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During all this time, back on Earth, Tetsuo has
become suspicious of the mysterious "toy company"
that has taken his invention and disappeared,
and so he follows Namikawa to a lodge where he
discovers that his supposed benefactors are actually
men from Planet X. Namikawa is warned by her superiors
to not let her attachment to Glenn make her forget
her loyalty to their mission. Tetsuo is captured
at the lodge and placed in a cell by the Xians.
At this time, the P-1 returns to Earth with Glenn,
Fuji, and Dr. Sakurai. Everyone gathers around
eagerly as the tape with the cure for cancer is
played... except that it turns out to be a recording
of the Xian leader's voice, ordering the Earth
to surrender itself to the control of Planet X,
or else the Xians will destroy mankind by unleashing
Godzilla, Rodan, and King Ghidorah upon it. "Double-crossin'
FINKS!" exclaims Glenn. I couldn't express
it better myself. (Although, the Xians did have
the idea of cloning Kumi Mizuno, so how bad can
they really be? I'm just sayin'.)
As
Earth chooses to put up a fight, the Xians do
use the monsters they now control to wreak havoc
in the major cities of the globe. Desperate to
find a way to break the aliens' control of Godzilla
and Rodan, Glenn confronts Namikawa with his knowledge
that she is no more than a Xian clone. Namikawa
swears her love for him is real, and proves it
by sacrificing herself in order to give Glenn
and Tetsuo the secret of the Xians' weakness:
they can't bear the type of noise levels produced
by Tetsuo's invention. Glenn is unable to save
Namikawa from the Xians' wrath, but he and Tetsuo
manage to escape captivity and bring the key to
the Xians' downfall back to Japan's beleaguered
defense forces. Massive levels of sound are used
to bombard the Xians' saucers, disrupting their
control over Godzilla and Rodan. Now free to choose
their enemy again, the two giant beasts must engage
King Ghidorah once more in a final battle for
supremacy over the Earth.
Invasion
of Astro-Monster, as you probably gathered
from my awkward attempt to coherently summarize
the plot, is one loopy confection. Luckily, it
dazzles the eye and moves along so good-humoredly
and swiftly that one can dismiss the level of
illogic and leaps of faith that are rife in the
script, and just enjoy the ride. Not that any
film about giant monsters doesn't require a suspension
of disbelief, but remember that Toho was routinely
(and effectively) pulling this stuff off with
the straightest of faces in the initial films
featuring Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, etc. In fact,
with the exception of the satirical Godzilla
vs. King Kong (1962), the tone of these
kaiju films was usually quite somber and
elegiac. Invasion
is part of a series of Godzilla films from 1964-1969
that, taken as a whole, can be seen as a kind
of war for Godzilla's soul. On the one side, special
effects master Eiji Tsuburaya felt the giant reptile's
future lay in softening his nature for a younger
audience. Others, including the series' most famous
director, Ishirô Honda, preferred that Godzilla
remain a menacing creature, representing nature's
wrath and the costs of mankind's reckless courting
of atomic energy. Ultimately, Tsuburaya's vision
triumphed, but these '60s Godzilla films are fascinating
in the way this conflict between the monster's
team of creators plays out in the stories and
Godzilla's character. Invasion
of Astro-Monster is a perfect example:
Godzilla, though he had just been instrumental
in defeating Ghidorah in the previous film, is
once again a hated creature as Invasion
begins. The humans are all too happy to get him
off the planet and abandon him in outer space.
By the film's conclusion, Godzilla is on the side
of the angels... only to be once again an object
of fear by the next movie. It wasn't until 1969's
All Monsters Attack
that we see Godzilla's 'friendly hero' persona
firmly in place, where it would remain throughout
the '70s and the end of the initial series of
films.
Those fans who feel that Godzilla's
change from villain to hero coincides with a decline
in quality of the films can point to aspects of
Invasion that certainly
contain the seeds of later unfortunate trends:
the softening of the features on the Godzilla
costumes to make him look friendlier; the repetitive
use of alien invaders as the villains; the lessening
of the budgets that necessitated moving much of
the monster action away from miniature cities
and into less-costly open landscapes; the increasing
use of stock footage (beginning with Invasion)
from previous Godzilla films, especially when
scenes of crumbling buildings are required; and
a general increasing reliance of the comic behavior
of both the humans and the monsters. In fact,
many of the more serious Godzilla fans consider
Godzilla's 'victory dance' from Invasion
to be up there (or down there) with the 'talking
Godzilla' of Godzilla vs.
Gigan (1972) and the 'flying Godzilla'
of Godzilla vs. Hedorah
(1971) as one of the most embarrassing 'what were
they thinking' moments of the idolized monster's
history. Fortunately, nostalgia heals all wounds,
and there are plenty of toys, models, and animated
GIFs of the 'dancing' Godzilla to be found today.
Taken on its own merits, Invasion
of Astro-Monster, innocuous though it may
be, has enough of the artistry of Toho's Golden
Age that its positives more than make up for its
weaknesses. The pulpy fun of the storyline makes
the relative lack of monster screen time (the
monsters have less than 10 minutes of total footage
when all is said and done) a bit less disappointing.
The attractive, likable cast gamely makes the
most of what character bits they are given as
each scene goes whizzing by, and those seeking
some sort of meaning to it all will certainly
appreciate the message of individualism (Fuji,
Glenn, and Tetsuo are as different as can be but
come together as a force for good) defeating conformity
as represented by the clone-like Xians. Akira
Ifukube's musical score is up to his usual excellent
standards. The special effects are mostly well-executed,
containing some of the best composite shots of
the whole series. Then there is King Ghidorah
himself, the most complex giant monster Toho ever
created, and despite all those moving parts and
wires, always elicits oohs and ahhs rather than
laughs when he comes soaring over the horizon.
Finally, the real star of Invasion
of Astro-Monster, in my opinion, is art
director Takeo Kita. This is the most eye-catching
Godzilla film of them all. Even the restaurant
where Tetsuo and Haruno plead the case for their
marriage to Fuji is filled with near-psychedelic
lighting and decorations, and the costuming perfectly
fits the pop-art tone of the film. The Xians'
underground base is appropriately alien and foreboding,
but Kita's real triumph is the multi-colored,
craggy surface and glittering atmosphere of Planet
X. When Godzilla and Rodan have their initial
battle with Ghidorah, an enormous Jupiter looming
in the starry sky behind them, it is the most
breathtaking setting for a giant monster smackdown
in film history.
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Classic
Media continues to answer the prayers of the fans
of Godzilla and Japanese giant monster cinema by
releasing the finest DVD presentations of these
films in the States so far. Invasion
of Astro-Monster is no exception, carrying
on the company's standard of classy packaging, gorgeous
wide-screen presentations, and recruiting 'Godzilla
scholars' who have long been carrying the kaiju
torch in the pages of fanzines to contribute authoritative
audio commentaries to Classic Media's DVDs. The
lucky geek... er, guy this time is Stuart Galbreath
IV, and he proves to be more than up to the challenge,
providing enormous background info on nearly every
actor with a speaking part, even down to the bit
players. Like the best of commentaries, Galbreath
calls attention to the film's merits while remaining
clear-eyed and honest about its shortcomings, particularly
in pointing out how Toho had a tendency to rush
its films through their schedules, often resulting
in continuity flaws. Galbreath pays nice homage
to the tragic Nick Adams, detailing the circumstances
of the actor's supposed suicide, and mentioning
his off-screen romance with Kumi Mizuno... but tactfully
not drawing a direct line between Adams' demise
and his being jilted by Ms. Mizuno, as others have
done.
Classic Media includes both the
Japanese-language version of the film, and the English-dubbed
US theatrical release, which runs two minutes shorter
and is titled Godzilla vs.
Monster Zero. The shortened U.S. cut actually
improves the film's opening credits by substituting
a different cue by Akira Ifukube that is more ominous
and dramatic than what's scored in the Japanese
cut. Other extras on the disc include the original
Japanese trailer, a slide show of poster art, and
a feature on Toho producer (and primary creator
of Godzilla) Tomoyuki Tanaka. All in all, a fine
presentation of a piece of movie junk food that
is satisfying enough to be a pleasure, and not even
a guilty one! 1/16/09 |
