This Island Earth Film Review

I've talked about alot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes in the past with alot of them being of really bad movies. However I very rarely talk about the movie that the MST3K crew riff on well I thought that i'd do exactly that by talking about a movie that was riffed by MST3K in the Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie just to see if it was a bad movie or if there's a hidden science fiction gem and so then join me as I review the film that proves that This Island Earth can be yours if the price is right with the film in question being called simply just "This Island Earth" enjoy.

The plot of this film is a group of atomic scientists are gathered at a mansion for an unknown reason but when two of them discover that there hosts are alien they find themselves on a mission to save a dying world. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the films plot yes being typical science fiction schlock but it's done in a way that it does make you want to know more about what's going on in the plot of the film rather then just what's being shown to us in the film itself. With the one major downside to the films plot being the fact that it is painfully thin so much so that the real plot of the film doesn't really come into play until about twenty minuets before the film comes an end when this is something that really should have been started alot sooner as we don't need to see alot of the scenes with the characters in the house but what we do need to see is more scenes with the characters on Metaluna as that is the planet that they are trying to save and yet so little time is sent there that it's destruction leaves little impact on us the audience whereas if the films plot had been done in a away that the characters got to Metaluna by about say the half way mark then there would have been time to show us alot of this planet with this allowing for scenes that would make the plot of the film the focus rather then the impressive looking Technicolor with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is The Creature Walks Among Us star Jeff Morrow as Exeter and It Came From Beneath The Sea star Faith Domergue as Dr. Ruth Adams. Also starring in this film is Rex Reason as Dr. Cal Meacham , Lance Fuller as Brack , Russell Johnson as Dr. Steve Carlson , Douglas Spencer as The Monitor , Regis Parton as The Metaluna Mutant , Robert Nichols as Joe Wilson and Karl L. Lindt as Dr. Adolph Engelborg.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With alot the films actors turning in some really good performances which is quite surprising as all of the actors in this film aren't that well known and therefor it would have ben foolish of anyone to expect a good performance from any of this films actors and yet that's exactly what they give us with all trying there best to elevate the films material and give us some good performances that granted are never going to be win any awards but are still alot more better the typical acting that you still find in schlock like this today. With the best actor in this film being Jeff Morrow as Exeter as he perhaps has the hardest job in the film from an acting point of view as not only does he have to act in make up that make it obvious he's an alien but for the first half of the film he essentially has to be the bad guy of the film and then for the rest of the film he has to be a good guy and he has to make that change happen in a singe second which is not easy for any actor to do and yet he does pull it off and while his acting isn't helped by the distracting make up that he has to wear that does detract from his performance with him having a likability about him that does shine through in his performance . With the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

This films character to be frank here are about as well written as they could have been given the time period and the fact that this is a science fiction film. As they all very much stock characters with Cal being the all American hero who is squared jawed and very good looking , Exeter is typical weird one and Ruth is the girl who is only there to be the love interest for Cal and that's it as yeah to say that these characters having nothing to them would be a huge understatement as you could replace these characters with any other character in the film and nothing would change plot wise as the films characters add nothing that's unique to them to the films plot with it feeling like that this films script was written over the course of a couple days when we know thanks to the films poster that it took them over two years to make the film. Therefor there really is no excuse for the characters to be as bad as they are with it feeling like that no effort was put into giving the film some decent characters and while other films like this from th same time period also had badly done characters that doesn't mean that this film had to copy that trend and infact it would have helped the film out quite a bit if they did something different and gave us more well thought out characters and yet for one reason of another the makers of this film just seemed less interested in the films characters and were hoping that the films impressive looking Metaluna Mutant would have been more then enough to make you forget that the films characters are rather weak when all it does is call attention to it due to the fact that we spend longer with these boring characters that are are given no reason to care about then we are the monster of the film therefor it would have been better if the makers of this film took the time to fully flesh out there characters in any form whatsoever.

As was mentioned at the start of this review this film was the film that was riffed on in the 1998 film Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. While the crew behind the show usually only riff on really bad movies here one of the reasons that they gave for choosing this movie was the fact that they believed that Cal shouldn't have been the main hero of the film as that honor should should have gone Exeter and they are one hundred percent right as Cal acts more like a villain when you think back on the film as he does everything he can to stop Exeter from stopping him home planet for getting destroyed and he barely helps when the mutant briefly attacks her near the end of the film yet he's meant to be the main hero of the film. Whereas if you look at Exeter he spends the vast majority of the film trying to help out his home planet and wen they fails he then tries to help Ruth and Cal escape from his own planet with Exeter even taking them back to Earth knowing full well that he won't have enough power in his ship to travel anywhere with him instead choosing to blow both himself and his ship up at the same time those are the things that make him a hero and while yes granted he acts more like a villain near the start of the film that's only because of the fact that we are seeing things from Cal's point of view whereas if we saw those exact same scenes from the point of view of Exeter he would seem to be more like the hero of the film, with Cal pretty much only being the hero of the film because of the fact that he is a classically good looking man and the fact that they had to give Ruth a love interest and that's really it.

This film is based on the 1952 novel of the same name by writer Raymond F. Jones who is mostly known for writing science fiction stories. After glancing at the books Wikipedia page it does appear as if the film is a very loose adaptation of the book with the book having alot of different characters and even a different ending to the film with even alot of the films plot being mostly made up in order to give the film a more complete ending as in the book there is a no Metaluna with the planet being called something else entirely and Exeter is called Jorgasnovara with the books plot sounding like it would make for a much more better movie then the plot of the itself was as the plot of the book has so many twists and turns in it that it could have worked as the plot of this film. Heck there's even an alien sleeper agent in the book that would have made for a great and shocking reveal in the film, why these changes were made is anyone's guess it can't have have been for budgetary reasons as everything in the book does look like it was something that could have been filmed very cheaply therefor there surely has to have been another reason for it maybe the makers of the film didn't like the fact that in the book its earth that's under threat and they thought that was to down beat of a story as the book does appear to make references to the still then recent World War 2 but at the same time tho when the plot of the moob is alot more better then the film adaptation then there is something clearly wrong and it makes you wonder why in an age where everything gets adapted and remade some young film maker hasn't take another look at the book and chose to re-adapt it as they very easily could do that and turn in a better version then what we get in this film.

Whilst this film is classed as being a horror film it is hard to fully justify that as the only thing that makes it a horror film even in the smallest sense of the word is The Metaluna Mutant and even then it doesn't show up until near the end of the film. Whilst the character does get alot of screen time when he appears in the film the fact that he only gets to have really two scares in the film and that's really it isn't enough of a reason to justify calling this film a horror film with there not really being horror elements in the film to fully justify that maybe if the character was featured alot more and did get to do alot more then maybe you could justify it being called a horror film but as it is the film is more of an action film then a horror film. This is despite the fact that the creature itself does look mostly really good as the creature looks good from the waist up the character does look really good and yet from the waist down he looks really bad as he is literally just wearing trousers for his legs there were plans for the legs to be build into the suit but something happens and those plans had to be scraped with this being the cheaper method that the makers of this film came up with and it's something that does make this character alot less scary t look at and watch as on paper this creature should have been really scary and yet because of the fact that he's literally wearing trousers for his legs he's not that scary to look at this is despite the fact that from the waist up he does look really good with the character having a giant exposed brain and an armour like body these are thing that combined do make him at to be this really creepy character and if they had stuck the landing with the legs then he would be exactly that but due to the fact that the characters legs let it down it does become alot more laughable then it does scary.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty five minuets and fifty five seconds. With this being a perfectly solid running tome for the film to have as while the film is a slow burner when it really didn't need to be one from a plot point of view there's not really all tat much to this films plot that requires it having a longer running time where as if there was more to this films plot then it would have made sense for this film to be that little bit longer and while the film would have worked all the more better if it did have a longer running time the films plot is so thin that if it was longer even by just five minuets then it would have ran the risk of stretching this films thing plot even thinner with the film having more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot with this being due to the fact that despite this film having a painfully short running time it is a slow burner of a plot when the film really can't afford to be a slow burner as it doesn't have the running time to be one and if the makers of this film did change it from being a slow burner then there could have been more scenes that did fully develop the films plot with the makers of this film being more focused on being a slow burner that they really didn't bother to give this plot any kind of plot development. The same thing is also true for the films lack of character development as well as while it was fairly common for films like this one to lack character development that doesn't mean it's a good thing as none of this films characters get any kind of character development with all of them ending in the exact same place that they started the film in with the makers of this film being more bothered about making sure that we know that Cal is hero of the film that none of the films characters can have any kind of character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. While there really isn't that much action in this film with there really only being two action scenes in the whole film and even then one of them is a chase scene that's one more then what there is a genuine scary scene in the film which is something that does make this film more of a science fiction action film then a straight forward science fiction horror film as there's nothing all that scary in the film but there is alot of action in the film. With the best action scene in the whole entire film being the escape from Metaluna as we get to see remote controlled asteroids hitting the planet left , right and centre all the while our heroes are also trying to deal with The Metaluna Mutant who is keeping watch on them on this one corridor to make sure that they get there memories wiped and it is something that does make Cal look like a villain as he straight up knocks Exeter even tho Exeter is literally telling him that he's trying to help him which is something that Cal would have realized if he just waited a few more seconds yet the action does stop there as even when they do make it back to the ship and take off from the planet they still have to deal with a really very badly injured Metaluna Mutant who attacks Ruth after she emerges from this pod that they have to go in to travel safely to other planets with it really not being being Cal or Exeter that wins them the day its the mutants own wounds that kill it with the rest of the films action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall whilst it very understandable why MST3K riffed on this movie as there is alot to make fun off when watching the film it is still a fairly decent film that is alot of more better then what it really should have been with it being film that really could have been alot more better then what it ended up being in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does eanr itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the mages that I personally used in this very from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.