Mars Attacks!

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Mars Attacks! or Mars attack! inQuebecis anAmericanfilm directed byTim Burton, released onin the United States .

The film is based on the trading card game  (in) of 1962.

Synopsis

The film released in 1997 is a science fiction movie parody made in the spirit of the fifties, which mocks Americans 1 . Martians are spotted coming to Earth in countless flying saucers. They broadcast a message on all televisions in an unknown language with a duck voice. The President of the United States then makes a live announcement to get in touch with them. A scientist invents a machine that can translate their language. They announce that they will land in the Nevada desert, with a message of peace. This is the joy in the United States. An important device is then put in place for their arrival. The crowd is invited to gather on the site to witness this first historical extraterrestrial contact. In fact, the Little Green Men make fun of all this pageantry and American naivety. They come to amuse themselves to atomize the populace, the military and the Congresswith their gun-disintegrator. They sweep everywhere, disintegrate and disintegrate with jubilation until the American and French presidents, while observing the intimate way of life of the earthlings and gaussant with a ferocious irony 2 . Unfortunately for them, while the victory is theirs all over the planet, a young American discovers a weakness that will decimate them: they are allergic to a very special song, the zip line : Indian Love Call played by Slim Whitman . It only remains to broadcast this song that kills them instantly.

Technical sheet

  • Original title: Mars Attacks!
  • French title: Mars Attacks!
  • Quebec title: Mars attack!
  • Director: Tim Burton
  • Scenario: Jonathan Gems
  • Sets: Wynn Thomas
  • Costumes: Colleen Atwood
  • Music: Danny Elfman
  • Photography: Peter Suschitzky
  • Editing: Chris Lebenzon
  • Special Effects: Anatomorphex, The Computer Film Company , Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)
  • Production: Tim Burton , Larry J. Franco , Laurie Parker , Paul Deason and Mark S. Miller
  • Budget: 70 million $
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Language: English
  • Format: Colors – 2.35: 1 – DTS / SDDS – 35 mm
  • Genre: parody comedy to science fiction
  • Duration: 106 minutes
  • Release dates:
    •  United States :(world premiere in Hollywood ), (national release)
    •  France :
    •  United Kingdom :
  • Classification:
    •  United States :PG-13 Rated PG-13 for sci-fi fantasy violence and brief sexuality
    •  France : All ages (cinema, DVD) • Not recommended for children under 10 (TV)
  • Box Office :
    •  United States : $ 37,771,017 3
    •  France : 2,189,105 entries 4
    •  Worldwide : $ 101,371,017 3

Distribution

Sources and legends : French version (VF) on AlloDoublage 5 ; Quebec Version (VQ) on Doublage Quebec 6

  • Jack Nicholson (VF: Patrick Messe , VQ: Vincent Davy ) : US President James Dale / Art Land, the “ambitious” entrepreneur
  • Glenn Close (VF: Évelyne Selena , VQ: Anne Caron ) : First Lady Marsha Dale
  • Annette Bening (VF: Dominique Chauby , VQ: Charlotte Bernard ) : Barbara Land
  • Pierce Brosnan (VF: Bernard Lanneau , VQ: Daniel Picard ) : P r . Donald Kessler
  • Danny DeVito (VF: Philippe Peythieu , VQ: Jean-Marie Moncelet ) : The rude Las Vegas player
  • Martin Short (VF: Jean-François Vlérick , VQ: Jacques Lavallée ) : Jerry Ross, President’s Press Secretary
  • Sarah Jessica Parker (VF: Natasha Muller , VQ: Linda Roy ) : Nathalie Lake, the journalist
  • Michael J. Fox (VF: Luq Hamet , VQ: Gilbert Lachance ) : Jason Stone, the journalist
  • Rod Steiger (VF: Michel Fortin ) : General Decker
  • Tom Jones (VF: Sylvain Lemarié , VQ: Daniel Roussel ) : Himself
  • Lukas Haas (VF: Damien Boisseau , VQ: Inti Chauveau ) : Richie Norris
  • Natalie Portman (VF: Alexandra Garijo , VQ: Camille Cyr-Desmarais ) : Taffy Dale, the president’s daughter
  • Jim Brown (VF: Mario Santini , VQ: Yves Corbeil ) : Byron Williams
  • Lisa Marie : The Martian woman
  • Sylvia Sidney (VF: Lita Recio ) : Grandmother Florence Norris
  • Paul Winfield (VF: Benoît Allemane , VQ: Victor Désy ) : General Casey
  • Pam Grier (VF: Annie Milon , VQ: Hélène Mondoux ) : Louise Williams
  • Jack Black (VF: Eric Missoffe ; VQ: Pierre Auger ) : Billy Glenn Norris
  • Joe Don Baker (VF: Jean-Claude Sachot , VQ: Hubert Gagnon ) : Glenn Norris
  • O-Lan Jones (VF: Régine Teyssot , VQ: Johanne Léveillé ) : Sue Ann Norris
  • Christina Applegate (VF: Barbara Tissier , VQ: Natalie Hamel-Roy) : Sharona, Billy Glenn’s girlfriend
  • Janice Rivera (VF: Michèle Buzynski) : Cindy, the waitress at the casino
  • Brian Haley (VQ: Benoit Rousseau ) : Mitch, a Secret Service Agent of the President
  • Ray J : Cedric Williams
  • Brandon Hammond  (in) : Neville Williams
  • Skolimowski (VF: Yves Barsacq ) : D r . Zeigler
  • Vinny Argiro (VF: Achille Orsoni) : Mr. Brian, the director of the casino
  • John Finnegan (VF: Michel Tugot-Doris ) : The President of the Congress
  • Timi Prulhiere (VF: Barbara Tissier ) : The tour guide for the White House
  • Jeanne Mori (VF: Yumi Fujimori ) : A scientist
  • Richard Assad (VF: Eric Missoffe ) : The Saudi investor of Art Land
  • Rance Howard (VF: Michel Tugot-Doris ) : Art Land’s Texan Investor
  • Barbet Schroeder : Mauritius, President of the French Republic
  • J. Kenneth Campbell : A doctor

Note : The French Blu-ray contains dubbing Quebecois.

Production

Genesis and influences [ change | change the code ]

The film is a parody of small novels and films of the genre science fiction of the 1950s , mainly War of the Worlds of HG Wells . In many respects he recalls the movie Flying Saucers Attack of 1956: aspects of spaceships, problem of understanding, disintegrators, scenes of destruction, fight against extraterrestrials by sound.

Tim Burton also refers to the movie The Survivors of the Infinite , an old sci-fi film in which the extraterrestrials had an overdeveloped brain. All “his” Martians look like creatures seen in this feature film. Also note a nod to Green Sun , when the diggers pick up the dead bodies of the Martians at the end.

Distribution

Mars Attacks! is above all a social satire of American values, a caricature, and a “faint metaphor of the Gulf War ” according to L’Express n 1 .

Shooting

Soundtrack

Main article: Mars Attacks! (soundtrack) .

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Danny Elfman in 1996 .

Box office

This film brought 37,771,017 dollars at the box office US 3 and $ 101.4 million at the worldwide box office.

Distinctions

Awards

  • Saturn Award for Best Music in 1997.

Appointments

  • Hugo Award for Best Picture in 1997
  • Satellite Awards : 4 nominations in 1997.
  • Saturn Awards : 6 nominations in 1997.

Analysis

To a lesser extent, we can see a parody of the film Independence Day , released shortly before, following much the same scenario, and displaying an exacerbated patriotism. Parodied in particular are the scenes of destruction of great world monuments by the alien vessels.

There is also a reference to Ed Wood ‘s films (notably Plan 9 from Outer Space ), director of fantastic films, which marked the director’ s youth and played a certain role in his passion for cinema (Tim Burton had just elsewhere to make a biographical film honoring him).

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ Sophie Grassin, “Have you seen Mars Attacks !? » The Express ,.

References

  1. ↑ ” Have you seen Mars Attacks !?  »  [ Archive ] , on L’Express ,
  2. ↑ ” Press reviews on the movie Mars Attacks!  »  [ Archive ] , on Allociné
  3. ↑ a , b and c ” Mars Attacks!  ”  [ Archive ] , on www.boxofficemojo.com (accessed 3 November 2011 )
  4. ↑ ” Mars Attacks!  ”  [ Archive ] , on www.jpbox-office.com (accessed February 20, 2012 ) .
  5. ↑ “VF dubbing sheet of the film”  [ archive ] on AlloDoublage , accessed October 13, 2012
  6. ↑ “VQ dubbing sheet of the film”  [ archive ] on Doublage Québec , accessed January 7, 2015

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