barbara Land
- Pierce Brosnan as Donald Kessler
- Sarah Jessica Parker as Natalie Lake
- Michael J. Fox as Jason Stone
- Jim Brown as Byron Williams
- Sylvia Sidney as Florence Norris

- Pam Grier as Louise Williams
- Martin Short as Jerry Ross
- Rod Steiger as General Decker
- Tom Jones as Himself
- Lukas Haas as Richie Norris
- Joe Don Baker as Mr. Norris
- O-Lan Jones as Sue-Ann Norris
- Jack Black as Billy-Glen Norris
- Ray J as Cedric Williams
- Brandon Hammond as Neville Williams
- Natalie Portman as Taffy Dale
- Paul Winfield as Lt. General Casey
- Danny DeVito as Rude Gambler
- Lisa Marie as Martian Girl
- Brian Haley as Mitch
- Janice Rivera as Cindy
- Christina Applegate as Sharona

Plot and Critical Review: Martians surround Earth with an armada of flying saucers. President James Dale addresses America concerning the historic event, watched by news anchors in New York, employees and guests at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel, and a trailer trash family in Perkinsville, Kansas. The President's science aides set a first contact meeting with the Martians in Pahrump, Nevada.

Using a defective universal translator the Martians announce they have "come in peace". But after a hippie releases a dove as a symbol of peace, the Martians shoot it down and begin to kill everyone gathered there. Still believing the meeting to be a "cultural misunderstanding", President Dale has Professor Donald Kessler continue negotiations with the Martians. It's decided that the Martian ambassador will address the United States Congress. However, it's simply a ruse by the Martians, leading to the total incineration of Congress.

General Decker tries to convince President Dale to fight back with nuclear warfare, but the president refuses. After a Martian assassin disguised as a beautiful woman gains entry to the White House and unsuccessfully attempts to kill the President, the Martians launch a full-scale invasion. They destroy Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Washington Monument, one of the Great Pyramids, and remodel Mount Rushmore into massive sculptures of Martian heads. In the end the president is fooled once again into negotiating, but is being killed by a robotic hand.

Richie Norris, a Kansas teenager, discovers the Martians' weakness: Slim Whitman's song, "Indian Love Call". After rescuing his grandma from her retirement home, they drive around blasting the music at the Martians, causing their brains to explode. Richie and his grandma are awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroic efforts by the only surviving member of the government (aside from the Supreme Court), the president's teenage daughter.

An awful lot of action happens in "Mars Attacks!", and to that end I don't mind a plot synopsis that's on the shorter side. What makes ensemble-heavy disaster films like this so fun and accessible is that even when a lot is happening, there's really only one plot device at work; foreign invasion.

In the vain of other disaster-type films like "Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno", Tim Burton originally had 60 leading characters written into the script. They eventually pared it down to about 20. You can imagine what the film would have been like if it had bolstered 3x the star power? Such measures are normally taken when a studio needs to make cash, and quickly. Fun as the film may be, "Mars Attacks" was not a money-maker. With an estimated budget of $100 million, the film brought in $101.5 million dollars. While not a failure, that margin of cost/profit is quite rate. But it's no real wonder why the movie failed to rake in the big bucks as another star-studded invasion-type feature film came out the very same year. "Independence Day", which managed to make 10x its budget. Fortunately Burton would go on to make millions more and thus avoid having "Mars Attacks!" held against him.

My Rating: 5/10

Content to Caution:
V-3.5 - Laser beams abound.
L-2 - No comment.
DU-2.5 - Drinking and smoking throughout, but not overwhelmingly so.
RT-0 - Not unless you take offense with people making jokes at the sake of Martians.
H/S-2 - No comment.
CH-1.5 - No comment.
S/N-2 - Some kissing. One sex scene, but no nudity. Intimacy between some characters is suggested, but normally not shown.

The "Reel Revelation": "Ack! - Come Again?"

What'd you say?

Pardon me?

Can you repeat yourself?

Have you ever had a conversation in which you just couldn't understand what the other person was saying? They might be speaking the King's English, but the message wasn't getting through...

It really is a miracle that we can communicate clearly and exactly in the first place, much less express complex ideas. This is especially true in an age of such fast-paced communication. As humans we deal with physical limitations in communicating; our ears lose their ability to hear as we age and our brains strain to process conversation. It's no surprise that our difficulty in communication with other people also appears in our relationship with God. Have you ever heard someone say "I just don't know what God is trying to say!" or "I can't hear God's voice...is there something wrong with me?" Because of the presence of sin we struggle with a sort of spiritual deafness that affects our ability to hear the voice of God clearly. We read about the bliss that Adam and Eve enjoyed, hearing God's voice and instruction so clearly. Adam said that he heard "the sound" of God walking in the Garden (Genesis 3:10). He could not see God, but He knew that God was near by the very sound of His presence. When they sinned they also heard God's judgement. We'll hear the same as well.

But our world is loud and full of noise and cacophony. Dissonance everywhere! Everyday our world seems more and more alien to the paradise of Eden. How can we hear God's voice through the sirens, the screaming, and the thundering roar of sin? We turn the One who spoke plainly, as a friend speaks to a friend, as a parent speaks to their child. We turn to Jesus. But even if we turn to Jesus, are we certain that we'll hear His voice clearly? After all, countless people have spent centuries trying to figure out what exactly Jesus was saying in His sermons and parables.

Much depends upon what place Jesus has in our lives. There are some, for example, who might hear our President speaking on the news but, if they don't care for him, really don't care about anything he has to say. He's still their President, but they disregard his words and ignore him. A child may do the same to his parent. A wife may do the same to her husband. We can choose do the same to Jesus.

How are we to approach Him, then? How can we get close enough to Jesus to hear what He's saying? He is God, after all, but some fear the presence of God, just as Moses did. He is Lord, but some cannot approach a person of such universal authority. We need Jesus to meet us half-way. Good News! He didn't just meet us half-way. He came all the way, and spoke in ways we could understand. "I am the good shepherd..." (John 10:11). A shepherd? Sounds a bit different than God or Lord, doesn't it? If Jesus is our shepherd, then what are we? Sheep, of course!

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:27-28)

At first it doesn't seem much of a morale-booster, being called sheep. They're generally thought of as being skittish and unintelligent. They run from danger whenever they see it and they're almost impossible to herd without extensive training and experience. Sheep have a hard time even remembering their own names, much less learning the instructions of their shepherd. Sheep have weak immune systems and can become ill very easily. Did you know that sheep, if not herded properly, can become stubborn and won't roam anywhere in a pasture except for where they're comfortable? They settle where they know they'll be safe and never move again until they're forced to do so.

On second thought, it seems like we have quite a bit in common with our quadrupedal friends. It seems we're in deeper need of an experienced shepherd than we realize. And we need to hear His voice more clearly than we can imagine, for the cry of the wolves can be easily heard.

Is Jesus your shepherd? Do you look to Him to guide you? Do you trust Him to provide for you? It seems silly to compare our lives to the lives of sheep, but if we're willing to strip away all of the details and schedules and expectations that we've placed on our lives, we find that we need the very same things that sheep need; a reminder of what to do, protection as we move about, food that will fulfill, and a voice to guide us.

"I am the good shepherd...My sheep hear My voice..."

Jesus feeds us with bread that will sustain us.

Jesus protects us from all predators; He will not let us be taken away.

Jesus speaks to us in ways we can understand.

Jesus leads us out of barren lands and into the green pasture of everlasting life.

See you Monday - E.T.