Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) | DVD Review

The latest Toho Master Collection release, Invasion of Astro-Monster, is notable for its introduction of an alien race bent on destroying Earth and for the inclusion of an American lead character. By no stretch of the imagination is it the best film in the Godzilla series, but it has its moments.

A direct sequel to Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster sees Ghidorah, after having been banished from Earth by Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra, wreaking havoc on Planet X, a planet that was hidden to Earth by Jupiter. The citizens of Planet X plead with the Earthlings to allow them to “borrow” Godzilla and Rodan to help them fight Ghidorah, but we soon find out that the X-ians have something else up their sleeves. They send the three monsters back to Earth on a mission of destruction, demanding Earth’s surrender. The fate of the world is in the hands of American astronaut F. Glenn (Nick Adams, Pillow Talk), his Japanese counterpart Fuji (Godzilla mainstay Akira Takarada), and inventor Tetsuo Teri. Together, the three men must try to break the aliens’ hold over the monsters. Once again, director Ishiro Honda and special effects supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya show us what they’ve learned from the previous entries in the series. There is a noticeable improvement in the effects, which stand up pretty well when its considered the film predates CGI. Miniature cityscapes get trampled and destroyed, and it looks pretty convincing, if not too realistic yet. In fact, the not-quite-realistic aspect of the special effects is part of the charm of a Godzilla movie. Just look at how well-loved the Toho entries in the series are as compared to 1998’s horrendous Roland Emmerich version of Godzilla. We look to Godzilla films for fun escapism and some monster vs. monster battles, not to be scared out of our wits (Emmerich was obviously trying to scare the audience, but wasn’t very successful). Having said all this, though, there isn’t nearly enough monster in this movie. The aliens take up way too much screen time that could have been put to better use with more frequent and longer battle scenes.

As poor an entry in the Godzilla series as Invasion of Astro-Monster is, it does contain perhaps the single greatest shot in any Godzilla movie: at one point, after having delivered a very effective blow to his enemy, Godzilla proceeds to do a little victory jig. Absurd, yes, but also very characteristic of the machismo and satisfaction one would expect from a monster who usually gets his butt kicked by his foes only to win his battles by default.

As with previous entries in the Master Collection series, we get two versions of the film: the original Japanese Invasion of Astro-Monster (with optional English subtitles) that was released in 1965, and the edited and English-dubbed Godzilla VS. Monster Zero, which was only released in 1970, out of respect for the late Nick Adams, who had commited suicide shortly before the film was to be released in the U.S. The dubbed version also has a feature commentary by film historian and Akira Kurosawa biographer Stuart Galbraith IV that is chock full of interesting tidbits about the series, if you can get past his rather slow and monotone delivery. Also of interest isthe biography feature of producer Tomoyuki Tanaka. Essentially a narrated slideshow of images, it’s still interesting to learn about one of Ishiro Honda’s true fans, who also happened to be his producer. other features include an image gallery, movie poster slideshow, and the original Japanese trailer for the film.

While not considered one of the great Godzilla films, Invasion of Astro-Monster is most definitely worth at least a rental, if only to see Godzilla do his little victory dance. The effects in the series were steadily improving with each film, but the appearances of the monsters were also becoming shorter and less frequent. Now, if somebody would only make a movie where all the monsters get brainwashed into doing nothing but wrestle each other for 90 minutes, you’d have an instant classic!

Movie rating – 2.5

Disc Rating – 2.5