Kaijū Sōshingeki / Destroy All Monsters (1968)

The theory behind Destroy All Monsters is the same theory as lurks behind every great money-spinning scheme; get a bunch of recognisable rubber monsters together and have them beat the ever-loving gravy out of one another. Sadly, this is the film's only real strength, with an extremely long and drawn out plot before we get to the final monster melee. Admittedly seeing all the monsters attack cities is enjoyable, especially featuring the best attack by Godzilla on New York City committed to film, but the story is stock alien invasion, Invasion of the Body Snatchers fare. It's almost not worth sitting through the first chunk of the film to see the goofy rubber beasties lay the smack-down, including some under-rated monsters like Varan and the mighty Baragon. The final fight certainly fulfills the function of providing stock footage for the next few films in the slowly spiraling-downward 70s Godzilla films. All in all, this is memorable mainly for its finale, and as a film it fails to stay engaging enough to justify holding the viewers attention. Disappointing.


All Hail!

Mekagojira no Gyakushū / Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

As a follow up to the bloated, but otherwise quite strong Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, this film is sadly sorely lacking. The character for whom the franchise is named doesn't appear until the 46th minute, disappears within another minute, and finally returns just after the hour mark. As for the titular automaton, he declines to even power up until the film hits 55 minutes; all this, it should be remembered, in a 78-minute film! But not all is negative, as the (albeit too short) monster fights are well done, with the fights between Godzilla and Titanosaurus being alot more physical than is usually seen, probably due to Titanosaurus' lack of a beam weapon. This is to the films credit, and the makes a pleasant change from exchanging volleys of fire. That being said, Godzilla seems to forget about his deus-ex-atomic-ray for the most part. After Mechagodzilla's masterful battle with both Godzilla and King Caesar, it's a shame to see him teamed up with another monster. He just lacks the threat he had in the last film, though this isn't to say that Titanosaurus is a bad addition to the roster. It's a shame he's remained underutilised, as I really like his design and more natural origins. But, after all is said and done, the action comes far too late in the film, and the characters have too little depth to maintain interest for the vast majority in which they take a front row seat. Sadly, I understand that the original ending was cut from the American version (which I watched), which would actually have gone some way to fleshing out the characters and not having them seem like filler. Something of a disappointment, and not really worth its position as the end of the Showa (first) series of Godzilla films.


That's for All Monsters Attack, a-hole!