Mars Attacks! From Space!

I'm afraid I can't be quite as eloquent as Neglify, but anyway. I was never that big of a fan of Mars Attacks! because, despite great visual designs and some funny moments, I found it to be all over the place. I, however, loved every minute of this version. It's much more to the point, much more centered on satire, and much more fun and funny. Technical aspects are perfect. 10/10 in all cathegories.

Ack ack ack. Ack ack. Ack! Ack ack! Ack. Ack ack ack, ack ack ack ack ack. Ack ack ack ack ack, ack ack ack ack ack; ack ack. Ack--ack ack--ack ack ack ack, ack ack ack, ack!

Ack ack - 10/10
Ack ack - 10/10
Ack ack - 10/10
Ack ack - 10/10
Ack Ack - 10/10

Ack ack? Ack!

Mars Attacks! was a movie I remember enjoying, and have been meaning to revisit - my DVD was getting dusty on the shelf, and Reave's fanedit was a good excuse to watch the film again.

As far as narrative and editing choices, Reave hit the mark pretty spot on. I get the idea of cutting side characters back to cameos, and that worked brilliantly. I would have probably excised more of the Art and Barbara Land scenes, though. Their screen time seemed to be in this awkward middle land - a bit too much for a cameo, but not enough to weave properly into the story. The only other minor complaint I had was that it seemed like the film moved too fast from the discovery of the aliens' weakness. One moment Richie and Grandma make the discovery, and the next, the military has integrated the speaker systems into their tanks. Something felt missing. Maybe it was just the loss of side plots that made it move fast. Those are pretty minor complaints though, and I don't want to focus on the negative. This was a REALLY fun watch, and Reave did a great job focusing the story

On the tech side, the cuts were invisible, the video was beautiful, and the sound was great. Again, I have two small complaints - this time about the audio. First, the sound was slightly off sync. It was a matter of milliseconds, so its was not really that distracting, but it was a bit off. I think at least one other person commented on this, so it wasn't just my system. Second, the scene where the spaceship crashes could use a bit of foley work. The music alone didn't carry it quite enough.

Anyway, awesome edit. highly recommended. Thanks Reave!

It's been a while since I have seen the original Mars Attacks! and Reave's edit was a welcome excuse to revisit Burton's crazy movie. This edit is extremely well edited. The pacing is much better than the original which got dragged down by a huge ensemble of characters.

This edit was a joy - while watching i tried remembering all the scenes I found funny or scenes that stuck with me. And every time I thought Reave would cut this he found a way to incorporate it.

For example the death of Jack Black's character with the american flag. Even though he has a much bigger backstory he more or less is a one-note character and works fine as he is now - an incompetent fool who has joined the army.
Many characters who get introduced earlier in the original are still there but get introduced much quicker via throwaway lines and because almost every character is a caricature it is not important to spend too much time with them as they are mostly there to deliver punchlines

I found almost no flaws in the editing other than I expected the Byron Williams character and the DeVito character to reappear because they were introduced when the martians arrived.

other than that I loved this edit a lot and will probably rewatch it the next time i am in the mood for "ack ack ack ack ack ack"

I remember when the original commercials played promoting MARS ATTACKS back in 1996, coming on the heels of Independence Day -- it looked like a wild ride and I soooooo wanted to like this movie. But when I finally saw it in the theatre, I left very disappointed. The original is a bloated mess of lunacy with no one at the rudder. There are moments of brilliant satire and humor, but often it is lost with Tim Burton going too far over the top, almost showing off without any regard to the audience's intelligence.

Reave's fan edit is a definite improvement over the original. The story is much more focused and better paced, and the humor plays stronger. It is still a lunatic of a movie. You definitely need to be in the right frame of mind to thoroughly enjoy it. I have often wondered if the madness ( and 1950s homages) would play better if the movie had been Black and White?

Technically, the fan edit is perfect. Perfect audio and video. Excellent cuts. In terms of entertainment, as remarkable as this edit is, some of the material still does not work for me. It a very uneven fare for me. But humor is very subjective. I still whole heartedly recommend this fan edit, especially for the hard core Tim Burton fans and lovers of campy schlock.

Thumbs up.