Fans of Japanese science fiction movie and the tokusatsu genre will likely have heard of Message From Space, even if they've never been able to see it. As a fan of Japanese cinema I understand how hard it can be to find ways of watching some of these old films, movies that had very limited runs outside of Japan, and almost never had home media releases. Message From Space was one of the films that sat in my 'I need to see this some day' list of stuff I was never sure I was going to track down. As such, I knew as soon as Eureka Entertainment announced the new Blu-ray release that it was a film I absolutely had to get hold of.
Message From Space begins far beyond the bounds of Earth's solar system, on the distant planet of Jillucia, a peaceful world that has fallen victim to the evil, metal skinned Gavanas, whose empire has conquered their world and enslaved its people. The leader of the tribes of Jillucia gathers his remaining people and promises them that heroes will come to save them, and casts out eight magic seeds into the universe to find their promised warriors who will come and free them of the Gavans rule. The granddaughter of their leader, Princess Emeralida (Etsuko Shihomi) and her guardian, Urocco (Makoto SatÅ) set out after the seeds in hopes of finding the heroes.
In Earths solar system a pair of roughriders, space racers, called Shiro (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Aaron (Philip Casnoff) are flying their ships through dangerous environments, getting into trouble with the law, when their ships are damaged and forced to land. The two of them discover that their ships were harmed by strange glowing seeds. Needing to pay for their repairs they get jobs at a local club, where they comes across a low level criminal named Jack (Masazumi Okabe) and their friend Meia (Peggy Lee Brennan), who get caught up in their schemes. When they come across the Jillucian ship adrift in space, Emeralida and Urocco near death, they bring the two aliens back to their shack to recover, a shack where a retired military general named Garuda (Vic Morrow) is sleeping off his hangover. Emeralida learns that Shiro and Aaron have two of the seeds and tells them of her people's plight and how they've been chosen to help. This story prompts Jack and Garuda to come forward, each of whom have their own magic seeds. With four of the eight chosen warriors found, the group must set out to find the others and defeat the Gavanas Empire.
You can take one look at the cover of Message From Space and the date in which the film was released, 1978, and very easily come to the correct conclusion that this is Japan's answer to Star Wars, which was released the year before (though Message From Space would beat it to the Japanese screens). The film was made quickly, made to cash in on the hype that Star Wars was generating and to put Japanese cinema on the map, but that doesn't mean that it was made cheaply, or that there's not a good movie to be found here. Yes, the film is a bit more corny that Star Wars, and doesn't take itself too seriously, but it's still a fantastic example of 70's sci-fi.
Message From Space features a fairly weird plot, one that's filled with tangents, unneeded complexity, and extra twists that bog things down in ways that just aren't a huge help. The above two paragraphs describing the set up and several characters is the first twenty minutes of the movie, doesn't include everyone important to the story, and skips over a lot of stuff that happens. The film is dense, and there are a few times you find yourself wondering if perhaps certain plots and characters could have been trimmed down or cut altogether. But despite this bloat the film has a huge amount of charm, and you find yourself continuing to watch, even if it's just to see what weird stuff they do next.
Despite the odd plotting, the film manages to have a lot of excitement scattered throughout, scenes that use extensive special effects work to put on a bit of a spectacle. The movie has some fantastic miniature work, with the scenes of the space hot rods flying around in the asteroid fields and diving towards the planet surface showcasing the filmmakers skills (and foreshadowing the films finale in some ways). The sets are also fairly lavish at times too, with the throne room of the Galvanas command centre being spacious with dual levels in which our heroes get to fight at the end of the movie. There are even some full scale spaceships made that look pretty well put together for what amounts to background details in a couple of scenes.
Where the film feels most odd is in its marrying of the unusual and the mundane. With this being set around our own solar system the film features a lot of details that feel more recognisable than the film its aping. There are cars driving down streets, recognisable food being eaten, and the people inhabiting the nightclub we visit are either wearing over-the-top space fashion or the kinds of clothes you would expect to find in a 1970's nightclub. The effect is somewhat jarring at times, where the more anachronistic elements remind you that this isn't some remote location in the far future, but a more near future where a lot of stuff from our time still has a presence. Which certainly sets it apart from some other sci-fi of the era.
Whilst it's easy to call Message From Space a Star Wars rip-off (because it is), the film is also creative in its own way, and there are a few things that they do here that pre-date their presence in other Star Wars films. The fight between the decent Galvans warrior, Prince Hans, played by Sonny Chiba, has a sword fight with the evil Galvanas Emperor Rockseia XXII (Mikio Narita) in a large throne room with a huge window looking out into space that is strikingly similar to the Vader and Luke fight at the end of The Return of the Jedi. Another element from that film that Message From Space does first is our two hotshot space pilots flying their ships through a series or tunnels to destroy the Galvanas power source and destroy their station. The film even has the Galvanas turning the planet Jillucia into a weapon, something that would be done decades later in The Force Awakens. So whilst Message From Space absolutely steals some stuff it seems like they had enough original ideas of their own that perhaps we can say Star Wars stole some stuff in return.
Alongside the new restoration of the film, which looks fantastic, the new Blu-ray includes a number of extra features for those who've been waiting for a chance to finally get a copy of this film for their home collection. There is both the original Japanese version of the film, and and English dub, both of which are presented well. Patrick Macias presents a short appreciation of the movie that gives some background information on the movie, as well as his lifelong love of the movie. There's an archival feature that interviews Sonny Chiba and Kenta Fukasaku, which delivers some great behind the scenes details and insights into the movie. And there's a new audio commentary by Tom Mes, who manages to pack in a ton of detail and behind the scenes information that will bring a whole new level of appreciation for the movie and proves to be just as entertaining as the film itself.
I can see why people might argue that Message From Space isn't a good film, as it certainly has its flaws and is a bit silly in places, however, it's never a boring movie. There's a lot of silliness and fun to be found in this film, and finally getting to watch it after wanting to do so for many years proves to be an absolute delight. Eureka continue to offer some amazing films for fans of cinema, and I certainly loved this addition to their catalogue.
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