INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER

Ghidorah, the 3-headed monster, on the loose!

INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER (aka Monster Zero; Godzilla vs. Monster Zero; Kaiju daisenso/1965). Director: Ishiro Honda. 

Earth has discovered a new planet, Planet X, beyond Jupiter and send astronauts Glenn (Nick Adams) and Fuji (Akira Takarada) to investigate. There they find seemingly friendly aliens of Oriental cast whose world is constantly besieged by Ghidorah, the flying three-headed monster. If Earth will permit them to transfer Godzilla and Rodan -- who battled and defeated Ghidorah previously -- to Planet X, the aliens will give them a serum that will eliminate all disease. Earth's famous monsters are taken to Planet X, but the world soon learns of the aliens' duplicity. Unless they agree to be ruled by them as a satellite of Planet X, they will destroy the earth with the aid of the three colossal monsters. Meanwhile Fuji's sweet sister Haruno (Keiko Sawai) learns that her nerdy boyfriend Tetsuo (Akira Kubo) may have come up with a way of defeating the aliens. 

Nick Adams and Akira Takarada

Well, one thing you have to say for Invasion of Astro-Monster is that it's certainly colorful, and not nearly as awful as most of the Japanese monster flicks (of which Rodan was one of the better ones). Nick Adams, herein billed as "Nikku Adamusu," (as if anyone would think he was Japanese!), actually gives a perfectly good performance, exhibiting his trademark intensity and grumpiness. Although Adams was born in Pennsylvania, his accent sounds like he was raised in Brooklyn, and it sounds funny hearing his real voice in this Nipponese movie. Adams has the best line, after Fuji voices concern that Rodan and Godzilla will be left behind on Planet X: "Hey, those two have caused us enough trouble! Don't worry -- they'll find their way!"

The aliens of Planet X

The other actors, including Kumi Mizuno as the mysterious Miss Namikawa and Yoshio Tsuchiya as the Controller of Planet X, are all good, and some of the FX work, including many miniatures, is decent. Godzilla, as usual, looks and acts pretty stupid, but the other two creatures are a bit better. They are basically kept in the background until they have an all-out battle towards the end of the movie. 

Verdict: Fun enough if you can tolerate sixties Japanese monster movies -- otherwise, avoid! **1/2. 

GODZILLA MINUS ONE

Godzilla

GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2024). Director: Takashi Yamasaki. 

At the very end of WW2 Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a Japanese kamikaze pilot who hasn't quite got the stuff. Landing on Odo Island where there is a regiment of mechanics, he and the others encounter Godzilla. Koichi is too scared to use his plane's arms to fire at the monster, and everyone but him and engineer Sosaku (Munetaka Aoki) dies. Returning to civilization and a shattered Japan, he hooks up with a young woman, Noriko (Minami Hamabe), who has rescued a little orphaned baby. Wracked with guilt over his cowardice, Koichi resists having a real relationship with Noriko, but they have much bigger problems when Godzilla -- now grown even larger and with an atomic-irradiated body that can shoot out devasting heat beams -- stomps through Tokyo. With no aid coming from any other country and a shattered government, survivors band together to come up with a way to destroy the monster, a plan in which Koichi will play a major role. 

Ryunosuke Kamiki

The original Godzilla film -- the 1954 Gojira -- was much more serious than the almost comical films featuring the monster that followed. This film follows in that tradition, and creates a host of interesting and generally well-developed characters for the viewer to get involved with. The film is too long, unfortunately, and the scenes with these characters may make some people impatient to see Godzilla in action. There aren't enough sequences starring the big guy but they are fairly exciting. This movie uses some of the martial music from the original film as well as Godzilla's classic metallic roar. 

Godzilla on the move!

Godzilla Minus One isn't campy like the American Godzilla with Matthew Broderick, but that film, despite its many flaws, was more entertaining and thrilling, with better FX work. (The FX for Godzilla Minus One won an Oscar!) Godzilla himself looks a little lumpy at times. Still, I have to agree that this flick is probably the best Godzilla film in years and is a vast improvement over a more recent American version and the dreadful Shin Godzilla. The movie also tackles Japanese attitudes towards death and dying. Oddly, the ending when certain principals are reunited may leave a lump in your throat!

Verdict: By reimagining the original Gojira, they have come up with something different. **3/4.  

SHIN GODZILLA

Godzilla

SHIN GODZILLA (2016). Directors: Hideaki Anno; Shinji Higuchi. 

"There is no danger of the creature coming ashore."

A sea monster that walks around on all fours and looks rather silly metamorphoses into the familiar creature we know as Godzilla in a film that pretty much ignores all of the earlier Godzilla movies, be they American or Japanese, as this one is. Eventually the big guy develops the ability to shoot lasers from its back, dorsal fins, and tail in addition to its fiery breath after it consumes radioactive material. In time the United States military is called in, but Japanese authorities aren't thrilled when they suggest dropping a nuclear bomb on Tokyo. Meanwhile everyone talks, deciding exactly what the creature is, what to do with it, and so on and so on ad nauseam, talk, talk and more talk with a few moments of the monster doing its thing.

In a word, Shin Godzilla talks itself to death, and while the FX work is superior to that of previous Japanese Godzilla films, the movie is still quite dull. The actors do the best they can. 

Verdict: Could be the most tedious Godzilla movie ever made. *1/2. 

TOKYO FILE 212

Lee Frederick and Florence Marly

TOKYO FILE 212 (1951). Directors/co-writers: Darrel McGowan; Stuart E. McGowan. Colorized. 

Army Intelligence man Jim Carter (Lee Frederick, using the name Robert Peyton) is in occupied Tokyo pretending to be a reporter. He meets Steffi Novak (Florence Marley), who says that her sister is in North Korea and she is desperate to be reunited with her. Jim's old friend Taro Matsuto (Katsuhiko Haida) has joined a communist outfit working out of Japan. His father (Tatsuo Saito) tells Jim that Taro was preparing to be a Kamikaze pilot when the war ended, and all his preparations were for nothing. He has cut off all ties with his father and former fiancee, Namiko (Reiko Otani). Taro reports to a man named Oyama (Tetsu Nakamora) who is not above kidnapping and murder to achieve his goals. Meanwhile Jim has to wonder just which side sexy Steffi is really on. 

Marley with Katsuhiko Haida

Czech-born Florence Marley was Humphrey Bogart's leading lady in Tokyo Joe, which came out two years earlier, and undoubtedly it was this that got her cast as one of the leads in Tokyo File 212. Marley looks good and never gives the game away as to who she's really playing for; an insouciant and appealing performance. Unconventionally attractive, Frederick is a laid-back and likable hero although decidedly from the minor leagues. Katsuhiko Haida, Saito, Otani, and especially Tetsu Nakamora as the chief villain of the piece are all excellent. Nakamora appeared in many English-language films. 

"insouciant and appealing:" Florence Marley

The movie was filmed entirely in Japan, and features some actual Intelligence Officers and Kamikaze pilots (who apparently survived). This is essentially an anti-commie film, simplistic in some ways, but flavorful in its locales and details. There are some good action scenes as well. (You would never know that two major Japanese cities had been wiped off the map just a few short years before.) The film greatly benefits from a evocative score by Albert Glasser, who usually scored monster movies and the like. Here he is given a lot more to work with and he runs with it, embellishing every sequence and giving the low-budget picture an added polish. 

Verdict: Unusual kind of spy film with a highly interesting cast. ***.