Ishiro Honda's tale of alien invasion tries very hard but ultimately comes up a bit short. Humanoid aliens arrive in Japan and demonstrate their techniological superiority by sending Mogera, their giant robot, on a rampage through rural Japan. The robot is very quickly dispatched by the Japanese military, but now the
aliens have Earth'sd attention. Their demands are simple; they want a stretch of land 2 miles in radius--and to be allowed to marry our women! Understandably, Japan is not about to accept these terms. The film is certainly entertaining, but in the end it just never quite lives up to its potential promise. There are no major city destruction set pieces apart from some destroyed villages and the battles between Earth's military and the aliens are almost woefully brief. Mogera, while an interesting concept, is much too goofy a design and only appears twice in the film and is quickly destroyed in both appearances. The film is entertaining, certainly, but just not as good as it could have been.
August 5, 2007
