Rating: **
Alternate Title: Santo Contra La Invasión De Los Marcianos
Review Date: 7/27/02
Cast: Santo, Wolf Ruvinskis, Belinda Corell
An extremely enjoyable outing from El Santo and pals. A flying saucer full of Martians comes to Earth demanding the human race to disarm themselves, remove their borders, and learn to live in peace and harmony - under the threat of total annihilation. No one takes the Martian threat seriously, so they decide to invade Mexico (the most peaceful nation in the world) and disintegrate its population as a show of force. What they didn't count on was the famous wrestler/superhero El Santo getting in their way. Stunned by his strength, they decide to capture him so the Martian scientists can disect him and study his muscles. But Santo proves to be too much for them, and eventually overpowers the Martians and destroys their ship. (naturally, there's a huge lever in the middle of the ship that activates the self destruct sequence, and people are repeatedly warned not to touch it) Like any good alien invasion film, the fate of the world hangs on the outcome of a wrestling match.
Apart from some wonderfully tacky special effects shots, the film is well made and the production values are high. The wrestling scenes are staged and filmed very well, and are very energetic and fun to watch (unlike some of the other wrestling movies I've seen). The Martians are absolutely hilarious. They are a bunch of buff guys in blonde wigs who wear tight silver pants, silver capes, and large silver helmets that house a disintegration ray (which we find out was also used by the inhabitants of Atlantis). They wonder why their appearance terrifies the humans so much (wouldn't you be scared of half naked guys covered in baby oil?), so they "disguise" themselves as regular humans. Laughably, they choose an ancient Roman motif and look even MORE ridiculous (not to mention more naked). But I'm not complaining because those Martian women are pretty hot - especially Belinda Corell. Yum... Good clean fun that emphasizes family values, social conscience, environmental awareness, and grown men beating the crap out of each other.