Runtime: 100 minutes
Directed by: Patrick Read Johnson
Starring: Douglass Barr, Royal Dano, Ariana Richards, J.J. Anderson, Gregg Berger
From: Touchstone
Hi, my name is Blair Russell, and I saw Spaced Invaders on the big screen back in 1990. After watching some serious, downbeat films as of late, it was time for much lighter entertainment; also, early last evening I randomly found an HD copy of this on YouTube (I know, I know) so that’s what was selected. Note that I never saw the film again on VHS after the one theatrical viewing; that is perhaps a sign of what my opinion was as a kid… I really remembered nothing at all. Why Mom chose to take me and my two younger sisters to this is quite the mystery, but it’s something I can laugh about now.
One possible reaction I had back in ’90: WTF was that? The premise of the movie’s actually a nice idea: what if actual Martians hear a rebroadcast of the 1938 Orson Welles radio dramatization of War of the Worlds and decide to land on Earth as they believe the broadcast is of legitimate events & their brethren are attacking the planet? Of course, it was a family comedy made by Disney subsidiary Touchstone so it’s only a small ship of few particularly stupid aliens who are little green men and because it’s Halloween, people first think they are children in costume. To demonstrate the age group this is geared towards, some of the aliens sound like “70’s versions of Jack Nicholson, Dr. Strangelove and General Patton” and to make Alien Jack blatant as a parody, he wears sunglasses and a Lakers t-shirt… see what I mean when I say this is weird? I knew of the late 80’s TV show War of the Worlds at the time-but where beforehand would I have known of the Welles radio play as a 9 year old?
The movie is rather dumb, juvenile, and silly—in addition there’s a subplot where an evil land developer (is there any other kind?) who wants to take over the struggling farms in the small Illinois town of Big Bean-more on that at the end-so there’s a lot going on. As flawed as the movie is (full of stereotypes and humor that doesn’t always land) I can’t stay too mad at it. After all, there are plenty of charming practical effects, Royal Dano playing a farmer that wasn’t too dissimilar to his role in Killer Klowns from Outer Space and a young Ariana Richards as the lead child. When another 1990 theatrical experience was GHOST DAD, how inoffensive this was is fine when Ghost Dad was not only terrible, but also had adult themes not really suited for kids.
Spaced Invaders is set in a fictitious Podunk Illinois town. While I grew up in Belvidere, Illinois (a small city) it still had a Podunk feel… plenty of farms and I’m sure if an alien ship landed in Belvidere, there would be “beer-bellies running around in the dark w/ shotguns” as depicted in the film! Come to think of it, perhaps Big Bean is located close by Haddonfield…
No comments:
Post a Comment