Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) "Review 12"

[abraxas]

Godzilla vs. Gigan (in Japan as Earth Destruction Directive: Godzilla vs. Gigan) and also known as Godzilla on Monster Island when first released to U.S. theaters. The 12th of the Toho Studio's Godzilla series (set after Godzilla vs Hedorah), it was directed by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. It is the fourth film to feature King Ghidorah and Anguirus. It is also the first film to feature Gigan.





This installment is the slasher film of the Godzilla series, Godzilla practically gets his head split open by Gigan. In the center of this insect-like monster stomach there is a row of sharp teeth which can spin like the blade of a table saw. Gigan takes flight and rams Godzilla, blood spurts out of his shoulder like a fountain and Godzilla falls to the ground. Anguirus is all but useless for most of the film and Godzilla has to fight both Gigan and King Ghidorah by himself, eventually they gang up on Godzilla and nearly kill him.

Certain aspects about the alien race in this film (the ones who control the monsters) are a little humorous, basically they are cockroaches, when they show them at the end of the movie they are literally roaches. One shot shows the aliens in his human form and then a dissolve is done and the actor is replaced with a cockroach that has been pinned down, if that weren't bad enough, it starts to speak, its one of the most ridiculous things Ive even seen in a Godzilla movie, but that is one of the few bad parts.

The fight between Godzilla, Gigan and Ghidorah is one of the best in the series, it really makes you concerned for Godzilla.

This Godzilla film started a trend that would be seen in many films after this. Scenes of crowds, tanks, jets and such are borrowed from previous films and used in the current one, even sequences from non Godzilla films, for instance "War of the Gargantua's" released eight years before in 1966.

This film is the last to feature the Soshingekigoji suit due to it being over-used in so many scenes. All Showa Godzilla films after that will use the Megarogoji suit.

The little fact above actually made the fight scenes more realistic, you can clearly see the damage that has been done to the suit, in the context of the film it works perfectly, they couldn't have done it better if they had meant to, because Godzilla really looks all beat to hell after he is attacked.

5 out of 5 roars for this one

The thing about the aliens wasn't enough for me to give this film a 4, the battle scenes make up for it, and its really only a minor flaw.

[GL]

I feel the same way about the aliens, they're just not all that threatening and we get way too much time with them, a major mistake that really makes the opening drag on endlessly with an utterly lame mystery angle that completely underwhelms. Plus, it means that the film has a boring beginning and exciting finish as the monsters are completely missing in the beginning and are loaded up on the back-end.

Still, the rampage in Tokyo is cool, the military ambush in Tokyo Bay on Angilas is really good, and the battle at the blazing oil refinery is quite possibly one of the top-10 best fights in the entire series. The flames, the smoke, the explosions, the tag-team wrestling style of fighting and the choreography is a major accomplishment and the blaring score over the action is just awesome to listen to.

Another little tidbit you forgot to mention, it wasn't just the scenes it lifted from, the entire musical score is comprised of selections from the previous entries, and not just Godzilla films. Beyond the original, Godzilla vs Mothra and Ghidrah, we also get Frankenstein Conquers the World, Rodan and War of the Gargantuas amongst the music, and the opening theme doesn't even come from a monster film, but is the main theme of Battle in Outer Space (which is a must-see film in my opinion) to boot.

The battling in the amusement park is all right, but I would've preferred if Angilas had more of a role in here, he's kinda off to the sidelines as Godzilla gets pelted by Godzilla Tower and doesn't really do much to save him and becomes an after-thought as Godzilla handles both quite handily when he regains his strength.

I'm still not sure which one I care more for, the monster's English-speaking voices when they communicate battle strategies in the American version or the comic-book balloons that appear in the Japanese one.

I'll go 4, the monsters more than make up for their non-appearance, but it's still there so I have to call it.

[abraxas]

Huh I didn't notice that about the music, so basically the whole film practically was stock footage

[GL]

In a sense, I guess you could, but then you have original footage in all of Gigan's appearances, and most of the battling at the amusement park is new (that one really only has a few brief shots from other films: Godzilla charging Ghidorah from behind a mountain being pelted into the highway bridge, rolling his eyes and getting up after that attack and the shots of Angilas vs. King Ghidorah) are really all the stock shots of the monster battling, the rest of it seems brand new so there is some original footage here, but it's still the fact that the stock stuff outweighs the new stuff.