“The Mysterians” Review

The Mysterians was a film I had wanted to see for many years. When Tokyo Shock released the DVD in 2005, I quickly went out and bought it. Unfortunately, the first few viewings of the film left me unimpressed. To a particular degree, I guess I could see why this was a big film during the time of its release and for a while afterwards.

After a recent viewing of the film, however, I was able to find myself enjoying the film more than the first three viewings.

Synopsis: An alien race invades earth hoping to eventually make it their home. They seek the permission of the human race to mate with their women in the hopes of rebuilding their declining population due to birth defects having been experienced on their non-inhabitable planet.

Mankind is reluctant due to the Mysterians having shown up unexpected and creating some chaos in the process. After Moguera is released upon the Japanese countryside, humans have decided the Mysterians are more of an enemy than a friend.

Ryoichi Shiraishi, a scientist, joins the Mysterians in the hopes of learning more about the race, while Joji Atsumi is attempting to infiltrate the Mysterians’ base to retrieve his sister, girlfriend, and other women the Mysterians have abducted.

After numerous attempts to rid the earth of the Mysterians, and heavy casualties being taken on both sides, mankind, with the help of Shiraishi and Atsumi, defeat the Mysterians. Only a few lone saucers escape into the depths of space.

Story: The Mysterians is a typical 1950s science-fiction film: aliens invade earth, they want to make it their home, they attack earth. While there’s nothing ground-breaking with the story, even for a late 1950s alien invasion film, the movie is pretty fast-paced and kicks-off the action within the first couple minutes of the movie starting.

The unfortunate thing, of course, is that it’s pretty predictable. Even while the Mysterians seek the permission of mankind to make earth their home and to marry their women (by the way, is marriage even an actual institution where the Mysterians come from? Although I guess they are very human, which then leads me to ask as to how alien they really are.) we know the Mysterians are still going to abduct women and will continue to build their home in the countryside.

The funny thing, however, is that, while the Mysterians seek “cooperation” with mankind, outside of a few newspaper graphics, there are no other representatives present in the film; there are only Japanese officials who are speaking on behalf of the rest of the earth. I would think the rest of the nations would not be pleased that Japan is unilaterally corresponding with the Mysterians without their input. Although it’s probably assumed that they did talk to other nations’ representatives, and if they were the case, it would have been nice to see those communications take place (phone, conferences, etc.). This is an element that Battle in Outer Space handles much better.

Despite these little quirks, it’s standard science-fiction fare. It’s pretty action-packed nearly from the moment the movie begins. I have to say it is entertaining given the predictability of the story as well.

Special Effects: Well, sadly, many of the special effects don’t hold up well with time; especially some of the animated effects. The lasers being shot out of Moguera’s eyes and the saucers looks pretty bland by today’s standards. Once again, though, I am sure they looked marvelous when the film was released in the late 50s.

The miniature work is great and makes up for the lack in animated effects. Tsuburaya did a magnificent job here and I really like what he and his crew did. The Moguera suit almost looks like the Tin Man suit from The Wizard of Oz. It’s not horrible, but it isn’t great either.

The effects were on, if not slightly above, par when the movie was made. Sadly, some of the effects didn’t age well with time.

Acting: I feel that, despite some great and notable actors in this film, many of the performances given were bland. Kenji Sahara was one of a few that looked like he was actually trying. For that, I give him kudos.

Akihiko Hirata, one of my favorite Toho actors, does little in this movie, sadly. He shows little emotion and pizzazz in his acting here. Part of that could be his character wasn’t developed all that well. If that’s the case, I will give him a bit of a pass, but he could have still put more into his role.

Momoko Koichi (Emiko in Gojira) seems to be reprising her role as Emiko. Funny thing, she is Hirata’s fiance in this movie and she was also Hirata’s character’s fiance in Gojira. She doesn’t add much to the film and neither does Yumi Shirakawa. Both are simply damsels in distress.

Takashi Shimura and Yoshio Tsuchiya turn out pretty good performances. Shimura’s Dr. Adachi is a knowledgeable and authoritative figure and Tsuchiya’s role as the Mysterian leader is good using body language to help communicate his character’s intentions.

For the most part, the acting is underwhelming. The female characters are there to simply be possible “casualties.”

Battles: As mentioned earlier, the movie is full of it! If you enjoy action-packed movies, this will work for you. It’s really fun to see the different attempts mankind is making to defeat the Mysterians.

The many beam battles are fun and don’t get old and Sahara’s infiltration into the Mysterian base, while short, is fun.

Human Drama: It’s standard fare, once again, with human drama. Many of the humans involved are attempting to figure out why the aliens have arrived on earth, what their M.O. is, and what weakness of the aliens can they exploit to defeat them.

I am a bit bored by this drama as I have seen in many times over. But I guess there is no other way to handle this type of drama; at least that I can think of. For all of that, I will be a bit more forgiving on the film.

Overall: While I have talked about a number of the shortcomings with The Mysterians, I have to say that the film is still very enjoyable. If the film didn’t have the amount, and type, of action that it has, I probably would be more negative towards it.

I love how I am, finally, turning towards finding this movie as a classic Toho film. Unlike other Toho films, the movie stays on its topic and doesn’t venture off, if not far off, on the subject matter.

Would I recommend the movie regardless of the final rating? I would. It isn’t necessarily the best Toho non-Godzilla film, but it still is a nice typical alien invasion film that doesn’t let up on the action. If you are a fan of non-stop action, or want a fun film to watch where you can turn your brain off, I would recommend giving it a viewing.