| Love it or hate it, Godzilla
vs. Gigan is actually anything but a widely
disliked Godzilla movie amongst his fans. Does
this mean the movie is particularly good? Not
necessarily, yet there are several things going
for the film that account for its appreciation
amongst fans of the genre, despite its more lackluster
qualities. Among these are the handling of the
movie’s roster of monsters and the drawn
out battle. Likewise, though, there are numerous
aspects that drag the project down, including
a rehashed story that leaves little room for character
development, along with uninspiring performances
from the cast and rampant use of stock footage;
however, at least the stock soundtrack by maestro
Akira
Ifukube is well constructed for the proceedings.
In terms of overall plot, the movie
focuses on Gengo Kotaka, a down on his luck artist
who was recently fired from a job at a comic publisher.
With the help of his girl friend, Tomoko Tomoe,
Gengo is landed another job, this time with a
non-profit organization in charge of the World
Children's Land amusement park. Despite making
a good impression on his boss, Gengo is left uneasy
with his assignments and the organization in general.
His suspicion mounts when he runs into a girl
named Machiko Shima as she flees from the company’s
Committee Office. Gengo later confronts the girl
only to discover that she believes her brother,
who had worked for the organization, to have been
kidnapped by them. After reading her sibling’s
journal, she believes that their true intentions
are placed on tapes, which is what she stole from
the Committee Office. The tape, however, only
offers a garbled message to the confused listeners,
although the signal carries out to Monster Island
where Godzilla and Anguirus quickly decipher the
message and begin a plan of action. With Earth’s
monsters already in place, the organization’s
true motives begin to take focus as the monsters
Gigan and King Ghidorah begin their descent toward
Earth, awaiting a climactic battle with the planet’s
forces.
Given the story layout, it’s
easy to see that the movie tries to establish
its rather impressive cast of monsters on screen
as quickly as possible. Once the four monsters
do arrive, the plot does little to hold back as
the movie then focuses on the impressive struggle
between the creatures. The movie is especially
noteworthy, though, for introducing the fan favorite
Gigan to the long running Godzilla series. Overall,
the creature boasts an impressive design with
a unique armament of weapons, and looks especially
imposing standing next to the towering King Ghidorah.
The production is also memorable for its development
of the Anguirus character. From what started out
as Godzilla's first opponent has now become the
King of the Monsters’ most trusted ally.
A lot of Anguirus fans would be born from this
movie, and it's easy to see why. Featuring a rather
impressive suit for its time, the same suit that
was used in Destroy
All Monsters (1968), and a never give
up attitude, there's no doubt how he became so
widely popular amongst genre fans.
The other aspect of the production
to boast about is the incredibly drawn out climactic
battle between Godzilla, Angurius, Gigan and King
Ghidorah. Normally, this would be a bad thing
from a cinematic standpoint, as the fight would
lose impact due to its sheer length; however,
the final battle in Godzilla vs. Gigan is inter-spliced
with scenes of the human antagonists in such a
manner that the battle stays interesting as the
combat between the kaiju keeps moving at a pace
that doesn’t outstay its welcome. There
are also very few movies which exploit how well
a multiple kaiju battle can excite the viewers
like Godzilla vs. Gigan does, which makes
this long sequence stand out even more. This isn't
to say that the final battle is not without its
faults, as for one thing the choreography during
the battle leaves some to be desired at points.
The most noticeable fault being how one of the
kaiju, most often King Ghidorah, sits back and
simply watches the others fight, or just stands
their as they allow their foe to charge and attack
them. Chances are, though, that this was done
to place the spotlight more firmly on Gigan, who
was being paired with one of Godzilla's most powerful
foes from the era.
Unfortunately, the more “popcorn”
aspects of the movie aside, the story does little
to make an impression on the viewer. In its attempt
to lay down the foundation as quickly as possible
for yet another alien invasion utilizing kaiju,
the film does little to establish motives for
the actions of its characters or give much meat
to their conflicts. For example, the whole Fumio
Sudo and Kobota side story, where it's hinted
that their death is tied in with the Nebula Space
Hunter M Aliens, had the potential to be semi-eerie;
however, it never goes anywhere and whatever point
it was trying to make is quickly tossed by the
wayside. The invading aliens in general are fairly
laughable at times too, especially their "invasion
on a budget" type methods of doing things.
Kubota really saves these guys' credibility; in
fact, he is more imposing than that of the poorly
acted Chairman. Of course, even the Chairman is
helped along with the use of Ifukube's opening
theme to Frankenstein
vs. Baragon (1965), which makes the character
seem almost chilling; well, at least until the
music stops. In terms of character development,
the antagonists fare the worst though. The movie
can get away with making the Nebulians mostly
emotionless due to their alien nature, but it
doesn’t quite work that way for the human
cast. For example, very little insight is given
in reference to the lead, Gengo, in terms of motives
or personality, and even less for his girlfriend
Tomoko; nor is the pair's relationship together
explained very well. Shosaku Takasugi, most famous
for holding up the antagonist with a corn on the
cob, is easily the film's least developed character
as there is nothing to be said of him other then
he is a friend of Machiko; however, it’s
quite apparent that his inclusion was merely for
comic relief.
Sadly, the performances given by
the actors manage to drag down these hollow characters
even further. In fact, Godzilla vs. Gigan
is one of those rare films in which the US version
is actually on par, if not better, than the Japanese
version. Not because of superior editing, or the
sheer quality of the dubbing job, but because
it helps to mask the rather uninspiring acting
showcased in the film. The entire cast, save Minoru
Takashima's portrayal of Shosaku Takasugi, hardly
seems to be giving the movie their all. The worst
offenders being the Chairman and Gengo Kotaka,
both of which just emanate that feeling of not
particularly caring about their craft, and most
likely the film as a whole.
Still, what many cite as the film's
worse offense is its use of stock footage. In
Teruyoshi Nakano's defense, the special effect
work his crew does here is rather impressive,
but as a whole the film relies on stock footage
far too much. The worst offenders are the scenes
during the final battle where monsters make accidental
"quest appearances." One of the most
obvious is the larva Mothra, which can be seen
quiet easily when Godzilla charges at King Ghidorah
during a scene lifted from Ghidorah,
the Three-Headed Monster (1964). Rodan
does another one of these accidental "quest
appearances" when Godzilla gets up during
a scene from Invasion
of Astro-Monster (1965); Rodan can be
seen lying on the ground during this scene. The
last "quest appearance" is done by Gaira,
and this one is the hardest to spot; it happens
when Gigan jumps behind the trees when the Type
66 Maser Cannons are firing at him, and he starts
to move through the trees for cover. This scene
is lifted from The
War of the Gargantuas (1966), and that
is in fact Gaira behind the trees, not Gigan.
The film isn't picky on what it lifts though,
as the film will quickly shift from night scenes
to poorly darkened day footage of the monsters
fighting. In general, the movie probably would
have been better received had it not attempted
to insert stock footage of Godzilla fighting King
Ghidorah from previous movies at all. Yes this
would have shortened the runtime, but the battle
was long enough that it could have easily handled
these cuts and it would have avoided a lot of
the awkward transitions that they introduced in
the fighting.
To end on a more positive note,
normally if a film was to use an entirely unoriginal
soundtrack, this would be viewed as a rather large
downside. Godzilla vs. Gigan, though,
escapes this verdict because the music that it
lifts is so good in the first place that it definitely
deserved on an encore. The movies that the soundtrack
is lifted from are numerous too, ranging from
Big Boss (1959) to The Birth of the
Japan Islands (1970), which was finished
a mere two years before this film. In fact, the
music found here is easily the most diverse soundtrack
that Ifukube, who has been known to reuse and
repeat numerous themes in his scores, has ever
had his name attached too.
Overall, despite the film's rather
large list of faults, Jun
Fukuda does manage to create a rather fun
film, which should give fans of the genre enough
incentive to watch the film numerous times. Those
less passionate about the Godzilla films would
probably be best advised to graze over this entry,
though, as it’s certainly far from a highlight
in his long cinematic career.
|
(2/5)