THE PUPPET MASTERS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1994 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: THE PUPPET MASTERS is a no-holds- barred alien invasion film. It is a dark and humorless exercise in which virtually every scene advances the war between humans and parasitic, mind-controlling aliens. Robert Heinlein's 1951 novel comes to the screen in a film that takes little time away from the main plot to develop its characters, but does strike home with a story of a hard-fought battle with a fairly alien and devious enemy. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4)
The obvious comparison to make would be between THE PUPPET MASTERS and the three film versions of Jack Finney's BODY SNATCHERS. That would probably not be accurate, however, since this film is about the aliens possessing humans rather than passing for them. But the paranoid, trust-nobody spirit is much like that of those previous films.
An alien craft lands in the rural town of Ambrose, Iowa, and authorities rush in to investigate, only to find that the locals all now claim that the landing was a hoax. In this case the authorities are two agents of a scientific sub-agency of the CIA: Sam (played by Eric Thal), the head of the agency, and Andrew (Donald Sutherland). Also along is an expert borrowed from NASA, Mary (Julie Warner). They quickly determine that there is good reason to believe the landing was indeed authentic. And shortly afterward they also determine that humans are being mentally possessed by slug-like aliens who hide on humans' backs and tap into the nervous system to enslave the hosts. The number of people possessed in this way increases super- exponentially.
If one compares THE PUPPET MASTERS to any version of THE BODY SNATCHERS, one finds the emphasis very different, and, in fact, different from most other science fiction films. In the earlier films, the time is taken to establish who the characters are and to provide a context for their actions. This is a film in which things start happening in the first minute of the film and from that point on virtually every scene is devoted to the conflict. The people never stand around and talk about each other long enough for the script by Red Elliot, Terry Russo, and David Goyer to develop their character. This makes for rather flat characters but a very tense film. Their script also "downdates" the story, moving it into our present. Heinlien's 1951 novel set the story in a 2007 when interplanetary colonization was already well under way. That and perhaps budget constraints limit this invasion to just a first foothold in a limited area. Perhaps that is more realistic than the novel, but it also leaves open the unspoken possibility that if it came to a question of human survival, the alien menace could be ended with a few carefully placed nuclear weapons. A few other changes are made to keep the film consistent with its present or near-future setting.
Under Stuart Orme's direction THE PUPPET MASTERS is a film that is fact-paced and yet very dark and somber in tone, reminiscent of John Sturges's SATAN BUG. Donald Sutherland plays his role as the head of the security agency with a sinister dignity. As a man supposedly without emotion, he speaks always in hushed tones which only add to the tension. Eric Thal, who was Ariel in A STRANGER AMONG US, plays a character similarly dedicated to his purpose and similarly one- dimensional. It must be disheartening for Thal to be the film's ostenstible main character but to be outacted by ten-inch slugs from the special effects department. The slugs, incidentally, are sufficiently alien and repulsive as well as being reasonably convincing as effects. Julie Warner also is given more distress than personality by the script. The design of the film goes slightly downhill from a rather beautiful celestial event at the beginning to scenes of alien architecture that look a bit cheesey in spots.
THE PUPPET MASTERS is a nail-biter with some good moments, but will probably be easily over-shadowed by the upcoming FRANKENSTEIN and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. It gets a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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