I review a Kaiju film a day leading up to the new Godzilla film

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Intro: Sorry, I missed yesterday. I have quite a few conflicts so the release of the reviews may be a bit odd. I hope to have it sorted out by Monday though. back on topic, here's a look at an obscure Toho film, King Kong Escapes.

Plot: The sinister Dr. Who has constructed a robot King Kong named Mechani-Kong. He is using it to big out a rare and powerful radioactive material called Element X. He is doing this for a lady named Madame Piranha (Mie Hama), who represents a mysterious country (implied to maybe be North Korea). However, the robot fails in retrieving the element. Piranha is ready to back out of the deal, but Dr. Who insists he can obtain the element for her.

Meanwhile, a United Nations sub makes a brief stop on Mondo Island. The commander, Carl Nelson, tells his two other crew members Jiro Nomura (Akira Takarada) and Susan Watson, that the island is said to be home to the legendary King Kong. The three explore the island a bit, and a native warns them not to explore because they are trespassing on Kong's home. Carl and Jiro go further while Susan stays back. She is soon attacked by the massive dinosaur Gorosaurus. Kong awakens and takes a romantic interest in Susan. Seeing she is in danger, Kong decides to fight Gorosaurus, who proves to be a deadly opponent. Kong manages to defeat the beast and the three escape back to their submarine and have a run in with a ginat sea serpent that Kong deals with easily. The crew decodes to report their story to the United Nations Council.

Dr. Who arrives on Mondo island with the intention of stealing Kong and bringing him to mine Element X. They use ether to put him to sleep and transport him away. The doctor also shoots the islander who says they must not take Kong away. The crew comes back to Mondo to research Kong, but find that he is gone. Back at Who's lab, hypnosis is being used to command Kong to dig out the radioactive material. Kong eventually breaks free of the control and attempts to escape, but Who keeps him locked up in the gave. Carl, suspecting Who has something to do with Kong's disappearance, arrives at Who's lab, who has been expecting them. They are taken to a jail cell but Carl is summoned by Piranha, who tries to seduce him and lure him over to their side. he refuses, angering Who. Carl is taken to another room and Who freezes the cell that Jiro and Susan are in, hoping to kill them. While Carl is missing, Who comes to the cell to kill them both unless they tell him how to get Kong under control. while he is threatening, Kong starts throwing a tantrum and nearly destroys the complex. This allows Jiro and Susan to escape the cell as Who and his henchmen try to handle the situation.

The three meet up and Madame Piranha tries to offer her kindness, but Who captures them again. Kong flees from the base (which is at the North Pole) and swims towards Japan. Dr. Who goes after him on his boat with Mechani-Kong and our heroes in toe. Piranha brakes them out again and the three jump off the boat when it arrives in Tokyo bay and swim to the mainland. Kong, who is already loose in Tokyo, is soon confronted by Mechani-Kong. The two seem evenly matched. The real Kong is faster, but the robot will not tire out. Mechani-Kong grabs Susan and begins to climb up Tokyo Tower. Kong climbs up after him. While this is going down, Madame Piranha confronts Dr. who, prepared to kill the mad scientist. The doctor easily disarms her and shoots her in the arm. Kong and Mechani-Kong arrive at the top and both try to push each other off. The robot drops Susan but Kong catches her and places her on a safe platform. Piranha makes one last attempt to thwart Dr. Who and tries to destroy the control device, but who shoots her twice in the chest, killing her. However, her interference plus Kong's strength causes the robot to fall and shatter.

Dr. Who attempts to escape, but Kong follows his boat in hot pursuit. He manages to crush the boat, kill Dr. Who, and finally end the conflict. he then swims back home to Mondo Island.

Reflection: Let me address the elephant in the room. Yes, the villain's name is Dr. Who. However, he has no connection to the time lord what so ever. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the characters. It is interesting to note that two of our leads are American actors. they don;t have much to them. Even veteran series actor Akira Takarada doesn't offer much to the film. Where the film really shines though are the villains. If you like old school James Bond, you'll love Dr. Who. He's a stereotypical mad scientist hell-bent on taking over the world and he is so much fun to watch. Mie Hama does a great job as the seductive and mysterious Madame Piranha (Madame X in the dub).

The monsters are pretty hit or miss. Kong himself has a pretty bad suit design. Very unconvincing and ugly looking. On the other hand, Mechani-Kong is a cool villain monster. The suit looks good and his belt of grenades is just plain awesome. He also serves as the inspiration for a certain metallic foe we'll be seeing soon. Gorosaurus, while having a small part, is really cool. He has a unique roar and one of the most bizarre attacks. He does a kangaroo style kick by standing on his tail and thrusting his feat forward. It's a unique and quirky power that separates him from the other kaiju.

Ifukube's music is present again, but nothing really too ground breaking or memorable, though one of the songs sound vaguely like Rodan's theme.

This one is kinda meh. You get some enjoyable villains, both in the human and monster department, but the main characters just aren't that interesting and are pretty bland. Not to mention the hideous Kong design. I don;t really recommend this one unless you're a huge kaiju fan.

Final Score: 2.5/5
 
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Intro: What's better than four monsters? ELEVEN! Or is it? This classic is famous for bringing together eleven of Toho's monsters, but how does it hold up? Let's find out in Toho's battle royale, Destroy all Monsters.

Plot: In the distant year of 1999, all of Earth's monsters have been rounded up and relocated to Monsterland, also known as Monster Island. The residents include Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, Varan, Mothra, Manda, Baragon, Kumonga, Minya, and Gorosaurus. They live here in peace and can't escape due to the forcefield system in place. However, one day all contact with the Monster Island base is lost. Dr. Yoshida orders Captain Yamabe to leave the base on the moon and take his rocket, the Moonlight SY-3. He and his crew take their ship to Monster island and find that the entire team there is gone. They come across Kyoko and Dr. Otani who are acting like they are hypnotized. They take the crew to meet a group a feminine aliens named the Kilaaks. They demand that the people of Earth surrender or else they will face total annihilation.

True to their word, the kaiju begin attacking major cities across the globe. Godzilla in New York, Rodan in Moscow, Mothra in Beijing, Gorosaurus in Paris, and Manda in London. Otani and Kyoko, who are being mind controlled by the Kilaaks, explain that all the monsters are under remote control. They say that if humanity surrenders, they will call off the monsters. The SY-3 crew refuses and a gunfight ensues between the crew and the Monster Island research team. The Kilaaks and Kyoko disappear and the crew takes Otani prisoner.

Otani is questioned by Yamabe and Yoshida. He does not respond to any questions. Suddenly, he jumps from the window and kills himself. When the two go to inspect the body, Kyoko and other people possesed by the Kilaaks stop them and try to take the body, but they are stopped by the INTERPOL agents who had been watching. They intervene and the Kilaaks escape. When Otani's body is examine at the hospital, they find a small metal sphere inserted into his skin beneath his ear. Similar, albeit larger objects are being found all over the world. It is deduced that this is how the Kilaaks are controlling people and the monsters. The government now has an easy way to identify the people who are mind controlled by the small incision underneath their ear where the object was placed.

Kyoko however can't be discovered because the mind control device lies not underneath her ear, but in her earnings. She passes through all security guards who stop to inspect her as she gets off her train in Tokyo. However, shit begins to go down in Tokyo. Rodan arrives and begins attacking the city. He is soon joined by Godzilla, Manda, and Mothra. The military tries to retaliate, but the monsters reduce Tokyo to rubble easily and Kyoko escapes to the hidden Kilaak base under Mt. Fuji. Meanwhile, the humans have figured out how to reverse the Kilaak's control, but they need to destroy their moon base before they can. Kyoko shows up at the United Nations headquarters, again requesting humanity to surrender. While there, Yamabe rips off her earnings, breaking the mind control. They ask if she has any information, but she has no memory of being controlled.

Yamabe takes the rocket to the moonbase and infiltrates the base. They kill the Kilaaks, who need extremely high temperatures to survive. However, the mind control device is still functional. They manage to cut it down with their laser technology. the humans take control of the monsters and direct them to the Kilaak base on Earth to destroy it. However, the Kilaaks send out their own monster to battle the Earth monsters, King Ghidorah! The Earth's monsters all team up and manage to kill the golden hydra once and for all. However, the aliens seem to have one more monster in their arsenal. The lightning fast fire dragon! The SY-3 goes after the flying monster who the discover to be a flaming UFO. They manage to take it down as Godzilla tramples the Kilaak base, ending the threat once and for all.

The monsters return home to live out the rest of their days in peace.

Reflection: Let's get something out of the way. This movie was made in 1968. Back then, everyone assumed 1999 would be futuristic and advanced. So yeah, the movie is a little dated.

Now for the characters. There's nothing inherently bad about them, but they're pretty bland and don't offer much to the plot. Kenji Sahara has his obligatory role. the Kilaak aliens are very creepy, but they aren't as compelling as the Xians from Astro Monster.

The monsters are really where this film shines, there are eleven of them in the movie. Or at least, eleven of them appear. A couple of them really only have cameos and don't offer much. I'll go through all the monsters.

Godzilla has the most screen time. He gets cool destruction scenes as well as being a big part in the fight with Ghidorah and bein g the one to kill the Kilaaks by destroying their base. The new Godzilla suit is really good and is a personal favorite of mine. Anguirus appears for the first time since 1955's Godzilla Raids Again. Anguirus has never looked better. The suit used for him is fantastic and it's great to see him back. There's a memorable scene during the fight with Ghidorah where he bites down on one of the dragon's necks and Ghidorah flies through the air with Anguirus still attached. Rodan is back as well. He gets two destruction scenes. However, he does not participate much in the fight with Ghidorah. he does manage to get his ass kicked by the Fire Dragon though. varan is the film for about a total of five seconds. I'm not exaggerating. For those wondering, Varan starred in his own kaiju film back in 1968. I don't own it, so that's why I didn't review it. But yeah, you could've removed him and the film would not be any different.

Mothra also appears, though only in caterpillar form. Her inclusion on Monster Island is strange because she is a kind monster who already lived on Infant island and posed no threat to humanity. anyway, she gets two destruction scenes and only fights Ghidorah by spraying him with some web from a distance. Manda gets a destruction scene. He also starred in a film I don't own, Atragon. Baragon also suffers from the same problem as Varan. he is only in the movie for a few seconds. He was planned to have bigger part, but the suit was in bad shape and his role of destroying Paris was given to Gorosaurus. Kumonga appears in the movie as well, but only to spray some web at ghidorah with Mothra towards the end. Minya is also in the movie and actually helps a little bit in the fight with Ghidorah. He fires a smoke ring that actually strangles his middle head. The final earth monster is Gorosaurus. he surprisingly plays a big part. He smashes Paris to rubble and actually manage to knock down the mighty Ghidorah with his powerful kangaroo kick.

Then there's Ghidorah himself. It's always cool to see him. He unfortunately gets his ass handed to him by all the monsters ganging up against him. He doesn't feel as threatening as he used to.

This film is notworthy for being the last film that the dream team of Ishiro Honda, Tomyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Akira Ifukube working together. Honda and Ifukube took a short break and Tsuburaya died shortly after this movie. Tanaka was the only one who stayed in his role for every movie until 1995. On the subject of Ifukube, his music is excellent as always. All his staples are in here and his military theme for this movie is quite memorable.

Does this movie have problems? Yes it does/ Can it drag at times? Yes. However, the parts that are good are really good. The novelty of seeing some of these creatures interact is great.

Final Score: 3/5
 
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Intro: This next film is widly regarded in the fanbase to be the absolute worst Godzilla film. Is it really as bad as they say? Let's take a look at All Monsters Attack

Plot: Ichiro is a young kid living in Tokyo. His parents always work late and are rarely home. He is very shy and at school he is pushed around by a grip of bullies lead by Gabara. He usually stays with his neighbor, a toy maker named Shinpei, who lives in the apartment room across from them. Ichiro is obsessed with the kaiju of Monster Island. To escape his real life, he day dreams about going to Monster Island. While there in his dreams, he watches Godzilla battle three Kamacuras and the giant lobster Ebirah (from a movie I don't own). He also looks at the other island residents, including Anguirus, Manda, and Gorosaurus. While there, he also meets up with a human sized Minya, who can talk! He makes friends with the young kaiju, who is also being bullied by a giant monster named Gabara.

Shinpei wakes up Ichiro to tell him about when his mother is coming back from work, but Ichiro is angry that he was woken up, saying that Minya was gonna take him to go see Godzilla. He tries to go back to sleep but can't. Instead, he sneaks out and decides to go play in an old abandoned warehouse. In the same warehouse, two bank robbers are hiding out from the police. When they see Ichiro, they quickly hide, but one drops his driver's license. Ichiro finds it and decides to take it back home. The more competent of the two robbers tells the other to follow Ichiro.

Ichiro goes back to sleep at home and dreams about going back to the island. While there, he watches Godzilla do battle with Kumonga and some fighter jets, as well as see Minya run away in fear from Gabara. Minya then grows to his regular size and meets up with Godzilla, who tries to teach him how to fire his atomic ray. However, Minya can only blow smoke rings unless Godzilla steps on his tail. His dream is interrupted when the robbers grab him and take him back to their hideout as hostage. The criminals also decide to steal Shinpei's car to escape. While at the hideout, Ichiro falls asleep again. In his dream he concvinces Minya to stand up for himself and fight Gabara. He manages to fight back and defeat Gabara. Godzilla comes to congratulate him, but Gabara gets up and tries to fight Godzilla himself. He is no challenge and Godzilla easily does away with him.

In the real world, Ichiro wakes up and goes all Home Alone on the kidnappers. He outsmarts them, beats them up with traps, and escapes, using the lessons he learned from Minya. Shinpei is already outside the hotel because he found his stolen car filled with the robbed money. He had called the police and they arrive shortly and arrest the two crooks. The next day, Ichiro is confronted by the real life Gabara. Ichiro finally stands up for himself and kocks Gabara on his ass, showing that he won't get pushed around anymore. Gabara now respects him and the two become friends.

Reflection: Where do I begin with this movie? It's very weird and bizarre, but is it really that bad?

This was the first Godzilla film made to be a children's movie. As such, the lead is a young boy. As with a lot of child actors, he can be painfully bad and annoying at times. Kenji Sahara cameos as Ichiro's father. Outside of him though, no one really stands out. Shinpei is a goffy character and can be enjoyable. Oddly enough, he's played by the same actor who played Dr. Who in King Kong Escapes.

The monsters are very lacking. Why? BECAUSE ALL THE MONSTER SCENES ARE JUST STOCK FOOTAGE. That's right, all the fight scenes are recycled footage from older Godzilla movies. As such, the continuity is a mess because the Godzilla suit is constantly changing between scenes. there are a few new scenes, but those are just with Godzilla, Minya, and Gabara. Now let's talk about Gabara. Good lord what a hideous design. It looks like a cross between a human, a cat, and a toad. He's got bumpy, warty skin and shoots electricity from his fingers. Oh well, he's unique I guess.

And then there's Minya. AND HE FUCKING TALKS! I get it's trying to be a goofy kid's movie, but hearing that voice coming out of Minya is just unsettling. Kaiju should never be allowed to talk, period. Also, Minya can now change his size at will. It seems really odd and out of place here.

With everything I'm saying, you probably think this is a horrible piece of shit movie. Now, let me defend it a bit. There's an actual reason why it's all stock footage, and why Minya can change size. Because in this movie, Godzilla is not real. This movie is about a shy kid who finds comfort in watching Godzilla movies. That's why all the scenes are reused. He's remembering all the movies he's seen. It's a very different and unique take on Godzilla.

Is this a good film? Probably not. Is it a good Godzilal movie? I wouldn't call it that at all. But, if you look at this as a different, yet harmless kid's film, it's passable. Minya's cute I guess and it has a good message for kids. Would I recommend it? No, not at all. If you ever have kids some day, this could be a good film to show them if you want them to get into Godzilla.

Final Score: 2/5
 
Nick Fury said:
I don't know, how many times has New York been destroyed?
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you can't destroy all of new york, it's too big. you'd need at least a dozen nukes

oh, and i completed my terminator 2 review. it puts your review to shame because no one can reply tl;dr to it
 
Nick Fury said:
Dr. Javelin said:
Nick Fury said:
I don't know, how many times has New York been destroyed?
Click to expand...
you can't destroy all of new york, it's too big. you'd need at least a dozen nukes
Click to expand...
......


Just how dense are you?
Click to expand...
: )

perhaps i should have created a clearly joking reply so someone as dense as you can understand it, so here goes

you can't destroy new york because
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Oh, I forgot your massive hard-on for America.

I get the feeling you won't enjoy the new Godzilla movie if you see it. The theme of the movie is man vs. nature, and man always looses. I'm not sure of you will be able to handle the fact that the American military won't be able to win against Godzilla.
 
nah, hollywood's portrayal of the military is almost always unrealistic. it's something i'm used to at this point

they're always trying to push some silly message and so they brush aside the details. if you're going to push a message, it's better to demonstrate what actually happened and let it speak for itself, like in saving private ryan. then instead of hammering in a message you just let people interpret what happened for themselves, and everyone takes away a personal message from the movie

i guess that's just my opinion though. if you want a message to be in your face, go ahead
 
Nowhere in my post did I say that the theme would be up front and in your face. The film is trying to capture the essence of the first movie, that had a theme about the horrors of nuclear energy and how nuclear weapons should never be used. These messages were shown by the imagery of a ruined city, people dying in a hospital, and a physical embodiment of the bomb, Godzilla. The theme was there, but hidden. But the theme is easy to pick up on.
 
w/e, our military would still be able to destroy a giant lizard monster if one existed

i don't think you fully understand just how powerful the entire us air force is, let alone the fact that they can launch missiles from miles away and hit their target (made even easier by the fact that godzilla is a huge target)

with the entire air force launching tactical missiles and tactical nukes, it wouldn't be long before godzilla succumbed to the sheer number of weapons we can bring about. sure, there will be some military activity in the movie. but they'll probably resort to hollywood tactics such as flying right next to godzilla even though their weapons have a range of several miles, not to mention the fact that we likely won't see the entire military mobilized. if you see only a dozen fighters, that's just a fraction of what the us is capable of

just going by the wikipedia page, the air force has an absolutely staggering number of aircraft of all kinds, and that's not even counting the amount of aircraft the navy has and would be able to launch against godzilla before he even hit land

the most fighters you ever see in movies is a dozen, and they're usually using machine guns at close range. absolutely unrealistic. if you think what you saw in pacific rim was a realistic military response to a kaiju, you're absolutely, hilariously wrong
 
Except for the fact that Godzilla is shrugging off nukes like they are nothing. Not to mention his insane level of regeneration that heals any wounds pretty quickly.
 
If he can shrug off 25 megatons of TNT and keep walking, then he's just OP and I shall treat him in the same category as Superman.
 
Godzilla being that strong is justified. He's a metaphor for the nuclear bomb, a walking natural disaster. Are hurricanes and earthquakes OP because we can't kill them? Godzilla is a natural disaster, that's why we can't kill him. If you can kill an earthquake, please let me know. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch another kaiju film.
 
Nick Fury said:
Godzilla being that strong is justified. He's a metaphor for the nuclear bomb, a walking natural disaster.
Click to expand...

If he's a metaphor for the nuclear bomb, then he is a walking unnatural disaster.
 
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Intro: What do you get when you have a Godzilla film with none of the original creators? A very strange film called Godzilla vs. Hedorah.

Plot: Fishing has been poor and several ships are destroyed. Dr. Yano examines a strange tadpole like creature found in the water. He has never seen anything like it and believes it is connected to the shipping disasters. Dr. Yano and his son Ken go to the shore and Yano goes scuba diving. While doing so, he is attacked by the strange tadpole, who leaves a horrible burn on his face.

Yano is taken back home and Ken names the bizarre creature Hedorah. Several TV reporters come to take pictures. On the TV they see that Hedorah has attacked another ship. That night, Ken dreams about Godzilla coming and stopping Hedorah. Meanwhile, Hedorah has come up on land, now walking on all fours. He heads to the factory and begins inhaling all the smog from factory. His meal is interrupted by Godzilla, who warns the smog monster to back off. While this is happening, Ken's uncle Yukio is getting hammered at a night club. His girlfriend Miki is working as a dancer there. As the two kaiju are fighting outside, bits of Hedorah's body made of sludge leak into the club, causing everyone to evacuate. Yukio and Miki climbs into their car and watch Godzilla and Hedorah battle it out. The smog monster eventually retreats.

Yano studies the bits of Hedorah from the city. He deduces that the creature is of alien origin and lives off of the pollution in the water and air. The next day, Hedorah reappears in the city, this time in a flying form. It sprays a deadly acidic mist that can turn people into bones. Godzilla shows up again to fight but the acidic mist and Hedorah's corrosive hide cause Godzilla a great deal of trouble. Hedorah flies away to spread his destruction across the mount Fuji area while Godzilla collapses. Dr. yano decides that the only way to kill hedorah would be to dry him out and cause him to loose all his moisture. The smaller samples of Hedorah were shwon to react this way and crumble to dust when dried out. He contacts the SDF and has them begin constructing large electrodes.

Yukio and several other young people are throwing a party on Mount Fuji, serving as an end of the world type party. They sing and dance until Hedorah arrives at Mt. Fuji, now in his massive final form that dwarfs even Godzilla. Yukio and the others try to fight back by throwing torches, but Hedorah's acid brings them to their knees and kills them. Ken and Miki just barely escape as Godzilla shows up once again. The military is setting up the electrodes and plan on luring hedorah over to them. Unfortunately, the battle between the two destroys the power lines, cutting off power to the electrodes, sending everyone into panic. Hedorah eventually manages to knock Godzilla out and he advances towards where the electrodes are. If Hedorah passes through before the power can be destroyed, then it's a lost cause. When Hedorah enters range, Godzilla gets up and blasts his atomic ray, supercharging the electrodes and easily dealing with Hedorah.

Godzilla inspects the body. As he tears it apart, another Hedorah rips through the husk of the old one, flying away. Godzilla pursues by using his atomic ray as jet propulsion and flies after it. Godzilla manages to destroy the last Hedorah and roars in triumph. yet as he leaves, we see a couple more shots of the polluted ocean, which begs the question. Could another Hedorah ever appear?

Reflection: The tone of this film is all over the place. At times, it's a light hearted kid's movie, like All Monsters Attack, yet at other times, it has some horrifying imagery. Like the people being reduced to bones in front of a kid's eyes. It can definitely make the movie feel odd.

The characters are nothing special. The kid is annoying and the only really likable character is Yano. Eveen then, he doesn't do much.

The monsters are probably this film's trongest aspect. The Godzilla suit is reused from DAM and AMA, but it's beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Something I really like about Godzilla in this one is his personality. He reacts to Hedorah's antics and even shows anger, shock, and venegence in this movie. Hedorah is a great villain kaiju. He can be downright terrifying in some scenes. Take for example the scene where he inhales the smog. The human like breathing noises are very unsettling and creepy. His regular roars and cries sound very unworldy and alien. He's also one of the deadliest kaiju ever. He can choke you with his poison mist, burn you with his sludge, bombard you with eye beams and is even deadly to the touch. Not since King Ghidorah has there been a kaiju this deadly to Godzilla.

If you can't tell, there is a very strong message against pollution. It's a very good message that harkans back to the original film. Sadly, the theme is shoved down your throat a little too much in my opinion. The bleak, ambiguous ending sets up a sequel, but that never ended up happening. In fact, Tanaka hated the film so much he told the director that he would never work at Toho again. And that's why Banno hasn't directed a Godzilla movie since. A shame, he planned a sequel, but Tanaka wasn't having any of that.

There are quite a few people who like this one. I can see where they're coming from, but I never cared for it too much.

Final Score: 2.5/5
 
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Intro: With Ifukube and Tanaka back, this film must be great! Right guys? Right? *sigh* Here's Godzilla vs. Gigan.

Plot: Gengo Kotaka is a manga artist. Unfortunately, no one is interested in his work. That is until he is recruited to help out with the World Children's Land, an upcoming theme park filled with rides and even a giant statue of Godzilla himself. The supposed head of this park is named Kubota and he is obsessed with the idea of world peace. When Gengo goes to his office the next day, he bumps into a woman running out of the building frantically who drops a strange tape that Gengo picks up. Kubota rushes out of the building with several security guards and asks where the woman went. He misdirects them and heads home.

At his house, he is confronted by the woman, Machiko, and her friend Shosaku. They explain that Machiko's brother Takashi has been working at the Children's Land yet hasn't come home for three days. They play the tape recording that they stole. the waves travel far as they effect Godzilla and Anguirus all the way over on Monster Isalnd. Anguirus leaves to go investigate. Gengo goes back to the children's Land and comes across the real head of the organization, a young man simply referred to as The Chairman. He looks to only be about 17. He rambles on to Gengo about World Peace and how that is their goal. Gengo returns home to tell his new friends and they have suspicions about the two men, especially when they find Takashi's lighter in the building. The three split up to investigate and they manage to find info on Kubota and The Chairman, who's real name is Fumio. It turns out that Fumio and Kubota have been dead for a year!

Inside the Godzilla Tower at World Children's Land, Kubota and Fumio talk about their plans for the Planet Earth, revealing that they are aliens who hail from a nebula far from Earth. They also force Takashi to work day and night so their plans can be completed. Gengo returns again and manages to make a brief contact with the locked away Takashi. He is confronted by Kubota, who asks him what he is doing here. Gengo responds that he wished to discuss more about their business deal but Kubota kicks him out. He hands Gengo a pack of cigarettes which contain tracking devices. Shortly after Gengo returns home, Kubota and his thugs invade the house, steal the tape back, and attempt to kill the group. Gengo's friend Tomoko arrive home and sees what is going on. Being a black belt in karate, she takes out the thugs but Kubota escapes.

They try to report the situation to the police, but they don't believe her. Unfortunately, there are bigger issues at hand. Godzilla and Anguirus escape Monster Island and are heading for shore. At the same time, the aliens have called upon two space monsters. King Ghidorah, and a new monster named Gigan! Gengo and Tomoko try to break Takashi out of the tower, but they are thrown in the cell with him. Machiko and Shosaku try to formulate a plan to get them out. At the same time, Ghidorah and Gigan land on Earth they destroy Tokyo rather easily until Godzilla and Anguirus show up to fight. The four monsters battle it out as Machiko and Shosaku manage to bust the other three out of the tower. They go to the army and tell them that the tower must be destroyed.

The fight has moved closer to the Godzilla Tower. Godzilla, upon seeing the tower, mistakes it for another Godzilla and charges towards it. A powerful laser beam is shot from the tower's mouth that brings Godzilla too his knees. Our heroes, using a combination of witt, dynamite, and alien incompetence manage to destroy the tower, killing the aliens and freeing Gigan and Ghidorah from mind control. After some more fighting, the two space monsters retreat and Godzilla and Anguirus swim back home.

Reflection: The human characters are a real mixed bag. Some characters are entertaining like Gengo and Shosaku. Others are creepy like Fumio and Kubota. And some are just plain boring and underdeveloped, which would be the rest of the cast. The characters get very little development and are mostly a bore.

The monsters are also a mixed bag. The same Godzilla suit is used again. By now, it's been used in four movies. You can clearly see some of the scales falling off. While the design is good, the suit has some major problems. Ghidorah suffers a bit too. The suit looks good in some shots, but looks stiff and old in others. Anguirus on the other hand looks pretty solid. the suit is still in good shape and he is a pleasure to see as always. The best monster in this movie is probably Gigan though. Easily one of the most creative creature designs ever. You've never quite seen anything like this. he's got a buzzsaw on his chest and big metal hooks for hands.

One big, glaring issue with this movie is the stock footage. Dear god is it bad. The budget for this film was lower than normal, so they saved money by reusing shots from old movies. This is an issue beacuse the scene where Tokyo is being destroyed takes place at night. However, they reuse clips from Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster when the city destruction happened in broad daylight. As such, the scene is constantly switching between day and night and it is very distracting. Also because of the stock footage, you get an occasional unintended cameo. For example, the reuse a scene from G:TTHM to show Godzilla fighting Ghidorah. However, in the scene they reuse, you can clearly see Mothra in the background. Rodan and Gaira also make these accidental cameos.

another thing about this film is something similar to what I brought up about Godzilla vs. Hedorah. The tone really shifts. At times, it's an innocent children's film. At others, Anguirus is getting his face sawed open by Gigan. It's very jarring.

One good aspect about this film is the music, even if every song is recycled from an older movie. Despite this, Ifukube's classic music is great to hear. Though the inclusion of Rodan's theme when rodan is not even in the movie strikes me as odd.

At first glance, this may seem like ahorrible movie. Now, I'm not gonna act like it's a good movie. It's not. However, if you're in for some cheesy, mindless fun, then this one is for you. Gigan is a creative beast and the final battle is entertaining as hell.

Final Score: 3/5
 
Nick Fury said:
metaphor
Click to expand...
it's a metaphor, you see

you put the thing that does the killing right between your teeth, but you never give it the power to kill you
 
wow, is that really required reading for school

even my freshman english teacher didn't assign that, and she's obsessed with john green
 
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