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The Mysterians, 1957
Following a festival, a destructive earthquake strikes and, on investigation, an even more destructive robot emerges. The robot is controlled by an alien race called the Mysterians who originate from a hidden planet in the solar system. Friends Atsumi (Kenji Sahara), Hiroko (Momoko Kochi), and Etsuko (Yumi Shirakawa) end up enmeshed in the drama when their friend Shiraishi (Aihiko Hirata), who first theorized about the existence of the Mysterians, ends up joining them. The Mysterians are demanding a share of the Earth as well as a share of the Earth’s women. Can humankind marshall the resources to fight the powerful invaders?
Engaging set-pieces and a fun cast can’t quite overcome a disjoint story.
There are a handful of really fun moments in this one, and at a relatively brisk 85 minutes, it’s not hard for the good moments to carry you through the less interesting ones. I will never get tired of watching water bubble and boil, or the side of a mountain fall away to reveal a giant creature. In this film in particular, said creature is a giant robot and I was really taken with the vaguely hieroglyphic nature of it.
I also found the central cast very likable, and that also includes the infinitely watchable Takashi Shimura as a professor and local expert in astronomy. They are all charming and it’s easy to root for them. Even in the character of Shiraishi, who ends up helping out the Mysterians because he likes their philosophy, there’s a sympathetic notion there of wanting to find “your people.”
But for all of the charms of the film, it ends up landing in my mind as merely okay. The giant robot part is great, but it soon gives way to the Mysterians holed up in a dome and negotiating with human representatives. There is suspense in the various showdowns, but it lacks the visceral thrill of a giant monster.
Likewise the plot point about the Mysterians wanting to claim Earth women as breeding stock is just such a dumb trope. Obviously it’s grounded in real-world xenophobia, but this idea of aliens always being male and wanting to take women . . . meh. This plot element also reduces Hiroko and Etsuko’s roles to that of kidnap victims, sidelining them in an annoying way. There is one line that stood out to me---where the Mysterians describe that after a disaster their children starting being born with deformities, and that these children were “destroyed”. I have to wonder how a line like that hit in 1950s Japan, where babies and children were impacted by the use of radioactive weapons.
The second half does get a little boost from the look of the technology in the Mysterians’ dome. I’ll admit to finding the costumes worn by the Mysterians more silly than imposing or striking, but they do lend the film a strong pop of color.
Not bad by any means, but very much just average.
The Mysterians, 1957
Following a festival, a destructive earthquake strikes and, on investigation, an even more destructive robot emerges. The robot is controlled by an alien race called the Mysterians who originate from a hidden planet in the solar system. Friends Atsumi (Kenji Sahara), Hiroko (Momoko Kochi), and Etsuko (Yumi Shirakawa) end up enmeshed in the drama when their friend Shiraishi (Aihiko Hirata), who first theorized about the existence of the Mysterians, ends up joining them. The Mysterians are demanding a share of the Earth as well as a share of the Earth’s women. Can humankind marshall the resources to fight the powerful invaders?
Engaging set-pieces and a fun cast can’t quite overcome a disjoint story.
There are a handful of really fun moments in this one, and at a relatively brisk 85 minutes, it’s not hard for the good moments to carry you through the less interesting ones. I will never get tired of watching water bubble and boil, or the side of a mountain fall away to reveal a giant creature. In this film in particular, said creature is a giant robot and I was really taken with the vaguely hieroglyphic nature of it.
I also found the central cast very likable, and that also includes the infinitely watchable Takashi Shimura as a professor and local expert in astronomy. They are all charming and it’s easy to root for them. Even in the character of Shiraishi, who ends up helping out the Mysterians because he likes their philosophy, there’s a sympathetic notion there of wanting to find “your people.”
But for all of the charms of the film, it ends up landing in my mind as merely okay. The giant robot part is great, but it soon gives way to the Mysterians holed up in a dome and negotiating with human representatives. There is suspense in the various showdowns, but it lacks the visceral thrill of a giant monster.
Likewise the plot point about the Mysterians wanting to claim Earth women as breeding stock is just such a dumb trope. Obviously it’s grounded in real-world xenophobia, but this idea of aliens always being male and wanting to take women . . . meh. This plot element also reduces Hiroko and Etsuko’s roles to that of kidnap victims, sidelining them in an annoying way. There is one line that stood out to me---where the Mysterians describe that after a disaster their children starting being born with deformities, and that these children were “destroyed”. I have to wonder how a line like that hit in 1950s Japan, where babies and children were impacted by the use of radioactive weapons.
The second half does get a little boost from the look of the technology in the Mysterians’ dome. I’ll admit to finding the costumes worn by the Mysterians more silly than imposing or striking, but they do lend the film a strong pop of color.
Not bad by any means, but very much just average.