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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.

Great Flick, When will it be released on DVD?

This was a great flick. I love the Donald Sutherland character. Kind of reminds you of his role in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I saw this movie when it was released and have been looking for a copy of it on DVD since then! Right now it is only available on VHS.

Another de-science-fictionised science fiction movie

Here we have yet another Hollywood butchering of science fiction. Unfortunately Hollywood executives seem to think that Science Fiction fans are either idiots who cannot see the cavernous plot holes (ala Independence Day) or like the butchery of a good book into a movie that seems to use only the barest plot parts and character names.Times and places are changed. It becomes something that only America can solve. Love stories get thrown in for no sane reason. Parts that would make the movie seem more plausible and give an insite into the reason for the invasion in the first place are chopped to a couple of minutes. The easiest way of identifying who does and doesn't have a slug on their back is completely ignored for some unexplained reason. The authorities (e.g. the President) are in almost from the start in the book, but not in the movie. More than one state is involved in the book, compared to three town in the movie. In fact the part of the book that involves other countries is completely ignored. And in the book, there is no "happy ending" where the hero goes wandering off hand in hand with his obligatory love interest.Judge for yourselves, but I bet the rumblings from RAH's grave were heard for months after this travesty was foisted on the public.

Within its genre, this film is really top notch!

The Puppet Masters is one of those films that most people will pass over, thinking it is similar to those murderous "puppet" movies made by one of those straight to video companies.

I'll admit that I watched this film not because I was aching to see it but because it had an interesting sounding premise for a sci-fi film - one that seemed very familiar. I'm not a huge sci-fi buff, but I'll give them their due when warranted.

I do like Donald Sutherland. He has truly been a venerable screen actor.

In this film, Sutherland plays a government operative charged with discovering the truth about an possible UFO landing in Iowa. Joining him is his secret service-like son, played very well by Eric Thal. Rounding out their investigative group is a NASA scientist played by Julie Warner. Thal and Warner are both very attractive and athletic looking. Thal has the looks of a fashion model and the body of a tri-athlete. When he peels off his shirt you can see every sinuey muscle in his chest and abdomen. This is not a guy that I would want to have to go up against. And that fact plays out as he and the team are forced to face a formidable foe in the aliens who have landed.

The Puppet Masters is supposedly the source material for the Invasion of the Body Snatchers films. Written by Robert Heinlien, the book (I've not read it) is supposedly very similar to this movie, but not to the Body Snatcher movies.

The aliens in this film don't envelope the humans as in the early films and then replicate them. They are parasitic and take over their human host's minds.

This movie has many exciting moments and will have you on the edge of your seat quite often. I found it refreshingly simplistic in its approach - lacking the early films' attempt to maintain Heinlien's supposed inferences to the McCarthyism of the 1950's. Instead, I saw a pure sci-fi film that really was believable but for one key point. Richard Belzer becomes infected with an alien and then has it removed. He goes through severe withdrawals when the creature is removed and ends up committing suicide. Subsequent removals of aliens from victims do not result in withdrawals Belzer experienced and certainly do not result in suicides. In fact, the freed victims seem to have a strong resolve to them. You might write this off to a stronger resolve than Belzer's character, except that he is a government agent who should have such a strong resolve.

That one point aside, the movie does maintain as much continuity as can be shown and maintains its "believability."

No - it's not great - but within its genre, this film aint too bad.

Attacked by kippers.

Having just seen this film, I felt it fair to mention that this is a typically awful sci fi film. An alien lifeforce (shaped like a kipper) takes over humans by use of a chord that overrides the nervous system. Yep. Bodysnatchers type thing. You know the drill. Check out the movie Parasite starring Demi Moore. It's the same thing. I'm fed up with kipper shaped aliens and bad effects although they can be funny for the wrong reasons. OK not funny... hilarious. I howled with laughter at this film when the kipper was swinging from the air conditioning fan. Haha. Actually, rent the movie for that scene alone. It's comedy at it's best!

Dull As Dishwater

THE PUPPET MASTERS actually does start out intriguingly enough; two Midwestern boys, playing in the farm fields of Iowa, witness a spaceship landing in the distance. Naturally, they run to check it out. What happens next is strange and not easily explainable--at first.

After the opening titles, we are introduced to the main characters, a field of government agents headed by Donald Sutherland (who has mastered the art of subtle earnestness in his career), and populated by Eric Thal (remember him as the young Hasidic scholar who becomes involved with Melanie Griffith in A STRANGER AMONG US?) and Julie Warner (who exudes both passion and intelligence in this role). After some portentious signs, there are two or three truly exciting action sequences, one right after another. The problem is, after all of this, I looked at my watch and found that there was still over an hour of movie to go. That's when the film becomes, as my title says, dull as dishwater.

In the last hour, which seems more like two, this film endlessly repeats itself, in scene after scene. Plans of attack are presented to us, and then played out of us in the same exact way, so that there is no suspense. After three or four such consecutive scenes, there begins to be no interest, either. Then, there are the agonizingly long scenes involving Eric Thal and Julie Warner alone together, played out slowly and without soundtrack as if suddenly turning into Steven Soderburgh's sex, lies and videotape (truly a great film; however, that same style does NOT fit into this "thriller" well at all). What we end up with is a very ungainly, uneven film that alternates between high-charged action/sci-fi scenes and those containing long stretches of dull-as-dishwater dialogue. By the end, I was very happy--that it was over, as I nearly fell asleep ten times in the last half-hour alone!

Now I know why this film received largely negative reviews when it was initially released in theaters in late-1994. It's too bad, as it is from the classic novel by Robert A. Heinlein; unread by me, the basic concept is fascinating and reminds me of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (both 1962 and 1978)--except both of these classic sci-fi/horror films are more exciting than this one. Come to think of it, Donald Sutherland was in the latter BODY SNATCHERS film, and did much better in that much better film. Thank God I spent less than the Amazon price for THE PUPPET MASTERS DVD!

RECOMMENDED FOR DONALD SUTHERLAND FANS AND/OR DIE-HARD SCI-FI FANS ONLY; ALL OTHERS AVOID

Not Bad

In the world of sci fi there are a handful of gold standard movies, the 2001's, the Alien's, and a much, MUCH larger group of really bad rip offs of these movies. Only rarely do you encounter ones that fall somewhere in between, but Puppet Masters fits that bill. It is not a great movie. But neither is it awful. I have certainly seen many many sci fi flicks that were much much worse. While its based on a different book, this is basically the third, and least effective, version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And it does a reasonable enough job of building suspense that its strong source material can carry it along. Its not as good/scary as the original Body Snatchers, nor even as good/scary as the remake, but its still pretty decent sci fi.
Heck, it even gets a rare decent performance out of Donald Sutherland, who for once does not appear to be mailing it in. The movie is marred by a weak ending, but if you're a sci fi fan its not a bad little time waster.

An edge of your seat thriller with breathing room.

This motion picture unlike those of the 21st century, allows breathing room between putting you on the edge of your seat. It sets up the premise without pushing you into it as is so common in recent motion pictures. If you are on the edge of your seat all of the time, nothing stands out. It should build like a roller coaster, slowly, and give you time to relax before hitting another dip. This motion picture does just that.

Hmmm

I have never read the novel this was movie was based on, or any of his other 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). With that said, I have one question: Why the HELL wouldn't you just invent some sort of kevlar armor that attaches to the back and neck in a comfortable fashion? You would think at least the armed forces dudes would have thought about it.. I mean c'mon boys. Anyway, I thought this was entertaining enough for a boring Tuesday afternoon. I've wanted to see this since when it was released and I was much younger and I'm glad I finally have. Fun concept.

What a stinker

Problem #1: The chief problem with this film is its ridiculous screenplay. The film can't decide if it wants to be a mindless action flick or a character-driven sci-fi drama. So what you get is an alien invasion story where all the leads get "infected" by the aliens but are somehow saved by their friends while scores of infected extras get mowed down by machine-gun fire. If a lead character is infected, their buddies come up with all sorts of ways to peel the alien critter off, but if Farmer Joe comes running at them with a lug wrench, no one hesitates to pump him full of holes.Problem #2: Richard Belzer is in this movie and he is given not a single funny line! SPOILER: When his character ices himself, I felt like it was Richard Belzer's way of saying, "This flick stinks, I'm outta here." Problem #3: The final, cliché helicopter action sequence. It seemed like it they filmed it for another movie or something and just tagged it onto the end of this one.

Great little Invasion redux!

This is a unknown very satisfying alien film. This film moves along at a nice pace. The aliens are creepy and the action is almost non stop. They throw a lot of great turns in the story and the acting is pretty solid. The film even has a cameo from the talentless Richard Belzer who actually does a decent job. I would have liked some nudity in this story but you can't have it all. This film is pre CGI so it has an awesome selection of effects done on set. It's hard to believe they could make such a good movie from a Hienlin book. Whatever, just see it.

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.

forget the movie, READ THE BOOK!!!

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.

Mediocre sci-fi movie at best

The boring and redundant plot mirrored so many mediocre sci-fi movies I have seen. Nothing exciting, nothing unexpected. Just the same old story line of aliens trying to take over the earth by abducting the inhabitants and probing their minds. The attempted abduction of the president was lame!! And I really can't explain why there was an attempt to infuse a love story where there was no plot or necessity for one. Best thing I can say about Puppet Masters is the bathroom sceen where Eric Thal is nude. It's a shame the excitement of the movie ended up being the obligatory nudity, albeit, beautiful body of Eric Thal.

This just ain't Heinlein...

How the producers got away with calling this "Robert A. Heinlein's Puppet Masters" amazes me - because the only resemblance to Heinlein's genuinely chilling short story about Titan 'slugs' are the character names. That's it. None of the wonderfully satirical espionage group shenanigans, none of the gripping suspense, none of the character development, and none of the setting. "Puppet Masters" is not supposed to be set in 1994, it's supposed to be set in 1957 - but a different 1957 to the one we know. I mean, this film didn't even attempt the flying cars or the hand-held lasers. Like so many new sci-fi films made from older literature classics, the fiction has been cut out like some sort of hideous tumor and the science has been exaggerated to make sure the audience knows it's SCIENCE fiction. The fact that the science is largely irrelevant is lost on most modern screen writers - and this movie is no exception.Another example of a perfectly good story that has been shredded to make it 'fit' Hollywood's version of science-fiction, which is largely made up of clanking robots, flashing lights and explosions."The Faculty" was a good SF movie. And it was right - Body Snatchers is a rip-off from this story, but it never pretended to be anything but. Faculty had some enjoyable sequences. It wasn't perfect, and elements were laughable, but despite this, it was true to itself..._this_ film was just the massacre of a perfectly good story.I only hope anyone else who ever tries to make a movie of a Heinlein classic will stick to the book and make a decent movie, not rehash the story until it sounds good - because they sounded good before.

Mostly fun

An interesting adaptation of Robert Heinlein's original story about aliens that come to Earth and take over a small town as parasites controlling their host bodies. This film was made in 1994 and I find it an enjoyable watch. True it is very different to the source material. The Heinlein book is a lot different as are most book to movie adaptations. But I found it interesting without being overbearing.I liked the leads in this film and Donald Sutheland chews up the scenery as the leader of an agency who it seems, but its not overly mentioned go ET hunting on occasion. He's a great actor and added to the movie, making it just that much more enjoyable.There are other films that deal with the same kind of subject matter, most notabely the movie "The Faculty" which has exactly the same idea with little parasites attaching to people but this film stands well on it's own despite this and I'm sure will find its own little niche of fans.

Heilnein On Screen

This is a movie of alien invasion through the control of humans. The aliens arrive in a flash of light that is witnessed by three boys (not two) who set off to see what is up.

Enter Donald Sutherland as the head of a team investigating the phenomenon. They find a curious setup. The three kids are charging people to see the space ship. This is obviously not a real space ship, so what is going on?

As we find out, we have been invaded by small aliens that attach themselves to the human nervous system and then control them. They are spreading quickly.

The aliens are working at spreading their numbers as well as their influence. They try to sabotage Sutherland's team as well as aim at government officials.

The aliens keep busy and the team keeps trying to contain and predict them. Witty lines and fast scenes keep the film moving to its surprising conclusion.

A must for sci-fi and Heinlein fans. Great effects, neat monsters and a good story. Check it out.

Very weak effort, illogical plot, terrible ending

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

Um, Hmm . . .

Eric Thal is truly the greatest American thespian ever to grace the silver screen. Did anybody else notice that he mostly acts with his mouth? Like, when he was taken over by the alien, he opened his mouth real wide cause now he's EVIL Eric Thal. And then when Julie Warner has that happen to her, and at the end (which I won't give away, even though it's like a Mack Truck rumbling down a residential street, pretty hard not to see it coming), Thal's got his mouth open real wide again. That's the DISTRESSED Eric Thal, I suppose.

Rest of the cast is a B-movie lovers gallery. Marshall Bell, Yaphet Kotto, the guy who played the President, and the guy who played the President's head of security (I've seen both of them elsewhere), oh, and who could forget the guy who plays Thal's partner whose name I just can't place right now. He's awesome, too.

The movie itself? Well, aside from Eric Thal's BIG FAT MOUTH OF EVIL DISTRESS, it's a guilty pleasure movie at best, laughable joke at worst. Worth renting so you too can feel the power of THE MOUTH OF THAL.

Good Old Fashioned B Movie Sci-fi

If you like decent special effects, but not too good, and end of the world alien invasion stuff with an improbable, almost comical ending, this is for you! Sutherland is great in it, and probably without him, the movie would have stunk to high heaven.