Godzilla Vs. Gigan

We are truly in the tail end of an era.

Jun Fukuda returns once more to direct in Godzilla Vs. Gigan, a not half bad entry in my eyes. Though you can tell the production was just as low budget as similar films of this period, I can't say this movie is at all bad. The plot once again features aliens from outer space but has one of the most interesting of twists to it. An illustrator for comics is contacted to work for a theme park that is building a Godzilla tower but treachery is afoot as oopsy daisy my employers are aliens, as they bring down King Ghidorah and newcomer Gigan to tear stuff up leading both Godzilla and Anguirus to stop the menace. Yeah, it's an original if nothing else stance on invading aliens. They come from a planet in the Space Hunter Nebula M (God I love terms like that) very similar to Earth hence their plans here, but they also have perception filters so they look human but are actually space cockroaches. Freaky, but props to keeping it fresh and unpredictable. Gigan also is a strange creature, with a Cylon eye, hooks for hands, and a buzzsaw on it's chest, an instantly recognizable and memorable foe for such a hacked and slashed budget. The plot focuses more on the humans but once again in a twist, for the last roughly 30 minutes of film it focuses mostly on the monsters fighting, with brief scenes of the humans. That's never occured. I think the longest kaiju fight up until this point was the stand off in Mothra Vs. Godzilla, cause you get the winged version and the 2 babies at the end. So it's one of the best entries if you want prolonged fight sequences. Granted there is a fair amount of stock footage from Ghidrah, Destroy All Monsters, and even Son Of Godzilla, but it's really not a lot. I do find it hard to rate though, because while I do not consider it sub-par I also don't think it's very good either. I'd give it a solid 2 stars, 5.5/10, and we only have 3 left. But the next one might not be so great either, so join me tomorrow for Rex Dart eskimo spy!

Godzilla Vs. Hedorah

You know guys it just dawned on me how kinda weird this film is you know? It's kinda trippy.

Ummm, so this certainly was a Godzilla movie. It had the roar and everything. I...got nothing. Yoshimitsu Banno's only directorial effort in the Godzilla series and the one disliked the most by producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, Godzilla Vs. Hedorah or the more generic term The Smog Monster is one of the most simultaneously fascinating entries and bewildering entries. The plot is primarily more about an issue than character dilemmas or intense sequences of events, specifically pollution. Back in the 70s there was a huge appraisal of the situation where the Earth was ecologically, reports were coming in of massive amounts of airborne pollutants in urban areas and littering was quite possibly a bigger deal than it is now. So Banno took a page out of Honda's book and wanted to make a Godzilla movie to bring up the issue, which is admirable, it really is I mean it was an issue in 1971 and still pretty rough today. I have no problem with that, but good God the movie is such a bizzare, odd, and all around unusual sequence of events that makes Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas seem resoundingly normal and even logical. So Hedorah I originally assumed was a monster bred by mass pollution, but found out just to make it even more surreal, that it originates from the one place that isn't corrupted by capitalism. Space! And thusly it goes on a rampage with Godzilla right on it's heels, who gives a hoot and wants to put an end to this putrid kaiju. There's too many odd occurances and moments to even fractionally bring up, all I can say is it's weird. And you know me, you know my tastes, so trust in me when I say this shit is out there man. I mean far out. Needless to say it wasn't well received when it came out but in recent years has gotten a serious second look at and a lot of people respect it for how bonkers it is which is fine. Even I can't say I hate it, but I'm far from loving it. While the effects are done quite well, with multiple forms of Hedorah to play about with and it has such a fascinating but properly disgusting design, and the film is shot well even with the menagerie of abnormalities in it, the music ain't pretty. It's like the one bad thing I can say about it, now I quite like the opening titles which is so transparent in it's Bond-esque presentation but the song is good. It has some psychedelic rock tunes thrown in which I personally love, but the rest just further cements how unashamedly wacko this film is. I almost urge people to watch this more than other entries of the Showa period just so not only can you experience the film, but just attempt to come to your own conclusion. I'm seriously blanking on a rating right now, so I must deduce my stance based on my ratings of the other films. Do I like it more than All Monster's attack? Objectively, no. But neither do I hate it or think of it as a shoddy production. I think I'm just gonna have to give it a solid 2 stars, 5/10, smack dab in the middle. Do I suggest you watch the film on any substances? A drug person can learn to cope with things like seeing their dead grandmother crawling up their leg with a knife in her teeth. But no one should be asked to handle this trip. No sympathy for the devil. Buy the ticket, take the ride, best of luck.

All Monster's Attack

One of the most attacked entries in the series, and was my personal favorite when I was young a long time ago.

I have a lot to explain and unpack. As I stated before, I haven't seen a lot of the Showa series. Before I started the Criterion set I only saw maybe seven, and you may know of this DVD set when I talk about it but when I was very young, I can't have even been 9 at the time I begged my Nan to buy this Godzilla set. It included Godzilla, Mothra Vs. Godzilla, Godzilla's Revenge, Terror Of Mechagodzilla, and as a bonus included Rodan. I was a big Godzilla fan and watched those DVD's countless times, but my absolute favorite was Godzilla's Revenge or All Monster's Attack as it's known in Japan. It's been nearly 20 years since I have watched it and it brought back a lot of memories, and I want to go on the record and say the japanese version is not bad. Not with a capital N. The english dub...is trash. Turrible, it's turrible. Stick to the original. The story follows a young boy named Ichiro who is a huge kaiju fan and is pestered by a group of bigger kids, he doesn't have many friends and spends time daydreaming about Monster Island where he can hang out with Minilla and Godzilla. Ishiro Honda directed this surprisingly, but brings his analytical eye to a rising thing that was occuring in Japan at that time that is still felt today. In the movie Ichiro doesn't spend a lot of time with his parents, his dad is a train conductor and his mom is a hostess, and most days after school he's on his own. Looking back that says a lot about why this was my favorite, it was very relatable to my life. I did have bullies, I did spend lots of time alone, I was a Godzilla fan, I did spend days after school on my own at the house even at such a young age. It wasn't a problem at all and I certainly don't hold grievances with my mom about it, nothing bad ever happened, but it was the way it was. Plus this had the most monster fights, sure now I know it's blatant stock footage from Ebirah and Son Of Godzilla but I had no idea those movies existed until later so this was my first exposure to Ebirah, Kamacuras, Kumonga, even that condor thing. I thought it was awesome! So I truly cannot hate on this movie even now after my own tastes and sensibilities have changed, because I remember it in such a positive light. I like the real world stuff with Ichiro, just seeing life from the perspective of a child at that time and place in the world is so damn interesting. The new monster stuff isn't bad though it is very scarce in this barely over 1 hour movie. Yes, you read that right. The total runtime is 1 hour and 9 minutes. But let me tell you, it did not feel that short back then. I did miss that wild ass jazz intro for the opening titles, but no matter which version you see that song will get stuck in your head for a minute, and the lyrics contain a subject that will be explicitly abundant in the next film. This movie, believe it or not, has a lot of thought provoking stuff, more so about social situations than anything. The film brings up bullying in a less intense fashion, and you could see the resolution of it in either a positive or negative way. Personally I was just thinking how much the world has changed since this movie. Parents whether single or married were working more, leaving kids to themselves at home, that's probably more prevalent now than ever. There's a throwaway line about a computer that could do homework, back then it was wishful thinking but now? Holy f*** how far we have come! The fact that Ichiro is looked after by a neighbor who actually invents toys is so different, I mean around that same time when I was that age I think the notion hit America that you need to keep a closer eye on your kids in that day and age especially if you were in a big city like me, I don't think I could trust my neighbors to look after my dirty laundry let alone a child. Geez, watching this movie has brought a plethora of different thoughts and memories to me, and I can't lie and have to admit I did enjoy my viewing of it after all this time. It's no masterpiece, but a pivotal part of why I am a Godzilla fan to this day, and I must pay it my respects for that. 2.5 stars, 5.5/10, and now we start winding down with only five entries left to review. Walks down memory lane is the only exercise I get.

Destroy All Monsters

Yes the "final" entry in the Godzilla series. Short but sweet I'd say.

I mean would Destroy All Monsters be the grand epic finale if it really was? Eh, it does a good job but it's no surprise that because this movie did so well the studio did a 180° and started cranking out more Godzilla movies. It's the last dream team entry of the entire series from Showa to Reiwa, Tanaka is producing, Honda is directing, Ifukube composes, and Tsuburaya does effects, and it really does show. I know some people give this movie a bit of flak because it's not the monster royal rumble but in all seriousness the pacing was excellent, for an hour and a half movie it barely feels like an hour long. You do get a good moderate amount of Kaiju action, from military scenes, to city destruction, to the big fight, so they got their bases covered and all is done very well. The story takes place in the futuristic year of 1999 where mankind has set a base on the moon, technology is pretty close to where we are now, and all the monsters have been rounded up (Somehow?) on Monsterland. But all goes to hell pretty quick when the Monsterland outpost is attacked, in such a fashion I was half expecting Cesar Romero or Frank Gorshin to be behind it, but no an alien species known as the Kilaak's have plans on what else? Taking over the world. OF COURSE! They quickly take control of the monsters and start an international attack on major cities, Rodan in Moscow, Mothra in Beijing, Godzilla in New York yes it's way better than the 98' version, leading the humans to thwart the aliens once more. Again, not a horrible plot though heavily similar to Invasion Of The Astro Monster, but I am happy the series continued on past this. The plot focuses more on the human aspect but it's not at all dull, there's always something going on whether it be shoot out's, new developments on the human's plans, space travel to the Kilaak base, it keeps you engaged. The monster stuff is handled very well too, with a greatly improved Godzilla suit, you get all new monsters added to this series that have been in other Toho movies like Varan and Baragon and Manda, the destruction scenes are good but of course the major highlight is the fight against King Ghidorah near Mt. Fuji and for good reason. The kaiju have their own unique attack styles, the fight goes for a decent length, it's hardly fair for Ghidorah and he gets curb stomped to death, it's good stuff. This movie easily has my favorite of all the opening titles so far, which is just an excuse for me to say Akira Ifukube is a master of his craft. Though the plot is familiar there's enough there to not just dismiss it as old hat, and you can tell every aspect got some serious attention in production. Some people say just watch the end, but I very much advise against it because it is a solid entry. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and we are more than halfway there. 6 to go, and another step towards a lifelong goal will be accomplished.

Ebirah Horror Of The Deep

Or Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster if you want the late night cable version.

I know people consider this to be one of the lesser Godzilla movies but I don't think it's bad at all. True it focuses primarily on the human characters, more so than usual even, with a man named Ryota searching for his brother lost at sea before the weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was tossed before setting foot on an island used for creating nuclear weapons. Soon he and his companions find a woman from Mothra's island and very soon Godzilla as well. So it's a matter of evading military forces, avoiding Godzilla, and trying to find a way past Ebirah the eponymous sea monster. Most Godzilla movies have about half if not 60% of the runtime devoted to the human characters, but here I'm almost willing to bet 85% of the runtime is devoted to the human characters. You don't get a lot of monster action or fighting until the last quarter of the movie. Originally this was supposed to be a King Kong film and it seems abundantly clear when you take that fact into consideration when watching the movie, but my question is would Mothra still be a part of the movie to get everyone off the island? Now why they swapped Kong for Godzilla is beyond me, he still has a lot of traits of the Toho King Kong and I don't mean the 30s japanese King Kong, and I do feel it would have worked better with the ape. This happens to be a significant entry not for plot elements but production elements, this is the final Godzilla film to feature Akira Takarada who's been around since the first film until the Heisei series, this is the directorial debut of Jun Fukuda in the Godzilla series who will pop up more as we go along, it's the first Godzilla movie not to have Eiji Tsuburaya doing the special effects since he was heading his own special effects company though I would say the effects are on par for the series, and both the adult Mothra and the twin fairies also wouldn't be seen till the Heisei series. So quite a few events to take note of for an entry that's less than good. It's not horrible by any stretch, the pacing is decent, the cast does well I even strongly approve that there is zero romance subplot with Daiyo, the plot though scarce of monster action isn't the worst I've seen, but I think it's safe to assume this is a definite skip in the filmography. 2 stars, 5.5/10, and we get a divisive entry in the series next time.

Invasion Of Astro Monster

Or pick whatever title you want, Monster Zero, Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero, it's a dime a dozen for these Godzilla movie titles.

Out of the Showa era, this is probably my favorite of the King Ghidorah entries. Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster was good, do not get me wrong and you could argue this could be a remake of that movie with a lot more sci-fi in it. The year is 196X, yeah back when movies had to be vague and stuff like this could actually happen, two astronauts voyage to a previously unknown planet orbiting Jupiter brilliantly named Planet X, we get one more and this will be the first Godzilla movie with a XXX (hoo-hoo), where an alien species makes first contact with Earth and requests their assistance. The aliens are attacked by Monster Zero or the kaiju formerly known as Ghidorah, and they want both Godzilla and Rodan to defeat it in exchange for the literal cure for cancer. We're not science fiction we are in fact, science fact over here at Toho. This movie was released in 1965, man had not yet landed on the moon but we're taking manned flights to Jupiter. I would be 86 years old and we still wouldn't have gotten to that point. Hell Star Trek wasn't even out yet, those 60s was the space age man. I was very happy to rewatch this movie again and to see it in it's native japanese was really nice. One curious thing to note is an american actor, Nick Adams was put in the movie for better international releases yet this is the only occurence at least in my memory that such a thing has occured in a Godzilla film. And even more so strange, he was dubbed in the japanese version which okay fine this is the edit for audiences in Japan, but that's never occured in another movie. I expected english audio with perhaps japanese subtitles, like when I watch something like Shin Godzilla with the japanese audio but english subtitles. Huh, how about that. I watch these to fully experience the performances sans dubbing, and yet I get dubbing in the original version. Blows my mind man. But enough of that, how's the rest? Pretty good, performances are really good, I like the designs of the spaceships and aliens, it's really friggin' cool to see Godzilla fight in outer space, I mean this is the movie that gives us the Godzilla victory dance for crying out loud, it's just a fascinating entry. And while the alien invaders plotline will get so dull even you'll want me to say something else happens, and this is where stock footage is first used albeit sparingly, I can't give this movie any good grief. It's solid, they play their cards right and still make a entertaining, special effects heavy, monster movie that doesn't go too weird or too quick. Keep in mind, weird is highly relative when it comes to this show. 3.5 stars, 7/10, and the directorial chair will be swapped out for Jun Fukuda next time.

Godzilla Raids Again

Yes, we're doing this. I got the Criterion collector set.

Released just 6 months after the original, Godzilla Raids Again is a unfortunately average entry in this series. Which sucks to say because the original is like a 9 if not a 10/10 film, it's a masterpiece. But here? Well let's talk about it. I genuinely did get to thinking before I ever watched this movie, who had the idea to make a sequel to Gojira? I mean it had a pretty strong definitive ending, so who gave the green light to make another? I think that's the most interesting thing about the Showa era is to find the reasoning as to why the series kept going on. Well I sort of have an answer, apparently the executive producer of Toho, Iwao Mori heard of the huge success the first film made and told long time producer Tomoyuki Tanaka to make another. That's right they pulled a Son Of Kong, ironic that the international re-release of King Kong inspired Toho to make Godzilla. But boy that's a decision that changed the scope of cinema forever. The story this time around is two air pilots discover an island where not just another creature of Godzilla's species is found but a mutated Ankylosaurus dubbed Anguirus, who in future films is a trusted ally but here a bitter rival. And that's basically it, the humans try to find a new way to handle Godzilla and minimize damage to Osaka while he battles another monster. Now I'm not going to judge the first kaiju clash, the crew members barely figured out how to make Godzilla work let alone a new monster suit which also had to fight one another. I respect it for introducing such a concept and trying their best to make it work. Which they mostly do but there's no way of getting around it, they goofed hard on production. The camera crew was supposed to undercrank the camera so you would see the appropriate speed for the monsters, but they didn't so when you see Godzilla or Anguirus on screen they move in real time, it's not slowed down to where they look like they are huge monsters with significant weight to them. It literally looks like two guys in suits scuffling in a model city. Yes that's what it is, but there is an art for such special effects, and it's not here. Sometimes it looks totally fine but this does add to the more "cheap" quality of the film. I genuinely don't think it's bad, but there are elements I dislike. Which is two aspects, but they are big important aspects. First is the music, the score is subdued at best with hardly any music throughout, now if this was a film made in 1932 I could forgive it because sound in movies was new, but here it's blatantly obvious. The only scene where it works effectively is when they show news footage from the 54' film where Godzilla levels Tokyo, it makes sense why it wouldn't have sound you needed actual equipment to capture sound back then so if only the footage survived it only makes sense there's no sound recordings with it. But the biggest issue and what drags this movie down so much is the pacing and the movement from scene to scene. This feels more like a film from the 1940s when it comes to the human scenes, they have the full gambit of a romance scene, a scene set in a club with a lounge singer, and even a big group laugh scene and spoiler alert, none of it feels like it's connected to a giant monster movie. They even have this fraking bizzare sequence where for 5 minutes we follow these escaped prisoners from a convoy in the middle of a monster fight scene. Are you real right now?? And it is horrendous writing at that because I know the filmmakers were like, "We need to get Godzilla back on land somehow, how do we do it?" so like the prisoners steal a car, with really noticeable jump cuts as the police pursue them, they crash the vehicle into like a factory or something, everything blows up, and Godzilla sees the mass of flames and goes to it. That is the most bullshit writing I have ever seen in a Godzilla movie. What the fu-, oh my God! I'm absolutely speechless! The best part of the entire movie isn't even in the movie, it's in the english dub, this is the movie that has the line banana oil. Find this clearly early 2000s documentary, it's called It Came From Japan and you will hear George Takei bring this up. It's amazing. And thank God that Toho broadened their horizons and did stuff like Mothra and Rodan before getting back to Godzilla cause they needed time to actually work out a movie. This is a definite skip in the annals of Godzilla history, I'd give it 2 stars, 5.5/10, but they came back swinging with King Kong Vs. Godzilla so balance was achieved. Now we gotta jump alllll the way to Invasion Of The Astro Monster, go read the previous reviews and I'll see you back here next time.

King Kong Vs. Godzilla

I find it so bizzare that the Criterion Collection release has the english dub and not the original japanese release. Cause every other film is in native japanese so it's the black sheep of the set.

However I found out, 45 minutes into the american dub by the by, that it does include the japanese cut. On the bonus disc. And I will state right now I am so happy I watched the japanese version, now obviously I don't have a stigma toward english dubs of Godzilla movies, they practically introduced me to this genre, nor am I a snob and say, "Well the japanese version is obviously better." but I had way more fun and got more enjoyment out of it in the japanese cut. Like I said, I haven't seen most of the Showa era films so I have no nostalgic ties to english dubs, and I mainly want to experience it how audiences in Japan would have. So that's my whole tangent on that, how's the movie? Absurd but highly entertaining, a classic in it's own right, not only the most attended Godzilla film ever but one of the most succesful box office films in japanese cinematic history. The story involves a pharmaceutical company who hear of a specific berry found on an island, and quickly find out the island is home to King Kong. Meanwhile the iceberg that contained Godzilla for 7 years melts away and the king of the monsters does what he does best. Somehow, I don't know or never will know how, they craft a raft for Kong and bring him to the mainland and pretty soon the bets are on to see who wins the fight of the century. There's more to it of course, even a fair amount of satire produced by Ishiro Honda concerning television programmes and their sponsors which is pretty sad to say it still holds up all this time later. I dare you to say television companies wouldn't capitalize on two monsters brawling. But despite it's more outlandish moments like Kong being transported via weather balloon, or the fact that when the, and I want you to pay attention here, pharmaceutical company meets the natives of Kong's island and gives them cigarettes including to a child, or that electricity powers King Kong up and I quote, "Like Popeye with his spinach", it's still a very good and greatly entertaining film. The effects look great, from the octopus attack that literally was done by a real octopus, to the miniatures, this Godzilla suit is my third favorite from the Showa Era, and while Kong looks like ass it still works for me. And I wasn't twiddling my thumbs waiting for the human scenes to end, I thought the human plot was quite good and I do like these characters. It's a hit for sure, but I think maybe even more so than the 70s Godzilla movies, this is the movie where it depends the most on how far you can stretch your suspension of disbelief. If you can't roll with even a smidge of what I disclosed to you here, you're not gonna like it even a bit. If you can, oh boy you gonna have a real grand time good buddy. I loved it, truthfully and fully, I can't wait to see what they do with it in the new one, I'm so happy I own it. 4 stars, 8/10! Rematch, here we come.