Alright, remember the time I opened up the review of the Mysterians with a big piece about the Space Race? Well, I honestly probably should have saved it for this one. With the United States landing on the moon being a few years away, the world was still curious about outer space. So, with aliens already being clearly established in Toho's series with the Mysterians, Dogora, and now Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, there was only one logical next step. To take Godzilla directly into the stars with a sidekick and give that mean old Ghidorah another ass kicking! Well, maybe it didn't need to be EXACTLY that sequence of events, but the idea of Godzilla in space? Come on, who could resists? So, that's where our journey takes us next, to a new planet beyond Jupiter, to see a movie where Godzilla dances, he kicks rocks and almost returns to being a villain briefly. Presenting, Invasion of the Astro Monster!On the newly discovered Planet X, a society of aliens named the Xiliens as for Earth's help to defeat their nemesis, Ghidorah, known to them as Monster Zero. When Godzilla and Rodan are sent to the Planet, the Xiliens soon reveal they want the Earth to surrender itself to them and if they don't, that they will attack the Earth with Ghidorah, Godzilla and Rodan, the latter two newly under their control. It's a battle between planets as the fate of the Earth is stuck between three monsters and impossible odds!
SO, this is no doubt a fun one. This movie has a lot of positives, although it is in kind of a pickle, using three of the exact same monsters they just used the year prior. I mean, it can get kind of repetitive. And for the most part, the movie avoids that. The biggest reason is because of the Xiliens, and Ghidorah being directly under their control. We're not new to aliens at this point, but it has been awhile since we've seen aliens who look like us. And now that we meet the Xiliens, they are a welcome introduction. For one, their costumes aren't as outlandishly stupid as the Mysterians, which is a big help. Now, don't get me wrong, they do look a little bit silly. If someone got a laugh out of their look, I'd get it. There's a new dynamic at play now that I enjoy with them being added into the picture. It's always at least kind of a bummer when the big scary villain turns out to be another pawn. I mean, Darth Vader will always be cool, but he lost cool points in Empire Strikes Back (he did and you know it!) But they're still cool. Similarly, Ghidorah might lose cool points for some, but I actually quite like the addition they bring into the movie. I like it because of two things: A, it raises a question of if the Xiliens have been using Ghidorah the whole time. If they were lying to Earth about him being a new problem and he's always been under they're control and they sent him to wipe out Venus in the first place. Of course there is a definite possibility I'm reading too much into things, but, hey. It's almost my job at this point. The second thing it does is it really makes them seem REALLY evil. I mean, they really did trick the hell out of us into getting Godzilla and Rodan. That was clever. Then they lied about a cure for cancer. AND they got Ghidorah under their control? A known dangerous monster who was able to pretty handily fight three monsters at once? The dynamic they add raises the dramatic stakes a lot and it's appreciated to make this movie feel less stale than it probably could have been. On the note of being less state and not rehashing however...This is where the series starts to see a bit of a decline in quality, in part because of over reliance on stock footage. Footage from Rodan, the Mysterians and even Mothra manages to sneak its way into the screen time, and I'm sorry, but I just think that's ridiculous. I make a bigger deal out of it than a lot of other people, but I really just think it's lazy. I know it probably isn't THAT big of a deal, but it does make me mad. And maybe this is a bit of a tangent and doesn't fully add to the review, but I did want to talk about and mention it.
So, how about the monsters of the movie? Honestly, I don't think either Ghidorah or Rodan are really anything to right home about. If you saw their characters in Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, then you saw them here. Minus Godzilla and Rodan bickering, that is. But you know is IS different? Oh, Godzilla. This movie is important for one of the most well known and amazingly stupid moments of the entire series. After Godzilla and Rodan fight Ghidorah on Planet X, they celebrate their victory. But Godzilla celebrates by doing the dance portrayed on the right. It's just so out there. And it's the perfect summary of where the series is going from here. I want you to look back on Godzilla, hell, maybe even read the review again if you want to. But just think about this gif when you're reading it. It's gonna seem like I'm lying, but if you're a fan, you know I'm being completely serious. This is exactly the point where we're going to see the manner of these movies change. These aren't thrilling social commentaries anymore, at least for awhile. What we have entered now is the era where people think Godzilla is cheesy. If you've ever met someone who doesn't understand the franchise, they might've seen this little dance. And if that's all they've seen, I can't blame them for thinking it looks cheesy.Silly dances and stock footage aside, this isn't a bad one. It's just not exactly my favorite. I know I didn't talk about the human cast at all, but that's because in my opinion they're about as standard fair a we can get. Honestly, the best summary of the movie I can give is if you watch an episode of Star Trek: the Original Series and imagine some Godzilla monsters thrown in every once and awhile, you're watching Invasion of the Astro Monster. And I love both those properties a lot, so that's not mean hearted. It's just honest. Invasion of the Astro Monster isn't exactly anything special, but it's not terrible. So, watch it, why not?
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Alright, so that wasn't exactly a long review, but, whatever. Tomorrow we've got a treat, and one the best Toho monster movies without Godzilla in it. So, tomorrow, let's watch brothers bicker as we take a dive into the War of the Gargantuas!
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