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Film: Invasion of Astro-Monster (Kaijû daisensô)
Year: 1965
Director: Ishirô Honda
Writer: Shin’ichi Sekizawa
Starring: Nick Adams, Akira Takarada and Jun Tazaki
Review:
This film begins with two astronauts investigating a planet that is similar to Earth; they are played by Nick Adams and Akira Takarada. Back on Earth helping them is Jun Tazaki, who is a doctor, Takarada’s sister who is played by Keiko Sawai, as well as a team of experts.
This planet is actually one of the moons of Jupiter. They land and find that gravity there is 1/3 that of Earth and the air pressure is different as well. Takarada goes to plant the flag and finds footprints that look human. Takarada then cannot find Adams or their spaceship. He sees lightning, but there are no clouds. He then hears a voice telling him to get into the elevator that appears before him.
Back on Earth, Sawai is seeing an inventor played by Akira Kubo. He has been unable to sell his new alarm. When his housekeeper arrives, she tells him that he has a phone call. He learns there is now an offer on the table to buy his invention.
Takarada does what he is told and finds Adams. They sit down with the aliens that live on this planet. Their leader is Kenzô Tabu. He asks the two for help. We learn there is a monster that attacks their planet and it forces them to live underground. A screen shows them that the monster is King Ghidorah. Tabu asks the astronauts to allow their planet to use Rodan and Godzilla to fight him off. The astronauts tell them that they can’t make the decision, but they will pass it along. In return, Tabu is offering the cure to cancer.
Kubo and Sawai go to dinner with a woman from the company to finalize the deal; she is played by Kumi Mizuno. A deal is sealed and he has finally sold his alarm.
They fly back to Earth and relay what they were told. Everyone agrees that they should take them up on their offer. We see that Adams and Mizuno start to see each other. Kubo keeps pushing to see what the status of his product is, but he cannot get any information. Mizuno is also avoiding him. What is also troubling is that three UFOs are found in a lake. Some of the people are skeptical of their intentions. Despite this, they agree to go along with it.
The UFOs then seek out Godzilla from the bottom of a lake and Rodan from inside of a mountain. They are placed inside energy spheres and taken back to Planet X. Yoshio Tsuchiya is the controller from the planet and he has Adams, Takarada and Tazaki.
Soon after arriving, King Ghidorah begins to attack again. Godzilla and Rodan are released and a battle ensues. They overcome him and King Ghidorah flees. While this is going on, Adams and Takarada go investigating the base. Tabu discovers they are gone and the base is put on alert. They are informed that water is a more important to them than gold. They find that they have a lot of gold. They also find two women that look exactly like Mizuno. The two men are captured and returned. Tabu is upset, but does not punish them. He does provide them with a spaceship back to Earth along with the tape of how to cure cancer. They also feel bad that they are leaving Godzilla and Rodan behind.
Kubo followed Mizuno to the house she is at and he is capture. We learn that Planet X already had people on Earth. They actually have a base. The tape that was given to the astronauts doesn’t have the cure to cancer, but has an ultimatum. Earth will become their colony or they will use King Ghidorah, Godzilla and Rodan to destroy everything. King Ghidorah is already in the United States.
A plan is put into motion to break the mind control of Godzilla and Rodan that involves electromagnetic waves. It also seems that Kubo’s alarm was bought by the aliens for a reason as well. Can Godzilla and Rodan be freed before the Earth is destroyed? Can King Ghidorah be stopped if they can be? Can Earth fight off the aliens?
I have to say that this one is interesting. This film is actually more of aliens invading the Earth. This one really has very little of Godzilla, Rodan and King Ghidorah, as it is mostly the people of Earth finding ways to overcome the aliens. I think the acting and story are pretty good. When we do get the monsters fighting, are the same things we see in previous ones. It isn’t bad, but is a little bit repetitive.
My biggest gripe is that I came in expecting a giant monster film of Godzilla and Rodan facing off against King Ghidorah, but we don’t get a lot of it. I still like the film, but they are really secondary and are just tools for the aliens to use against humans. I also was confused that King Ghidorah was supposed to be taking over the western hemisphere, but the moment the aliens begin the attack, he’s right there with the other two. Now I get that it is done this way so they could fight during the climax, but doesn’t make sense.
With that said, I still found this film to be enjoyable. If you like the previous ones, I would watch this to see the story continue on. The acting and story are good. This one doesn’t have a lot of giant monsters doing battle, but this one has more a story where humans are overcoming a more advanced race of aliens. The monsters can be a little cheesy, but you have to expect that from men in rubber suites. If you like these types of films, I would recommend giving this one a viewing.
My Rating: 7 out of 10