Der große Krieg der Planeten (1977)
9KDer große Krieg der Planeten: Directed by Jun Fukuda, Ishirô Honda, Toshio Masuda, Shûe Matsubayashi, Shirô Moritani. With Kensaku Morita, Yûko Asano, Ryô Ikebe, Masaya Oki. Earth is attacked by alien spacecraft from Venus. But a Japanese scientist has constructed a space craft, the Gohten, with which he may save humanity.
“In 1977, 20th Century Fox gave us Star Wars; Japanese studio Toho, on the other hand, presented The War in Space. Star Wars spawned umpteen sequels, made George Lucas impossibly rich, and became a phenomenon that is as popular today as it was 30 years ago; The War in Space didnu0026#39;t.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut Jun Fukudau0026#39;s epic sci-fi effort doesnu0026#39;t fail because of its crap effects, awful design and ridiculous plot (these elements actually make the film just about bearable); it fails due to itu0026#39;s dreary beginning, dreadful pacing and complete lack of excitement.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film starts with an attack on Earth by an alien fleet that has its base on Venus. After several notable landmarks are destroyed (in a scene that reminded me of Independence Day, but made without the benefits of computers and a decent budget), we meet the heroes of the piece: Professor Takigawa (Ryo Ikebe), his babelicious daughter (Yûko Asano), and her two suitors Miyoshi (Kensaku Morita) and Morrei (Hiroshi Miyauchi).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThese guys, along with a small, dedicated (and seemingly expendable) crew, head for Venus in their fresh-off-the-forecourt battleship, The Gohten, and proceed to kick extraterrestrial butt.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSounds like fun, doesnu0026#39;t it? Well, sometimes it is, but…..u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e…the film takes a long time to get going, with lots of talking where there shouldu0026#39;ve been action (not that the action is much cop: badly choreographed laser shoot-outs and tedious space battles are the order of the day) and a pointless romantic sub-plot also gets in the way of the good stuff.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd by u0026#39;the good stuffu0026#39;, I mean the awful spaceships (that resemble galleons and submarines), the poorly conceived aliens (the main baddies have painted green faces and wear particularly daft outfits, whilst a huge hairy wookie-style monster has big yellow horns and brandishes an axe), the inventive weapons (The Gohten is equipped with huge lasers, that look like the bullet chamber from a giant revolver, and a flying drill/über-bomb), and, of course, the great scene in which June is kidnapped, and forced to wear a saucy leather outfit!”
