Message from Space

1978 [JAPANESE]

Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 26% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 26% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 4.9/10 10 1870 1.9K

space battle

Plot summary

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipient, ranging from hardened General Garuda to Gavana Prince Hans to young Terrans Meia, Kido, and Aaron all have different reactions to being chosen.

Director

Kinji Fukasaku Photo
Kinji Fukasaku

Top cast

Philip Casnoff Photo
Philip Casnoff as Aaron Solar
Hiroyuki Sanada Photo
Hiroyuki Sanada as Shiro Hongo
William Ross Photo
William Ross as Mea's Ship Captain
Peggy Lee Brennan Photo
Peggy Lee Brennan as Meia Long
720p.BluRay
963.75 MB
1280*640
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 44 min
Seeds 8

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by AriSquad 5 / 10

They need the best of the best in order to win. Send out the walnuts

Ahhh.. Message From Space. This was, as you probably read in previous comments, a grab at Star Wars from Japan. Sonny Chiba plays the main character of Hans. Chiba has a multitude of films under his belt as well as a very large following. The film is pure eye candy for any child despite its weak overall attempts at working out plot, characters, etc.. I actually like this movie. I enjoyed the fumbling Vic Morrow despite his intoxicated performance. I thought the special effects & props were creative. You see, the problem with any scifi film released in 1978 is that it will be compared to Star Wars. Star Wars set something as far as expectations, and anything else is considered a ripoff & a cheap one at that. The effects are retarded compared to Lucas & Co. But good for a saturday afternoon type movie. As a child this had a massive look to it and it was fast paced. The ships were actual sailing vessels in space, lots of good ideas but even with a date of 1978 there is no real excuse for how corny it ended up. Yes, & the walnuts.. Hard to believe. A not so typical 1978 type space saga with one step below the effects of the Flash Gordon movie. 5/10
Reviewed by krasnegar 4 / 10

NOT a STAR WARS "ripoff"

This movie was ready for release in Japan when Star Wars was released.If this film "rips off" anything, it's "The Seven Samurai".And, since Star Wars is a blatant "rip off" of two or three Japanese films - mostly Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress", but also somewhat his "Yojimbo" - and took other major action bits - the attack on the Death Star, for instance - from English World War 2 films, accusing *anything* of being "a STAR WARS ripoff" simply shows how little the accuser knows of film history.Extra line.Extra line.
Reviewed by stevenfallonnyc 6 / 10

How can you not love it?

Now of course, Message From Space is a Star Wars rip-off, but the Japanese have been doing space operas for a very long time anyway. But still, there are some direct steals from Star Wars, but hey isn't that part of the fun?This isn't quite as enjoyable as Starcrash as far as bad Star Wars rip-offs, but it's still a blast. Everyone is over the top, except for Vic Morrow, who pretty much sleepwalks through the entire thing and acts as if someone has a gun to his head the whole time, forcing him to appear in this flick. The FX are interesting and fun to watch, and as bad as they are, I'd still rather see these FX than today's crappy computer-generated cartoons.The TIE-Fighter type enemy ships are cool, especially the way they fire their lasers, and so is the rip-off of the Star Wars trench battle scene. Notice in this scene near the end, in the trench, the ships fly down trenches that actually curve away, so the FX people wouldn't have to worry about making "distance" shots appear realistic as in the Star Wars trench sequence.This definitely has "Japanese B-flick" all over it, and you gotta figure a DVD release would be a decent seller (as far as these kind of films go). This film proves that the only thing as enjoyable as a decent Star Wars rip-off, is a bad one!
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