The Puppet Masters (1994)

This was a decent sci-fi flick. Good performances by Julie Warner and Eric Thal, and of course there's no role that Donald Sutherland can't pull off. Alien effects were revoltingly good. OK, it's not completely true to Heinlein's magnificent novel. Hollywood has a formula, (the happy ending, the obligatory love interest of one or more of the stars, etc.) and any deviation from it is exceedingly rare. That's why foreign films are good, because they are not bound by the formula. I've noticed that great sci-fi movies are almost always originally written for the screen, rather than adapted from books. Books are always better than movies, but science fiction seems to be particularly so.

Fmovies: As movies based on books go, it was decent, but as with any other movie that is based on a book, it's hardly worth wasting your time on if you've read the book because you will only be disappointed. On the other hand, if you've never read the book, the movie may interest you enough to read it. I PROMISE YOU, you WON'T regret it. On it's own, the movie does a commendable job of presenting itself (although I wouldn't recommend buying the DVD for anything more than pocket-change as there are NO extras) and is rather suspenseful, but again, the book is FAR superior. For starters, the book goes much more into detail, and as a result, the movie comes off as being a watered-down version that leaves alot out and changes much of what is left to avoid explanation. So, if you are the reading type, I STRONGLY urge you to read one of the greatest works of the premier Sci-fi author in history and leave this movie on the shelf.

Probably produced following the smash success of The X Files, The Puppet Masters is a pretty solid slice of alien invasion pulp fiction. The casting is good, with Eric Thal and Julie Warner proving to be charming enough stand-ins for Mulder and Scully. Elsewhere, sci-fi genre fans may appreciate the appearances of Yaphet Kotto (Alien), Keith David (The Thing) and of course the great Donald Sutherland (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers).

Behind the camera, it's an unusually British affair with director Stuart Orme, cinematographer Clive Tickner, and composer Colin Towns all heralding from the UK. They do nice work - Orme provides a tense and pacey first half, Tickner's very fine work lends a stylish visual sheen, and Towns' music is lushly complex.

However, although it starts out well, the flick loses some energy and traction around the middle and doesn't get it back. Its potential begins to slip away and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe budget/script cuts. The last third in particular, with its under-powered action set-pieces and somewhat perfunctory ending, suggests that the film had hit the glass ceiling of its production resources... or perhaps even its creators' full interest.

Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable sci-fi thriller for a good part of its running time. Might make a nice viewing companion with The Hidden (1987) or certainly any number of old X Files episodes!

The Puppet Masters fmovies. Like Stephen King, Robert Heinlein is an author whose work is frequently adapted into Hollywood screenplays. Also like Stpehen King, the results of adapting Heinlein's work into the format of film rarely live up to the potential set by the material. The major difference between the two authors is that an adaptation of Heinlein usually gets better the further it strays from the source, so long as it sticks to the spirit. Ironically, the Verhoeven/Neumeier adaptation of StarShip Troopers remains the best that Hollywood has come up with so far.

The problem with The Puppet Masters as a film is that after a well-constructed setup in which the aliens are made entirely plausible, even somehow real, it descends rapidly into yet another action/sci-fi hybrid in the vein of Predator or Aliens. This in itself wouldn't be so bad, except for two things. One, Heinlein's stories were always intended as the exact opposite kind of science-fiction. Two, the mixture of the two elements leaves the film unbalanced. The second half feels very disjoined from the first.

The scientific concepts shown in the film are not perfect, but they give it an atmosphere that many horror films of the era lack. However, the science of the film is not the only key to making a great story. Where it falls down is in the Transition. The Transition from one moment to the next leaves gaps of logic that disconnects the audience from the story. The questions of how on Earth one thing got here or there are never adequately answered. Telling us that something escaped never works as well as showing us, and unfortunately, this production of The Puppet Masters never does enough of the latter.

The acting doesn't help matters a lot. Donald Sutherland is very competent as usual, but the script gives him little to distinguish his character from the 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 on it, and nobody would know the difference. Richard Belzer stands out in an almost-wordless cameo. Anyone else in the film never gets the chance to distinguish themselves.

The second half and inadequate characterisation of the film would have been easy to overcome if only one of them were present. The only problem is that third, fourth, even fifth problems are added. One major problem is the sheer volume of exposition that is delivered through dialogue. It is one thing to tell us how character X felt sensation Y at moment Z. To do this without flashbacks or recapping footage from new angles is a difficult ask at best, and with a cast of this calibre, it simply shouldn't be done.

Ironically, the concept of The Puppet Masters was done slightly better in a direct-to-video sequel to StarShip Troopers. The concept of an alien parasite using a host for a sinister purpose was also done better in The Thing. If you've already seen those films, then The Puppet Masters is worth checking out. If not, I'd recommend checking them out first. A 5 out of 10 from me.

It really makes no sense how this film could not have worked. Working off a script based on a Robert A. Heinlein novel, with the venerable Donald Sutherland in one of the lead roles, and with alien invasion the subject matter, this should have been at least a seven star Science Fiction film. As Sci-Fi goes, the superior ones focus more on futuristic and/or scientific concepts, with action and/or special effects adding to the spectacle. That is why films like the Star Wars saga really aren't Sci-Fi, but action/adventure first (and in the case of Star Wars, fantasy) and science fiction second at best. This film does delve into the biology and culture of the aliens, but just barely. Mostly it focuses on hokey special effects and a few watered-down action scenes to fill up screen time. The aliens themselves are quite realistic and original, a plus for the film. The chemistry between Donald Sutherland as the leader of a secret government agency and his son, played by Eric Thal (an unknown at the time) is actually quite good. In addition, Julie Warner actually does well as the scientist working for Sutherland and of course plays the romantic interest for Sutherland's son. While not a superior actress, she performs adequately, although her talents are more suited to television, as it appears this movie was. While most will think, as I did, while reading the plot synopsis of the film that it is a rip-off of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Sutherland starred in the remake of this film in 1978), the actual book was published in 1951, prior to the original film as well as the novel written by Jack Finney. Bottom line: not a bad movie to watch when you know you will be distracted as it requires very little of your attention and there are enough action scenes to move the pace along, but science fiction and Heinlein fans will be disappointed.

This was a decent film. The book was far better.

If the book had been made into a three-hour film, it would have been excellent. They would have had time to do things right. As it is, they compact a wide-ranging tale set in the future into a dodgy action flick in the present day.

Do yourself a favour - read the book.

Donald Sutherland is too cool, though.