Retro Film Review: The Puppet Masters (1994)
Some films with great potentials can be ruined or denied their greatness by a single detail. The Puppet Masters, 1994 science fiction thriller directed by Stuart Orme is one of those films, although it could be argued that the detail in question was beyond film makers' control.
The film is based on the 1951 novel by famous science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein (and quite similar to the Jack Finney's story that would later inspire Invasion of the Body Snatchers films). The plot begins in small Iowa town, apparently being visited by aliens in flying saucer. After initial sensation, the local media suddenly start treating the story as a simple hoax. Andrew Nivens (played by Donald Sutherland), head of government's super-secret Office of Scientific Investigation, doesn't think so and comes there accompanied by team that includes his son Sam (played by Eric Thal) and few agents. The town seems to be normal, but Dr. Mary Sefton (played by Julie Warner), NASA scientist borrowed to the team, can't help noticing the apparent lack of local men's attention to her cleavage. Upon further examination, locals seem to lack some of the basic human emotions and Nivens' team soon discover explanation in the form of alien mind-controlling slugs stuck to people's backs. The team manages to escape town, unaware that some of its members got infected.
Although not having particularly original plot, The Puppet Masters is one of the better examples of alien invasion sub-genre. The plot is simple, the characters are drawn in Laconic style and director Stuart Orme, best known for his work at British television, concentrates most of his effort on action scenes. Although the script seems subservient to action, some of its elements seem more realistic than other examples of the sub-genre - this time protagonists are government professionals, and their leader, confidently played by Donald Sutherland, is no-nonsense Man in Black quite qualified to deal with the problem of such magnitude. Unfortunately, the script is burdened with huge problems - in situation when any person could be infected by huge alien slug on his or her back, there is an issue of identifying friends and foes. In the novel, Heinlein found simple solution for this problem by having protagonists be naked from the waist up all the time. Unfortunately, film makers, unlike Heinlein, had to deal with neo Puritanical sentiments of 1990s Hollywood and MPAA's increasing intolerance towards nudity. That resulted in protagonist having to abandon common sense and apply more complicated and less efficient method, which in many ways destroyed much of The Puppet Masters credibility. However, those willing to ignore this flaw would be awarded by stylish, well- acted, well-directed and in many ways bleak and serious science fiction film - something that was rarely seen in 1990 Hollywood, and is even rarer today.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on May 31st 2003)
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