Masterful Cinema

Good idea lost in the noise

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Earth has been invaded by duplicitous aliens and all nations must band together to protect our world (and our women)! "The Mysterians" is an excellent example of the creative and entertaining tokusatsu produced by Toho studios in the 1960's. Directed by kaiju perennial Ishiro Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya and music by Akira Ifukube, the film has a similar look and sound to early Godzilla movies (especially those featuring conniving aliens). The special effects are a mixed bag: the miniatures are excellent (as usual), as are the 'battle scenes' and some of the more exotic sets (the inside of the Mysterians' underground base for example), but most of the optical effects are less effective (you can see through the tanks in some of the battle scenes). As "Godzilla" (1954) had demonstrated the popularity of giant monsters, a huge bird-like mecha (the "Moguera") puts in a brief appearance early in the invasion (belying the Mysterians' later protestations of being a 'peace-loving' people). The suit-mated robot is pretty well done, as is the battle between it and the JDF. I watched a reasonably well dubbed English version of the film, but the acting seemed typical of the genre - fine, but not in particularly demanding roles. All in all, the movie is an entertaining, colourful, and imaginative science-fiction adventure with a charm than is missing (IMO) from the current generation of CGI-based films. Followed by "Battle in Outer Space" (1959), another entertaining Toho space-yarn with similar aesthetics.

The Mysterians is a corny, cheesy, Japanese sci-fi flick for kids from nine to ninety.Once you've got your head around that, it's a wonderful and delightful entry in this genre. Coming from 1957, it's remarkable.Colorful sets. Neon is used extensively to make the screens explode in color. Cool alien costumes. Shocking full saturation color. Ufo's everywhere. Landscape models are destroyed by fire, floods, and a robot.The film opens with a large set piece featuring a village celebration. The numerous shots with hundreds of extras is expertly interlaced with the models of towns, and plenty of plastic models getting the whammy from the alien's death rays.Scientists are the heroes who think up the super weapon that saves the day, but soldiers bravely fight the aliens with useless weapons.Oh, the Mysterians came to Earth because their planet - Mysteroid - was destroyed 100,000 years ago by nuclear war. Mysteroid is our asteroid belt. A few Mysterians survived by moving to Mars, but they are contaminated with Strontium 90. (Never mind the half life is about 29 years.) Now the aliens have to have Earth Women to replenish the stock.The Earthmen fight back with weapons delivered by giant flying rockets foreshadowing Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds.This film is totally cool, and safe for the whole family at the same time.

Although "Matango" is my favorite Japanese sci-fi film and my favorite Ishiro Honda feature, this flick, "The Mysterians", is still a pretty remarkable piece of sci-fi fluff from the Land of the Rising Sun. It is incredibly predictable and almost totally devoid of characterization, but its fantasy elements are terrifically inventive, its color schemes are out of this world, and its production values are high. Beings from Mysteria, a dead planet, arrive on Earth intent on taking over. To their credit, they also want a half dozen gorgeous Japanese women for mating purposes. Who can blame them? They make their presence known initially by sending a Big Bird-like robot on the rampage in the mountains outside Tokyo. They then release a fleet of flying saucers and finally establish a base to which Japan's most brilliant scientists are lured. When the color-coded Mysterians, who look like regular Japanese civilians under their helmets,demand the pretty women, the powers that be declare war and non-stop combat ensues right up 'til the closing credits. There is a charm and innocence to this rather unscientific science fiction opera, but it brilliantly captures the spirit of the old Amazing Stories covers and possesses that infectious "sense of wonder" the late Cinefantastique publisher, Frederick S. Clark, described as being essential to the best fantasy cinema. The Toho special effects department do a grand job with their miniatures and space sequences and they imbue a spectacular flood scene with a scary sense of realism.

Brilliant re-mastering of a childhood favorite. All of the painstaking detail of the original miniature work can once again be clearly seen, especially if you have a digital-ready TV. Gone are the days of the lousy prints, garbled sound track, and comical dubbing!! Even the models -- the flying saucers, planes, tanks, the dome -- as well as the "big kahuna" himself (i.e. Mogera) come across as more vivid and life-like than ever. Watching it took me back 45 years, glued to my seat today just as it was when I saw it in theatrical release in my adolescence. Akira Ifukube's stirring score, which stands alone quite well as an orchestral piece, has been brilliantly restored (in Dolby 5.1 no less). It sounds wonderful. The English dubbing is entirely new, but to be honest, I found it nearly as inane, but not so nearly endearing, as the original. The dubbing of the early Toho Sci-Fi flicks was so bad it was great, and was in fact one of the things that attracted many (myself included) to the genre. Not so here. I ended up watching it in the original Japanese, with English subtitles. Much better. This release contains all of scenes that were cut from the original U.S. release -- such as, the second Mogera getting clobbered by a falling Markalite as it attempts to emerge from underground. Like I said, if you love the genre, you're gonna love this!!!