Invasion Of Astro-Monster

Invasion of Astro Monster(released Dec/65) is another average entry in the Godzilla series of flicks from Toho Studios in Japan.This film,like the original,has an added American actor by the name of Nick Adams.He is remembered best for his short lived TV show The Rebel as Johnny Yuma.Real success eluded Adams and he died a scant three years after this film was released at age 36.
The story here is a complicated one going from plot to sub plot,to sub plot and back to plot again.Basically we find that scientists have discovered a new planet orbiting Jupiter which they call Planet X.Two astronauts are dispatched and soon after they land life is discovered,or,in point of fact,life discovers them.The inhabitants look like members of the 80s rock group DEVO(sans hats)and they tell the pair that they are forced to live underground due to a creature which regularly comes by,destroying everything it sees.The creature in question turns out to be King Ghodirah(so that's where he went after Rodan and Godzilla kicked his butt in the last film!).The inhabitants want to bring Rodan and Godzilla to the planet to take care of Ghodirah so they may return to the surface.In exchange they offer to give Earth a cure for cancer.
The astronauts return home with the offer from Planet X.Doubts surface as to the legitimacy of the offer but it is so enticing that they go along with it.Planet X's people know exactly where Rodan and Godzilla are and come with their spaceships to collect them and return them to their home.When they arrive at Planet X the monsters go to work and take care of Ghodirah and send him packing temporarily.Earth is given the cure on a tape but when they play it it is actually a demand to surrender Earth to them as a colony.The inhabitants of Planet X have had a fifth column working secretly all along on Earth and with their assistance they put their dastardly scheme into action.To keep Earth people in line they bring back Ghodirah,Rodan and Godzilla.The latter two are controlled electronically,doing Planet X's biding against their will.
Science comes to bear on the problem and they develop an electromagnetic beam which disrupts the flight of Planet X's spacecraft(familiar to fans of Earth VS Flying Saucers) and they also use a small audio device which emanates a sound the X-men cannot bear.Between the sound and the beam they are defeated.With Godzilla and Rodan now free of electronic bondage,they again team up to kick some much needed Ghodirah butt and send him packing(for good?).The film ends with everyone wondering where Godzilla and Rodan might be and if they will return.Of course they will.
Like with many of the movies of this series,as it progressed the plots tended to become more cumbersome and the fight scenes instead of being intense end up being more hilarious than not.For example there is a moment where Godzilla is going monster e' monster against Ghidorah.Godzilla is punching/boxing the three heads of Ghodirah like Mohammed Ali,fists clenched and right down to the fancy footwork!One cannot help but laugh.Unfortunately it works against ones suspension of disbelief as a "serious" situation(as per the plot)and the fight becomes cartoon-ish,working against itself.
Then again,maybe its makers intended it that way.....??
Technically the movie is in its original w/s a/r and the transfer is wonderful;clear and crisp.Extras include:Both Japanese and the American versions,commentary,an image and slide show gallery,the trailer and a small featurette on director Tanaka.Of course the Japanese version is longer and is the more compelling of the two.An aside:This Japanese versions' English subtitles,as with other such versions in this series,is full of grammatical and spelling faux paux's.It would also seems that whoever did this(a Japanese interpreter into English or an English one from the Japanese),they didn't get the phraseology down quite to what it should have been at times. A minor concern admittedly.
All in all a recommended release of a passable film from Toho studios,but the release itself,like all the others in this series,deserves around a 4-4 1/2 star rating for what it brings to the table(both versions,the extras,etc).However,in the big picture,mostly of interest to film buffs of this genre.

Classic Media's newest line of Godzilla DVD have been hit and miss, excelling in some areas, falling flat in others and this film is no exception. The film itself is a fairly decent movie but the DVD, even when compared to Classic Media's previous releases, feels slightly neglected.

The prints for the film (both Japanese and American versions) are in excellent shape. There was very little in the way of grain, hairs or other blemishes. Then again, this film unlike earlier Godzilla films was minimally altered during the "Americanization" process.

The problem is for me is with the audio. While technically there's nothing wrong with it, the Japanese version has Nick Adams dubbed in Japanese. Personally I would have liked to hear the international version (like Godzilla Final Wars) with Adams speaking in English (yes he was reading an English language script when he filmed his scenes) while everyone else speaks Japanese and is subtitled. The subtitles also have a flaw; in one scene a person notices the alien's flying saucer but the subtitles read "a fling saucer". This kind of carelessness should have be corrected before the release.

The special features are the same as the previous releases. The main flaws in my opinion are: the Japanese trailer and the audio commentary. The trailer is for the 1970's reissue of the film in Japan as it carries the reissued title Kaiju Daisensou: Kingu Gidora tai Gojira (Large Monster Wars: King Ghidorah vs. Godzilla [I hope I've got it right]), while the original film was simply called Kaiju Daisensou . The audio commentary is done by Stuart Galbraith. There are numerous moments of silence in the commentary and I find when he does speak he spends too much time talking about the actors: Character X was played by so-and-so, who stared in this film and that film and this other film and that other film. While some may find this interesting I'd like to hear more about the behind-the-scenes of the movie and not someone reading the casts various resumes.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the movie and recomend this to any Godzila fan, die hard or casual but Classic Media could have done a much better job with this film. As I said on other reviews of Godzilla DVDs, it seems like Classic Media thinks we want the Japanese cut of the film so badly that nothing else on the DVD will matter.