There has been a long tradition of Tokusatsu (特撮 – “Special Photography”) in Japanese cinema. With greats like Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya unleashing on an unsuspecting world the most they Gojira/Godzilla in 1954, Science Fiction would never be the same again in Japan.
Eiji Tsuburaya in particular created many of the techniques and concepts that would be used right up until the early 2000s, one such example being Suitmation, having an actor dress up in a monster suit and destroy a miniature city. This served Toho studios (and this Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya) very well for many years, but all that were to change in 1977 with a little film called Star Wars, and with this films release Space Opera went into the stratosphere and everyone wanted their slice of that pie.
Much like Luigi Cozzi’s StarCrash from the same year as Message From Space, they probably leaned on the Star Wars influence a little too much, as there are plenty of moments that would have left copyright lawyers with very sweaty hands. However, with the world being the colossal globe it was back in the late 70’s (films would be released by territory and often take months, even years, to get released outside of the US, so this gave plenty of time for those looking to cash in to make a “similar” film with a hope to get a fraction of those audiences. This is where Message From Space sits, neither homage nor copy, just an ugly mess.
It’s the culmination of all these little faults that really hinder Message From Space and rob it of any sense of charm that would usually be associated with such a movie (and trust me when I say this, because I’m the person that usually defends the trashiest of trashy cinema), making it a real slog to get through.
Director Kinji Fukasaku at this point had already made a name for himself with the generation spanned Yakuza series Battles Without Honour And Humanity, but who was also no stranger to Sci-Fi either, having already directed the 1968 movie The Green Slime… which didn’t exactly light the world on fire either.
Ultimately that’s the problem with Message From Space, it reeks of lazy cash in and thus becomes a soulless husk of a movie. There are moments of creativity here and there (and usually involves some miniature effects), but even they feel out of touch, falling somewhere between Saturday morning serial TV and Blue Peter (a popular Children’s TV show here in the UK that would show kids how to make things out of everyday household items and was as smug as it sounds). The performances are stilted and I’m still questioning as to the reason taken to place the iconic Sonny Chiba in such a minor role that he is barely on screen for more than two minutes. It’s the culmination of all these little faults that really hinder Message From Space and rob it of any sense of charm that would usually be associated with such a movie (and trust me when I say this, because I’m the person that usually defends the trashiest of trashy cinema), making it a real slog to get through.
Having said this, these thoughts do not extend to Eureka Entertainments presentation of Message From Space, which looks the best it’s ever looked (and arguably a bit too good as it does have a tendency to show the seams that are holding everything together), a commentary track from Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, an appreciation of the film from writer Patrick Macias and a host of stills galleries and trailers.
Alas, non of this can rescue what is ultimately a hard film to recommend. As a curiosity as to what reaction Japanese cinema had to the Star Wars phenomenon, it works fine, but beyond that there is very little in the way of redeeming features, and I’m the guy that loves Land Shark (2020).
Message from Space is out now on Eureka Blu-Ray
Ben’s Archive – Message from Space (1978)
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