Mars Attacks! 1996
I never saw this movie, maybe because reviews were not great. But it seems fondly remembered, so I picked it out from a list of possible free movies from Microsoft. It is not a great movie, for sure, but it has an amazing cast including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, and Pierce Brosnan, plus early roles for Natalie Portman and Jack Black. It is stacked with stars. And the production design for the marrtians is pretty good too. The movie doesn't really deliver as a comedy and is not scary enough to be a horror movie. It is more of a satire of a bad sci-fi movie, but with a bigger budget. It is entertaining enough to watch, but Nicholson is a weak link, not great with the two characters he plays. As president his intentions are maybe too good and he is a little too competent but not enough to be smart or heroic. There are some scenes that don't make a lot of sense. Plus there is a lot of black humor at work as many stars in the cast are vaporized by the Martians. In the end the movie too closely imitates a bad sci-fi movie and becomes bad in the process. I can still see how that dark humor along with some of the other jokes endears the movie to a cult following.
Written: 09 Oct 2025
Owned on: Digital