MOVIE · 1996

Mars Attacks!

ComedyFantasySci-Fi106 min

When Martian saucers descend over the world’s major cities, President James Dale tries to treat the visitors as diplomats rather than invaders. Jack Nicholson is Dale, a swaggering White House figure caught between public spectacle and military pressure, while Pierce Brosnan’s science professor Donald Kessler keeps insisting the aliens come in peace. Tim Burton turns the first-contact setup into a broad, deadpan chain of disasters, from a ceremonial meeting that wipes out Congress to TV studios, casinos, and suburban homes suddenly under the same threat. The film jumps through an all-star ensemble as Earth’s response swings from official ceremony to total panic.