Atomic Rulers

Half way through this film I wondered which year in the 50s it was made? A decade-guess, based on the horrifically bad "special effects". Mid-sixties, really? Anyway if you like fight scenes in which the aggressors just give up out of sheer boredom, this is an A list movie. My favorite scene was a standoff between star-man and would be assailants who kept driving their car at him. You could go make a cup of tea while they continue this standoff and it's a standoff which ends so inexplicably as to be magical (or really bad editing). Also features an execution machine which proceeds at a pace which would ensure it's victim would die of old age. And it includes a nuclear weapon which ticks so tediously as the alleged actors try desperately to do something, that you feel your life force ebbing. You'll find you forget a lot about the film but if you teach film making, it's a must because in every scene you can just stand there and say "no". Only show this to children you don't like but if you like quality films, you could build an entire party experience around this one and it would be hilarious.

"The Earth is threatened with atomic destruction if the people of Mirapolia (sic) are not allowed to rule the planet. Observers from a distant planet, fat off in space, have been observing Earth and see the peril it's (sic) facing. Hoping to offer aid to the citizens of Earth, the benevolent aliens send their champion Starman to face off against the leaders of Mirapolia (it's correctly spelled Merapolia) and take care of their atomic weapons," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Ken Utsui (as Sûpâ Jaiantsu, or Super Giant) must save the Earth from nuclear peril. This is the American (English edited and dubbed) version of the Japanese super-hero's earliest movies, Sûpâ jaiantsu (1957) and Zoku sûpâ jaiantsu (1957). Herein, Mr. Utsui is Starman of "The Emerald Planet". Considering the material, this is a sometimes surprisingly well-directed, by Teruo Ishii, piece of super-nonsense; the location scenes are most enjoyable. Otherwise, it's, at best, unintentionally funny.

Watch for the scene where Utsui goes to a church with some children, and meets a nun. She gives him a smile that shows she's attracted to him; then, the young nun looks down at Utsui's groin area, where he has positioned his gun. Oh, sister!

*** Atomic Rulers (1964) Teruo Ishii ~ Ken Utsui, Utako Mitsuya, Junko Ikeuchi

Starman this time is out to thwart a country of loons who want to nuke the earth, starting with Japan! Starman is sent to Earth to give these baddies a knuckle supper and to stop radiation spreading through the universe (which is full of radiation anyway, let's not think about it).

Of course there's kids here to help Starman out, if you can call stealing nuclear material 'helping'. Also, some cops, a nun, and others you won't care about because these films are all about the arse kicking.

This one is definitely lacking in Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). There's no lizard men or...whatever those aliens in Evil Brain from Outer Space were...or even any Evil Brains. Starman does manage to survive a nuclear blast before taking on about fifty guys at a time though.

Got to agree with the majority though...this should be one of your last Starman choices - Evil Brain and Invaders from Space are much better.

Ah, Starman. Clearly influenced by the b/w "Adventures of Superman"

series, and possibly the Republic serial "The Adventures of Captain

Marvel," these flicks are good, old-fashioned fun. The only bummer is

that this first installment is very, very dull and doesn't feature the

loony aliens that would make the later entries so memorable. Instead our

hero goes up against guys in suits and fedoras.

You can afford to miss this one, but don't miss "Evil Brain From Outer

Space" and the ultra-surreal "Invaders From Space," which features

Starman thwarting the salamander-men of the planet Pulimon (you will not

believe their modern dance troupe of doom). And the DVDs are loaded with

extra goodies, including episodes of the long-forgotten b/w Japanese

cartoon "Prince Planet" which is a hell of a lot more fun than I

remembered

Atomic Rulers (2) (1965) -

There's no way that anyone could deny that this Japanese Superman was a terrible film. I didn't think that even one element of it was well done, especially for 1965. Take in to consideration that 'The Wizard Of Oz' was made in 1939 and its obvious that they weren't even trying to make a decent film and if they were, shame on them. Some films like 'Flash Gordon' (1980) can get away with a tongue in cheek stab at sci-fi with slightly questionable effects and acting, but it was as if the makers of this one hadn't even understood the filmmaking process or ever been to the cinema before.

But! But, it was funny because of that, although it was highly unlikely that was intentional.

There were so many flaws in it that I didn't even start to list them. I could nitpick all day and not just nits but big massive giant bugs too. Some of the translation and dubbing was really badly done though. I've noticed that with a lot of the modern stuff I've been watching so it really stood out here. That used to be a part of the charm of watching 'Godzilla' (1954) and so on as Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow) from 'Police Academy' (1984) used to take the mick out of, but this was just so bad.

The super alien planet that sent 'Starman' to Earth's rescue due to nuclear armament could have done a lot more to help and he wasn't even that clever as an individual. Also, the fight scenes were terrible and honestly I've seen better episodes of 'Thunderbirds' (1965-6).

I might have been semi entertained by this as a ten year old boy at a flea pit picture house back in 1965, however I think that even then my tastes would have been more refined by the other efforts that had been available at the time and even before.

I'm not gutted that I spent an hour and a half on it because Im interested in film and it's good to have balance. I do know that I won't be watching it again though.

420.11/1000.