Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-17 06:45:42

Disappointed

Have never read the book, but am a fan of Heinlen, so watched this based on the reviews it received.As others pointed out, the movie starts well, but .... it goes downhill fast. The end scene had me squirming in my seat, had to fastforward, couldn't watch anymore. Just get this damned movie over with. So my questions are:1) Did I miss something - the first human to have the alien removed killed himself from withdrawal symptons, (pity none of the hospital staff saw that coming, since I did). Yet later we see our heroes and several million other people having the aliens detatched with no apparent withdrawal.2) Did Heinlen really write a scene in the book which has two heroes exchanging machine gun fire with aliens in an enclosed space apparently immune to all the bullets that come their way, yet hitting their target every time?3) Why would the head of a secret government agency be messing around in an area which is obviously not secure yet - couldn't see that scene coming? If I had a couple of hours to waste, I'm sure I could find many more questions, but sorry this film just isn't worth it. Still worth watching for the firat hour or so, but fast forward through the last 1/2 hour, you know what's coming, and you are not going to be surprised.Les.

Deck:Þ 2012-05-16 19:41:54

Imagine how awful a movie can be when an entire high school makes fun of it...

In 'The Faculty' (1998) (another bad movie but not nearly as bad as this),one character says that the novel 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' by JackFinney was a ripoff of Robert A. Heinlein's 'The Puppet Masters'. That'svery possible, but as I haven't read none of those books, my opinion isthatas a movie, this one looks just like the opposite: a ripoff of DonSiegel's1956 masterpiece based on Finney's book, or its 1978 remake by PhilipKaufman (even it casts this version's lead actor, Donald Sutherland). Ifyouthink it well, it even owes lots of things (the military setting) to theAbel Ferrara version, released one year before this.But that's not the worst part...Two or three years ago this flick was released on TV on Sunday evening(prime-time hour), and the next morning EVERYBODY in my high school seemedto have seen it, and was making fun of it and telling one another howterribly bad it was. This is the only time in my life that I witnessedthisphenomenon, and of course I agreed with everyone: it stank. It UNIVERSALLYstank, even for die-hard Sci-Fi buffs. I remember ironic comments aboutthatscene where the heroes knew that something was 'wrong' with one characterbecause he didn't look at the heroine's breasts...This movie deserves only one thing: being featured in MST3K. It's perfectfor that, and only for that reason it's good that they made it. Otherwiserent Don Siegel's wonderful classic, and if you can't find it, go for theKaufman version (leave Ferrara's alone). But stay away from this one...unless you want to do your own MiSTing.

Iaroslav 2012-05-06 01:44:03

Was it a problem to find a redhed pretty Mary???

I've just red half the novel and decided to watch the movie with fresh feelings. But one of the main charachters - Mary - was frustraitingly different in the movie than described in the book. And it's a shame because the plot is very much relying on her appeal. It turned out to be ugly and, again, frustrating. Was it such a problem to find a redhed pretty Mary, even still a jew??? Grrrrrr...

FlorisV 2012-05-05 17:28:57

Great underrated sci fi flick, almost as good as Invasion of the body snatchers

I don't understand the whining about plotholes and other negativitybecausethis is simply a great film with a nice reference to Invasion of the BodySnatcher, with Donald Sutherland in optima forma! All the acting wasgood,especially the relatively unknown Thal. The supporting cast was simplysplendid, I really enjoyed seeing those familiar faces, especially thegeekscientist (I had seen him as a redneck cop in The Client) and the blackactor (from The Thing). The special effects were also masterfully done,considering the modest budget for this film. I also loved the story, andforthose who think it's unoriginal, consider it's borrowed from an earlyRobertA. Heinlein novel!I wish more sci fi fans would know this movie because it deserves a lotmorefame than it got. But this way, it's a very nice cult hit which has anappeal of it's own. I have enjoyed this movie twice and want to see it a3rdtime on DVD even tho it has no extra's. It's just a wannahave for mycollection.I give it 9/10, there wasn't simply anything wrong with this movie as farasI could see!

Randall Phillip 2012-05-05 15:52:01

A LOW-BUDGET SCI FI CLASSIC!

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS CONTAINED HEREIN. I sawthis in the theater when it came out, and it made a real impressionon me. There are lots of great ideas going on in this movie: fromthe fake flying saucer covering up the real space ship to the subtlehomosexual overtones. It has a great line: "Don't think of them aschildren. They are the enemy." The X-Files TV show also stole themovie's tag line of "Trust No One." I've seen this movie four timesover the years and enjoyed it every time. I'm surprised this wasn't ahit when it came out. It's like an old sci fi comic book come to life!See it!

2012-05-04 23:11:34

Take off your shirt

Robert Heinlein's "Puppet Masters" is a classic chunk of sci-fi... so inevitably it got semi-mauled by the movie industry. And the movie adaptation is sort of a half-and-half affair. Stuart Orme manages to maintain an intelligent, genuinely creepy atmosphere throughout the first half of the movie, only to spend the second half gleefully throwing in lots of gun battles, chases and really atrocious acting by Eric Thal.Government agency head Andrew Nivens (Donald Sutherland), his agent son Sam (Thal) and NASA exobiologist Mary Sefton (Julie Warner) arrive in a small Iowa town to investigate a UFO hoax. But they soon learn that it's no hoax -- the town has been infected by body-snatching alien manta rays (which would make an awesome band name), and they accidentally bring one back to Washington. The aliens are spreading through Iowa and Washington, they're strong nd smart, and there's almost no way of getting one off without the host dying. And to make matters worse, Sam is even briefly infected with one, which almost leads to the president being possessed. With only a matter of days before the entire Earth is overrun, Our Hero leads a special military team to.... rescue his love interest. Oh yeah, and maybe save the world while they're at it, if he stumbles across the solution."The Puppet Masters" is a true classic -- it spawned "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "The Faculty" and even a "Star Trek" episode. It's a pretty intelligent look at the societal changes that might come from alien parasites, and "The Puppet Masters" sticks to that for quite some time.In fact, the first two-thirds of the movie are a pretty faithful adaptation of Heinlein's novel, with plenty of haunting suspense and scientific exploration. It's an atmosphere where nobody can be trusted, and anyone who attempts to stop the aliens will become their new slaves. There are some truly harrowing glimpses of what the aliens do to people, and creepy moments galore (such as the "Do you miss me?" message from a posessed chimp).Unfortunately about halfway through, Stuart Orme decides to throw in a cliche damsel-in-distress story, with the required gun battles and airborne wrestling matches. And it's riddled with fairly obvious plot-holes (why don't people go shirtless to show they're not possessed?) that leave you wondering how such stupid people got into uber-powerful government agencies.And the cast is a very mixed bag -- Donald Sutherland is simply brilliant as Niven, exuding a sort of stern paternal feel, while being willing to do whatever it takes to save the world. We never find out why his son loathes him, though. Warner does a decent job despite being nothing more than the Required Love Interest for the main character, and Keith Warner is quite good as Sam's military sidekick.Eric Thal is a total disappointment, though. His acting is embarrassingly bad in any scene that requires major emotion -- which he usually conveys by twitching and opening his mouth. He seems to have been hired mainly for his oft-displayed hot body, including the worst post-trauma shower scene I've ever suffered through. Seriously, it's basically an excuse for Thal to slither around naked on the tiles."The Puppet Masters" starts and proceeds as a smart, eerie sci-fi thriller, but starts deteriorating into another dumb Hollywood blockbuster by the last lap. At least Sutherland keeps things worthwhile.

Lee Eisenberg 2012-05-02 10:02:14

a puppet of better movies

OK, how many movies have there been about aliens coming to earth andpossessing people? "The Puppet Masters" doesn't seem like much that wehaven't seen before; specifically, it looks like a remake of "Invasionof the Body Snatchers". Still, Donald Sutherland makes the most of hisrole as a really creepy weirdo. It's just that the movie as a wholedoesn't offer anything new. Sutherland, plus Eric Thal, Julie Warner,Keith David, Will Patton, Richard Belzer and Yaphet Kotto all pass in amiddling movie.In the thick of everything, you gotta admit that those slugs werepretty nasty-looking.

OzzyCash 2012-05-01 21:48:40

Dumb

This movie had nothing to build up on. The action started right away sothere was absolutely no suspense to get you going for something to lookforward to. These small alien creatures latch on to human's spines andcontrol their nervous system and their entire bodies. They can shut downtheir hearts, speak for them and kill them. It's not exactly an originalstory so I didn't expect much and it wasn't good at all. Also what took awayany suspense is every main character was eventually controlled at one pointby the aliens. Very little action and absolutely no suspense or comedy. Andthere's no nude or sex scenes involving Julie Warner so that wasdisappointing too, she's cute. 3/10

mentalcritic 2012-04-30 23:08:34

Disappointing...

Like Stephen King, Robert Heinlein is an author whose work is frequentlyadapted into Hollywood screenplays. Also like Stpehen King, the results ofadapting Heinlein's work into the format of film rarely live up to thepotential set by the material. The major difference between the two authorsis that an adaptation of Heinlein usually gets better the further it straysfrom the source, so long as it sticks to the spirit. Ironically, theVerhoeven/Neumeier adaptation of StarShip Troopers remains the best thatHollywood has come up with so far.The problem with The Puppet Masters as a film is that after awell-constructed setup in which the aliens are made entirely plausible, evensomehow real, it descends rapidly into yet another action/sci-fi hybrid inthe vein of Predator or Aliens. This in itself wouldn't be so bad, exceptfor two things. One, Heinlein's stories were always intended as the exactopposite kind of science-fiction. Two, the mixture of the two elementsleaves the film unbalanced. The second half feels very disjoined from thefirst.The scientific concepts shown in the film are not perfect, but they give itan atmosphere that many horror films of the era lack. However, the scienceof the film is not the only key to making a great story. Where it falls downis in the Transition. The Transition from one moment to the next leaves gapsof logic that disconnects the audience from the story. The questions of howon Earth one thing got here or there are never adequately answered. Tellingus that something escaped never works as well as showing us, andunfortunately, this production of The Puppet Masters never does enough ofthe latter.The acting doesn't help matters a lot. Donald Sutherland is very competentas usual, but the script gives him little to distinguish his character fromthe other several dozen that he's played in an almost identical manner.Julie Warner stands out as the character who grabs the viewer's attention,by fair means and foul. Eric Thal, on the other hand, is like Keanu Reeves.You could replace him with a wooden plank that has a mean face painted onit, and nobody would know the difference. Richard Belzer stands out in analmost-wordless cameo. Anyone else in the film never gets the chance todistinguish themselves.The second half and inadequate characterisation of the film would have beeneasy to overcome if only one of them were present. The only problem is thatthird, fourth, even fifth problems are added. One major problem is the sheervolume of exposition that is delivered through dialogue. It is one thing totell us how character X felt sensation Y at moment Z. To do this withoutflashbacks or recapping footage from new angles is a difficult ask at best,and with a cast of this calibre, it simply shouldn't bedone.Ironically, the concept of The Puppet Masters was done slightly better in adirect-to-video sequel to StarShip Troopers. The concept of an alienparasite using a host for a sinister purpose was also done better in TheThing. If you've already seen those films, then The Puppet Masters is worthchecking out. If not, I'd recommend checking them out first. A 5 out of 10from me.

shmobbie 2012-04-30 08:06:00

Hmmm

I have never read the novel this was movie was based on, or any of hisother works for that matter, so I have nothing to compare this film to.I also haven't seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers (shame on me). Withthat said, I have one question: Why the HELL wouldn't you just inventsome sort of kevlar armor that attaches to the back and neck in acomfortable fashion? You would think at least the armed forces dudeswould have thought about it.. I mean c'mon boys. Anyway, I thought thiswas entertaining enough for a boring Tuesday afternoon. I've wanted tosee this since when it was released and I was much younger and I'm gladI finally have. Fun concept.

2012-04-28 17:55:33

Another invasion movie

This review is from: The Puppet Masters (DVD) This is an excellant science fiction movie. Donald Sutherland gives another fine performance and all the acting is really good. Lots of action through the whole movie. I loved it.

2012-04-28 05:29:48

Crappy but somehow still entertaining

Based on the first, absolute classic, original "Aliens take over humans" story by Heinlein, how could it not be full of cliche moments. However even though "The Puppet Masters" is arguably one of the best sci-fi *stories* ever written, the movie (as usual), does it no justice at all. All the essential social elements have been removed and as is so often the case in science fiction movies the scene has been moved to the present day presumeably to make the audience identify with the characters more and also to save money on special effects. All the nudity and sex of the original novel has been removed in favour of a new (token) black character, a large rubber "nest creature" and a *lot* of shooting and marine-type lingo like "lock and load" etc... I guess this makes it more of an "action" movie? Despite what the other reviewer says, Sutherland does not overact and is his usual great self, the big flaw in terms of casting is the CREEPY Eric Thal as the lead guy (how can you identify with that?), and the repulsive Julie Warner doing a bad Barbara Streisand impersonation as his sexy??? girlfriend. (I mean when the damsel is in distress you should want the guy to save her whereas I found myself cheering for her execution.) The fact that this movie is eight years old now and neither of these two actors have done anything of note since, says it all. All that being said, for some reason I find myself pulling this movie off the shelf much more often that it deserves. It's a stinker, but somehow comforting to watch over and over again. Sort of like Christopher Reeve in "Village of the Damned." Someday, someone will make one of Heinleins many many excellent original stories into a GOOD movie. (hint: try not changing the story)

2012-04-23 00:38:06

tHE PUPPET MASTERS

This review is from: The Puppet Masters (DVD) I HAVE READ THE BOOK AND SEEN THE MOVIE I JUST WANTED TO ADD IT TO MY COLLECTIONSO THAT I CAN WATCH IT WHENEVER I WANT

2012-04-22 13:28:07

INTERESTING RETELLING OF CLASSIC STORY

Sci fi fans will know that PUPPET MASTERS, based on Robert Heinlein's book, has surfaced twice before in the two INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHER movies. Ironically, Donald Sutherland, who starred in the 80s remake, is in this one, as well. PUPPET MASTERS is different from the BODY SNATCHER in that the ultimate darkness of those two is defeated by an upbeat, man beats the alien ending. This movie also gives us some really frightening looking creatures and some breathtaking action sequences. Sutherland is his usual sturdy self; Eric Thal is quite good as his son; and Julie Warner is very good as the woman scientist. The movie has menace, and while it is not as atmospheric as the SNATCHER movies, it comes across more action oriented, and there's nothing wrong with that, when it is handled this well.

TahitiLady 2012-04-17 21:40:31

An X-Files Movie in disguise?????

I may be the only one, but I just watched this movie again tonight andit is completely like the X-Files! Does anyone else see this?I had seen it before, but had not seen the connection. But tonight Inoticed it.Even the music is similar...Is this a set up for X Files, or what????As I began to watch it tonight, hubby and I were amazed at how manyX-Files references there were - there are all the elements of anX-Files story.We have both read the book - this has little if any resemblance to thebook, but if you listen to the characters, and watch the way the storyplays out - it is TOTALLY X-Files!

anonymous 2012-04-17 12:49:11

Terrible

This movie has all the elements I like. Donald Sutherland is one of myfavorite actors, I like Science Fiction, Robert Heinlein is one of myfavorite authors. I also like horror movies.How could all these potentially great elements be combined into one of theworst movies I've ever seen?It is forgivable to change the story, if the changes make for betterfilming, but in this movie the changes don't improve anything. The addedmaterial is pointless as well.I could go on for many lines, but this abysmal movie is just not worthwasting the time.What's the line? "They managed to snatch failure from the very jaws ofsuccess"!

2012-04-17 02:55:40

Good Adaptation of the 1951 Book

I've been apprehensive about watching this movie because of the generally poor reviews. Thus, it has taken me nine years to get around to watching it. I'm glad I did. The movie is reasonably faithful to the well-written book by Robert A. Heinlein. There are departures from the book to keep the movie moving along, but the essence of the movie remains faithful to the story.One of the interesting things about the book and the movie, which some reviewers have pointed to as poor acting, is that Donald Sutherland (as Andrew Nivens) and Eric Thal (as Sam Nivens, Andrew's son) seem to be relatively expressionless. Both characters were described as being rather stoic, nearly emotionless people in Heinlein's book. It's difficult to portray that type of character on the screen because the acting can come across as wooden or emotionless. Eric Thal acted as Sam Nivens was written by Heinlein. I am not sufficiently familiar with Eric Thal to comment on his acting abilities in general, but I reasonably satisfied by his portrayal of Sam. His acting could have been better, but it was acceptable.One point that I found rather distressing is that in Heinlein's original story, everyone was pretty much running around with minimal clothing by the end of the story to prevent the slugs from hiding in pants or loose underwear, as the slugs were fairly small. The movie minimized this exposure, likely because it might have distracted further from the movie. However, one of society's first reactions in this situation would be to have everyone be nearly nude to prevent slug-ridden people from infiltrating those that were not.Unfortunately for this movie it came much later than many other movies that may share similar concepts. However, consider that the original novel was published in 1951, and pre-dates the vast majority of movies such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "Alien" and the great host of other alien possession movies. Thus, all these other movies may be derivative from the book "The Puppet Masters", but not the other way around, particularly considering how faithful the movie was to the book.There have been few movie-makers brave enough to attempt filming a Heinlein book; unfortunate, because Heinlein is one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time. The two recent movies based on Heinlein's books are B-movies (this movie and "Starship Troopers"), but for all their flaws they are a very rare treat for hard-core science fiction fans and for Heinlein fans. I admit I stretched a little to rate this movie four stars, but I own the DVD and I will watch this movie again.

2012-04-16 11:56:51

Predictable, but not too bad

This 1994 sci-fi flick has its moments, but the plot overall is predictable. There are no shocks. It's almost a throwback. Boy-gets-girl, son and dad work it out and the aliens are defeated in the end. I am not giving away the plot there, I don't think. Still, there was something comforting about this, like watching a 1950s sci-fi movie.

Jan Landman 2012-04-15 07:29:58

Very weak effort, illogical plot, terrible ending

The most fascinating thing about this movie is the wildly divergingresponses it produces.I thought it was rubbish from beginning to end.The way in which the alien functions is not made clear at all, perhapsdeliberately to camouflage the inconsistencies in the plot, so that manyevents make no sense. The obligatory romantic interest is as boring as itgets. The ending seems copied from any old slasher movie where the monstersimply won't stay down.A waste of Sutherland (who's always worth watching) and Warner (who'sextremely beautiful in a low-key unglamorous way).

Jemiah 2012-04-14 20:36:28

Unintentional comedy at its finest

I can't believe people actually attempted to take this film seriously --none of the actors involved seemed to! Especially the always dapper DonaldSutherland, who devours lines like "I can fly a helicopter!" with campyrelish. If you're a hardcore Heinlein freak, don't bother with "PuppetMasters" -- it'll only break your heart -- but if you're a fan of extremelygoofy, preposterous sci-fi nonsense, run out and rent it today, grab acouple of your more cheese-tolerant buddies and a couple of six packs, andsettle in for a couple of hours of goo, ACTING!!, clumsily depictedparanoia, and some gut-busting laughs.