Meh, compared to most other things in Mars Attacks!, I was never really disturbed by Billy's death scene. He was presented as a douche from the get-go, and so were his parents, so if we were meant to feel any sympathy for him, I'd say that was a failure on the behalf of the filmmakers. I guess at best you could say the intent of the scene is somewhat confused, since it seems to be aiming for comedy, but there isn't really anything funny about it. Maybe that's why you found it troubling? Since it doesn't seem to be hitting any particular mark, so all you're left with is the rather perfunctory (and graphic) elimination of a character.
Personally, I found the death of the president much more mean-spirited. By the time President Dale gets it, he's already lost his wife, his dog, his buddy from France, and all of his closest aides, generals and confidants, so all he's really got left is himself and Taffy, who by this point in the film has become something of an afterthought. He is, by all means, alone, and he's trying one last-ditch effort to save the world from the menace of the Martians, and between Nicholson's performance and Elfman's score, you can't help but feel your heartstrings be plucked just a bit by this scene. So when the Martians double-cross him for the sake of pure menace and very literally stab him in the back...to his face...so to speak...it certainly feels mean-spirited. In fact, Mars Attacks! in general has something of a mean streak to it that doesn't really come across quite so viscerally in any of Burton's other films. I guess there are trace amounts of menace in Beetlejuice and the Batmans and so on, but nowhere so profoundly as in Mars Attacks! Great movie, all in all, but yeah, it does feel a bit mean.
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marloncarlo
13 years ago
Well I think they weren't trying to bring any sympathy into the Jack Blacks death, it wouldn't fit the movie at all plus its totally build up as a lol moment. In my opinion you just gotta love these aliens for how mean spirited they are, the Humans are the unlikeable people in this movie. Also about the young age and watching this movie i saw this movie first when i was, somewhere between 3-5 and i loved it. I can't understand the reasoning behind hating it at all, its not as bad as the typical spoof its very connected to what its spoofing its *beep* insane but at the same time the plot isn't a total afterthought, the characters are not likeable but hateable, which can be kind of fun too, i wouldn't say the movie's characters are bland at all they aren't relateable but they aren't supposed to be. I wouldn't like comparing this to Burtons other work as well its really a different kind of movie and you can't hate it for that or compare it to Burtons other movies, its the perfect Comedy for mindless fun without a drastic downgrade in quality or originality. ;)
Cogito ergo Sum
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