Sayonara Jupitâ

SAYANORA JUPITER is a very worthy Toho studios effort about a 2010-like mission to a transmogrifying Jupiter that is hard to keep track of and runs about 20 minutes too long. I could even tell you which 20 minutes needed to go, specifically the sub plot about the Space Hippies and their mascot dolphin, named Jupiter. Coincidence? Hardly, though in all honesty the plot is so convoluted and hard to keep track of that I'm not sure if the dolphin's name was ironic or descriptive. It takes the film almost an hour before it's primary focus of contact with extra-terrestrials who have ill intent in mind actually begins to gel. The film is actually quite violent for an otherwise PG rated space adventure and features some unexpected nudity which wasn't really necessary. As a matter of fact what the movie needs more than anything else is editing: This should have been trimmed down to about 90 minutes and focused on the space adventure aspect.

It's a real shame too because the special effects are really marvelous, with some ingenious model/miniature work, a high caliber of production design and an interesting international cast that is capable of carrying the material. None of it looks unreal, the ship designs and sundries like space suit creations all look believable, but the story lacks discipline and tends to ramble. The filmmakers also foolishly decided that we'd share in their sentiment for their epic touches like a less than happy ending, which is welcome but I don't know ... a whole mission control filled with teary eyed technicians who stand up and salute at the same moment while the surviving "seen it all" scientist type delivers a solemn monologue on the surface of an asteroid in front of a space memorial? C'mon ... The film is also remarkably noisy, loud, flashy and unsubtle. It's likable and I'm sure that on repeat viewings I'll find more about it to enjoy, which leads to perhaps the kindest thing one can say about it: It will probably command repeat viewings from those who appreciate it's somewhat unkempt length. Thank goodness for DVD players remembering where to start up again after a nice long nap.

5/10: Great special effects though, I didn't know Toho was capable of work like this.

Despite the violent efforts of interplanetary eco-warriors, a plan to 'ignite' Jupitar to serve as a second sun gets repurposed when a black-hole is discovered drifting into the solar system. I'm generally quite forgiving of Toho Studios' sci-fi outings but this ridiculous, overly-long and ultimately tedious 'space epic' is awful at many levels. The apparently multi-national cast is amateurish, the writing is plodding and derivative, and the pacing abysmal (notably when the Jupitar-hugging cult leader stops the story in its tracks to warble out some horrible greenie-ballad or sing a 'sayonara' to a heroic but dead dolphin, (also named Jupitar)). The characters are as bad as the actors playing them, and the final reel burns through a lot of time with the endless and sappy demise a couple of characters whose most interesting contribution to the film is a trippy zero-G sex scene containing enough nudity to suggest that the producers thought that the film would actually appeal to adults. Many of the special effects are accompanied by pretentious theme-music and the imagery is full of rip-offs of/tributes to '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Star Wars and, most egregiously, 'Jaws'. Not surprisingly for a Toho film, the miniature work is quite good (both imaginative and well executed) as are the shots of Jupitar with the best sequence being one in which an exploratory ship skims over the surface of Io, which is 'realistically' depicted as a sea of lava. At over two hours, the film outstays its welcome by at least a third (largely due to beach scenes featuring the new-agey saboteurs and the alien spaceship sub-plot, which unfortunately goes nowhere). Really really bad... but I'm still pleased I finally got to see it (courtesy of the Internet Archive) if only to add to my life-list.

What a mess of a film. This was Toho's first-of the 1980's-foray into Tokusatsu, after a hiatus in 1977 with The War In Space. It was made a year before Godzilla 1984 as well as a year before 2010 came out-and this film bears some striking plot devices to that one, as well as some of the set and miniature designs. The plus is perhaps some outstanding effects work by Koichi Kawakita, for the time; some mesmerizing cloud chamber work, and nice miniature ships,planet scapes and matte and optical work. I'd say it well matches anything by Gerry Anderson(think Space:1999) from the late 60's or early 70's. The story is another matter-a black hole is on collision course with earth-however it can be altered if Jupiter is blown up to become a sun. The "Jupiter Solarization Project" is being undertaken to create a new sun and thus, colonize the moons of Jupiter. However some space hippies of the "Jupiter Church" don't want this to happen. They hang around-when not casually attempting to sabotage the project in orbit around Jupiter-on a beach on earth with this head guru guy who pulls out a guitar and stops the film, and does a musical number! I kid you not. This happens about four times. Accompanied by a montage of images of animals, beaches, dolphins,etc. There is also perhaps one of the biggest rip-off scenes from Jaws ever done, so blatantly. Characters zip back and forth from earth to Jupiter with the edit of a scene. There is also a "space sex" scene which they use "Love Gas" to achieve. It's corny, cheesy but inexplicably...you can see nary a string or harness on their buck naked bodies! How'd they do that? It goes on forever but you can't take your eyes off it, not knowing how "hot" this will get. The hippies turn out to be terrorists and somehow we are supposed to empathize with their desire to kill everyone for no reason whatsoever. There are some grand set pieces, devices, and a "large" epic look to things. But it never really comes together. They steal everything you can think of from the aforementioned Jaws,Star Wars, The Black Hole and, another blatant effects rip off shot from 2001:A Space Odyssey. The songs are amazing-they don't miss a beat to get one into all four acts of the film and, the end titles, complete with strange lyrics like "We burn out like a comet's nest" and "I will transfer all your pain to me". The English speaking actors are atrocious for the most part, just completely ruining whatever grand set they are placed in. There is also a scene where a guy is speaking German to a Gaijin guy who speaks Japanese back at him. Huh? There's a Godzilla in-joke that's quite funny, and works, as clips from Ghidorah(1965) manage to make it into the film as one guy seems to be a Kaiju fan. The film was never released here in the states legally, until now. It's been a rarity for American Tokusatsu fans to try and find. And, to me, a letdown.

I first thought the film was okay, but I enjoyed it only because of my curiosity stemming from the film's rarity. Not too many people in the Godzilla fan community have seen it, and it should stay that way. When I rewatched it, I started getting bored within the first minute. Many scenes drag on needlessly (e.g. the sex scene against a space backdrop), stretching the film's running time to an unbearable 2 hours, and no "good bad" movie can be 2 hours long. Many scenes are inane (e.g. the sex scene..., the hippies). The characters trying to sabotage the Jupiter Solarization Project are horribly annoying because their merely brats who want to be responsible for the deaths of 200 billion people. They have no motivation for this. They're just stupid, annoying, selfish, sanctimonious punks (and of course their leader is French-looking). Despite the running time, you barely know most of the characters, and then they try to milk some tears from you by some pointless death scenes. It breaks the "don't show a good movie in the middle of your crappy movie" rule by intercutting a fistfight with scenes from GHIDRAH THE THREE HEADED MONSTER in what I assume is a vapid, nongermane, and utterly pointless social commentary. The music is something out of a high school graduation, repetitive and grating. There's gratuitous cruelty to animals mixed with a laughably bad rubber shark and dolphin. The only good part of this movie are the excellent special effects (excluding the shark and dophin), but they are too few and far between.

This entire movie just ticks me off, especially since it took money and good special effects people away from GOJIRA (1984). It just tries to grasp at your heartstrings, but it's filled with stupid, dull, annoying characters you'd just love to beat the crap out of and filler on the level of the refueling scenes from THE STARFIGHTERS. Absolutely one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

1/10 (It'd be 0 if IMDB's ratings went that low)

Being a fan of Godzilla, I was interested in this movie because of its director (Koji Hashimoto, Godzilla 1984) and effects director (Koichi Kawakita, Heisei effects director from 1989 to 1997). I appreciate the ambitions of this film, wanting to be a sort of Japanese equivalent of a film like 2001 rather than another star wars knock off like many of the time, and indeed the effects of this film truly are great, I would say on par for the most par with American films of the time. But, sadly, great effects work cant save this shoddy plot. the core concepts seem sound, in the future humans have colonized off world areas, debate among groups on whether it is right to do so, and having to save the planet from a doomsday scenario. But the plot is filled with underdeveloped characters and motivations, ideas that seem to just drop off halfway through (like the Jupiter Ghost ), and a general vibe of melancholy that never feels earned (in that, characters die so that we feel sad, but they aren't nearly developed enough to where we SHOULD care). I do feel that somewhere in this mess there is a great work of science fiction, and perhaps some day there will be a good film of Komatsu's novel, but as it is, this is just a messy, albeit somewhat interesting, misfire.