Wordiezett So much average

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Scott LeBrun Tony Russel returns to his role of brave astronaut Commander Mike Halstead, in this follow- up to "Wild, Wild Planet", which had been the first entry in this "Gamma One" series of groovy Spaghetti Sci-Fi productions. Mike and associates such as Ken (Carlo Giustini) and Jake (the always welcome Franco Nero) must do battle with an alien race. Their natural form is of a green light / mist, and they possess other humans in order to enslave them and fulfill some unknown purpose."War of the Planets" is okay. This viewer clearly sees it more favorably than some people, but he still admits that it's something of a comedown. There's just not as much of the general weirdness and neat ideas as in "Wild, Wild Planet". There is also not a great deal in terms of genuinely surreal and colorful environments. The story (by Ivan Reiner and Renato Moretti) is more by the numbers, overall.The actors, too, don't appear too enthused. One standout is Michel Lemoine, who plays the possessed Captain Dubois. He has a most amusing look on his face the entire time. Handsome Russel is still a decent hero, but Lisa Gastoni as his love interest / fellow astronaut Connie isn't given anything truly substantial to do. It's also a hoot to see Mike taking orders from a general, who is his father, to boot!There may not be a lot to praise with this one, but if you're like me and fancy this sort of entertainment, you could do worse.Six out of 10.

lost-in-limbo Steadfast, but dreary and second-rate low-budget b-grade sci-fi matinée by Italian director Antonio Margheriti (better known for such films as; "Cannibal Apocalypse" and "Naked You Die"). Anyhow "The War of the Planets" (the second addition to the Gamma One series) is typical fodder, that can't escape its over melodramatic sub-plotting with stodgy dialogues and the direction is limply brought across. Its budget shows with the obviously fashionable miniature sets and models… as well as all-out plain and spotty effects (where the aliens are a glowing green mist or light of energy that possesses its victims). Some of the junky space sequences are rather laughable too (like astronauts floating in space, which is clearly by rope). The idea is workable, but the lacklustre execution is less accommodating despite some spaced-out atmospheric visuals and colourful set decors. Textbook performances (with the likes of Tony Russel and Franco Nero) come across shallowly flat, but there seems to be too many characters that at times it got hard to tell which space station / ship the action was focusing on. On the other hand the patchy score remains effectively uncanny. Not entirely awful, but still an utter drag.

Arun Vajpey I have seen this film just once - back in 1969 when it got a second release as a morning show in one of the local cinemas in my hometown, Bangalore. All right, it is blatantly outlandish and extremely B-movie from the Italian stable, but as with many European films of its genre, has its moments. I thought that some of the special effects were very impressive - particularly the HAPPY NEW YEAR formation spacewalk by the astronauts in the beginning of the film. The 'invasion' of humans by the green Martian 'space mist' is decidedly silly from modern standards, but that and several other scenes in the film do raise unintentional laughs. Tony Russell is the obligatory American lead intended for the Western market but it is nice to see a young Franco Nero in one of his early roles. The sets are occasionally creaky but not as bad as some reviews make out. In all, a worthwhile addition to anyones camp-movie collection if it is ever released on DVD.

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) Antonio Margheriti's second entry in the GAMMA ONE QUADROLIGY series of Italian Spaghetti Science Fiction movies is a marvel of form over substance. I love the ultra low budget production design, at times histrionic or wooden acting, the funky 1960s color schemes, and the brooding, mind-boggling sense of pending cosmic doom that infuses nearly every minute of the production. It is almost a perfect translation of the Spaghetti Western to SciFi terms: A good looking film composed of individual moments, some of which are actually quite evocative.The story is a different matter. I have absolutely no idea what is going on here in terms of the specifics, but as far as the broader premise I will hazard to try: Mankind is threatened by disembodied phantom beings from another galaxy who want to inhabit the bodies of "perfect specimens" of humanity in an ongoing effort to dominate the cosmos. United Democracies space soldiers Tony Russell, Franco Nero and good old Enzo Fiermonte do battle with them on an abandoned space station invaded by the Diafanoids during a New Year's eve celebration.So far so good, but there is almost a dizzying myriad of subplots, background stories, romantic interludes, poignant discussions, awkward spacewalk scenes, intense space battles, shootouts with flaming pistols, space meals with space food served in modular containers and dined on from ergonomically designed eating stations, hard-nosed space commanders barking orders at pretty female subordinates, and lots of footage of Margheriti's trademark spaceships with their propane special effects afterburners.It gets a bit too much to keep track of, which is also a quality shared by Spaghetti Westerns, and if Margheriti & his scriptwriters can be faulted for anything it is perhaps being more ambitious with their plotting than their production is capable of fulfilling. Contemporary viewers without a background in ultra low budget genre films will probably be annoyed by the miniature work with models in particular, which are more complicated but not much more advanced in their execution than what is seen in Margheriti's first two SciFi movies, 1960's ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE and 1961's BATTLE OF THE WORLDS. The spacewalk scenes are also somewhat limited in their effectiveness by their depiction in the form of actors in wire harnesses being swung back & forth on a sound stage by off-camera technicians.Considerations like those weren't important to Margheriti, however, who simultaneously made four films that together amount to far more than the sum of their parts. 1964 was actually a remarkable year for Margheriti, who made no less than eight movies including his undisputed masterpiece CASTLE OF BLOOD (DANSE MACABRE) and the Peplum classic GIANTS OF ROME in addition to the four Gamma One films. However he found the energy he had the verve to extend himself and take chances, creating a diverse body of work in only 12 months that put him at the forefront of the emerging Italian B movie circuit.Mario Bava may have been more of a visionary director (and his 1965 film PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES remains the single most impressive bit of Italian science fiction from the period) but Margheriti was a craftsman who was able to churn out product that pleased audiences in abundance. Perhaps it can be stated that where Bava was the more consummate artiste, Margheriti ran a production line studio which went for a bulk-rate approach. Instead of making just one movie with careful didactic attention he made four that together have more imagination, guile and sheer celebration of the act of making movies than all of the 3 contemporary Star Wars movies films put together.6/10, for being what it is.