The aliens are here and all they want is the land within a radius of three kilometers. OK, now all they want is the land within a 120-kilometer radius. OK, now all they want is all of eastern Japan and all the women. Now it's time to fight! Although the plot doesn't quite hang together, this is no low-budget film. Takashi Shimura, a member of Kurosawa's stock company and who brilliantly played the bureaucrat who thinks he's about to die in Ikiru, is the elder scientist Dr Adachi. The model work in the natural disasters at the beginning of the film is first-rate and the aliens are very stylish: there was a very high cape budget and the helmets have small antennae that seem to imitate the decorations on samurai helmets. The interior of the aliens' lair is like an explosion of 1950s Japanese toys. You may quickly forget the Very Important Lessons the film is trying to teach, but the cool visitors make an impression.
Review of The Mysterians
