Kaijû sôshingeki (1968) Reviews

• Great Fun

  loufalce2005-12-08

  I make no appologies. I LOVE Kaiju films. Period. Godzilla meister Honda- along with special effects guy Tsubaraya are at the top of their form here.After confining the worlds greatest monsters to monsterland- an island where they can run wild yet not do any harm all is not well. It seems that space aliens are controlling their minds and sending them on many city bestroying rampages. Mothra in Beijing, Godzilla in New York, Rodan in Moscow, etc, etc.Meanwhile on the moon-a rocket crew is observing a UFO. Does this have anything to do with the monster attacks? Back at monsterland, the control crew are replaced by the aliens{Who take on human traits} After much intrigue, the alien base is discovered and the fun begins.The special effects are superior. The rockets and UFOs have a pulp magazine quality that was somewhat dated in 1968, but for some reason it works in this film. Especially cool is the tank like vehicle the rocket holds. Even the model work is of the first order and although it would probably would not pass muster with todays computer generated FX fans, it gives this film an immaginative quality that is sadly lacking in most of todays films.And the climactic monster fight with all the genres all time greats is really a blast! Whenever I1m feeling down, I just pop this one in the VCR and bingo! I feel better again.No deep thinking, just fun on a monster size scale.

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• Monster free-for-all: fun stuff

  MartianOctocretr52006-07-07

  Toho decided to throw a block party for monsters in Tokyo, and invited every creature they could get to sign on to do the flick. Their three biggest mega stars are featured: the lovable giant fire-breathing lizard Godzilla, the supersonic bird who stirs up hurricane winds, Rodan; and the evil three-headed serpent King Ghidora. Throw in the talents of several other monsters and you have a Battle Royale that's a feast for the eyes. Aliens want to conquer the Earth. So they use hypnosis chips on both key humans as well as the giant beasts, forcing them to assist in a sinister scheme. The human actors, although intentionally upstaged by their larger co-stars, make for an interesting invasion from within story. The actors really do a good job showing urgency in this battle for Earth, (in spite of the sometimes questionable dubbing job). The action moves fast and furious, leading to the inevitable climactic monster showdown. The film incorporates the monster back stories as much as possible; considering how many creatures get in the act, that's quite an accomplishment. It's fun to see them all together; and they put on several good destruction and battle scenes. The TV reporter doing a sports play-by-play in the decisive battle is a great touch, giving us great lines such as, "Listen to the monsters, with their cries of horror and sudden death!" Fun stuff for Japanese monster movie fans or anyone who likes a good, campy, action filled flick.

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• Simply tremendous fun,possibly the essential Japanese monster movie

  DrLenera2004-03-22

  Destroy All Monsters is one of the most sheerly entertaining Godzilla movies. The story,if derivative of Monster Zero,is large-scale and exciting {although the alien invasion idea would soon be done to death},the action is non-stop and the film features almost all the monsters from Toho films made up to that time. There is mass destruction,lazer gun shoot-outs,lots of barmy but cool ideas such as Monster Island,a place where all Earth's monsters are kept by scientists-how can the movie not be terrific entertainment? There are a few flaws with the film which may not have been present if the Toho of 1964 had made it rather than the Toho of 1968. Although the story has the entire world threatened and several of Earth's cities destroyed,the budget did obviously not extend to allowing much of a depiction of this,bar some brief,unconvincing scenes. Also,a few of the monsters are only briefly shown,such as Varan {The Unbelievable},who appears only in two blink-and -you're-miss-them shots {the suit had been ruined and there was not enough money to buy a new one}. The film may therefore have actually been better with less monsters. However,criticisms of dullness are ridiculous,the film is constant action,which makes up for the lack of interesting human characters,and amazingly,the film is taken more seriously than many of the other Godzilla films,almost achieving the perfection of tone of Godzilla Vs Mothra. Of course,there are a few wonderfully stupid moments,like the sequence of our heroes severing a control device with a lazer which helariously goes on for ages. A shame the final Earth monsters vs Ghidorah fight is too short,but than Ghidorah did not really stand a chance! Terrific fun,though,with a wonderful Akira Ifikube score featuring two of the most memorable kaiju themes! Not the best Godzilla film,but probably the most essential one to see!

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• What Final Wars Should Have Been

  gigan-922010-09-30

  This film was supposed to have been the finale of the Showa series of films, but Toho saw how successful it was and plowed forward. How ironic that they followed this up with one of the, if not THE, worst Godzilla movie, "Godzilla's Revenge". But yeah, this film was the last to feature all four fathers: Akira Ifukbe, Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsubraya, and Tomiyuki Tanaka When you have them all you know you're in for a treat. One might say the series should have ended here, but then we would've never have seen the creation of some fan favorites, like Gigan and Mecha Godzilla. I'll start by saying the single blunder of the film; its run time. It's exactly 88 minutes, as long as "Mothra vs. Godzilla'. That film had a total of four monsters. This film has almost tripled that, so how is it possible that they're the same length. Less characterization apparently, the same flaw crippled "Tokyo S.O.S." in comparison to its predecessor "Godzilla X Mecha Godzilla". A factor because this one's heavy on the sci-fi, heavier than usual. Eight minutes in we have our action start with the siege of Monster Land but in the end it won't bother most. I won't even bother going into detail about Baragon and Varan, two monsters who didn't do sh*t in the whole movie. Although Baragon was supposed to attack Paris…so, Varan, why are you here? Godzilla has a new friendlier look, but it is far better than the laughable 1966 and 1967 suits, and the result is a great suit all in all. Rodan looks terrible in close ups sad to say despite his screen time but otherwise (or rather afar) he's okay. Anguirus looks fantastic and has lots of personality I must say. Kumonga, Mothra, and Gorosaurus pretty much remain the same, but look great. Manda has lost a few of his "Atragon" facial features but I still love him in the movie. Minilla, wish King Ghidorah had killed his ass, but whatever…The characters are pretty legit and the story involves them quite well. Some have called "Final Wars" the 2004 version of this film, but hardly. The human action in that film was Matrix rip-off type crap. Here we simply have the drama of a man and his alien-controlled sister. Plus nice shoot outs, but no over the top sh*t. Plus unlike in 2004, the leader isn't a cheesy annoying pric. This film beats "Final Wars" on that hands down. Another aspect where the 50th anniversary failed is with the monster action. Godzilla basically killed everyone in a one-by-one killing frenzy. Somewhat cool, but I like what we see here better. Like the Tokyo stomp scenes, or the grand finale at Mt. Fuji. That's what we wanted to see in "Final Wars"!! All the monsters gathered in one spot, fighting the "demon of our galaxy", King Ghidorah! It was F*ckin awesome! Not to mention it's a brutal and bloody battle. The cinematography and SFX are epic for their time. To top it all off, Akira Ifukbe delivers one of the best Showa scores ever. I love this film to death. The end battle can never be topped and so I rest my case.

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• Monsters, Monsters, Monsters.

  jerekra2008-09-13

  Destroy All Monsters has more monsters in it than any other Godzilla Film. That is the most famous thing about this film, does that make it a good film? You will hear my opinion. In the year 1999(do not know why they chose this year over 2000) all of the Earth's Monsters are contained on the Ogasawara Islands. This island they are on is named Monsterland. Giant gas emiting machines and force fields keep the monsters contained. A moon base is present on the Moon and it coordinates with Earth and Monsterland. Soon Monsterland loses power and the moon base goes to Monsterland to see if everything is OK. As it turns out all of the Earths Monsters are no longer on Monsterland and are attacking Major cities. It turns out that a race of aliens known as the Kilaak's has taken control of all of the Earth's Monsters and has let them loose on major Earth Cities. Scientists are able to discover that the Kilaaks are using mechanical devices implemented in the monsters minds to control them, Kilaaks soon start doing this with people as well. Earth must destroy the control the Kilaaks control of the monsters and put them back on Monsterland in order to save itself. Overall the story in this film works. I could see all of Earth's monsters contained on an island so that they can not escape and cause havoc. It is cool how this film has a sort of futuristic touch to it, with the whole moon base and monsterland things going on. The Kilaaks are a good evil race. Taking control of all of the Earth's Monsters and setting them loose on various cities is a pretty good plan. There are 11 different monsters that appear in this film. They include Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, Mothra, Kumonga, Gorosaurus, Manda, Varan, Baragon, Minya, and Ghidorah. You would think that with so many different monsters that it would be hard to give them all screen time, they do an OK job with a few exceptions at giving each monster his time. Godzilla is the main monster in this film. However Rodan, Gorosaurus, Mothra, and Anguirus also appear a lot in this film. Manda only shows up for a little bit during the attack on Japan. Ghidorah appears for one great scene where it is him against Earth's Monsters. Kumonga and Minya only show up for a little to fight Ghidorah. Now an explanation on Varan and Baragon. I was excited to see this film because Baragon would be in it and he is my favorite monster. However he only appears for a brief second when all of the monsters are marching towards the Kilaak Base, and then for another few seconds when they show him on Monsterland. So my favorite monster only shows up for a few seconds. This is mainly due to the fact that I guess the Baragon suit was in bad shape due to being used in the show "Ultraman". At least they mention that Baragon is in the film, Varan shows up and they never mention him. This leads me to another part of the film I should explain. After Gorosaurus attacks Paris, the newscaster gives credit to Baragon. Also as Gorosaurus is attacking Paris he makes Baragon's roar. What happened I guess is that Baragon was supposed to destroy Paris but they had to change to a different monster because of how bad the suit was. They left in Baragon's roar though. Why they chose Gorosaurus though, I don't know. It does not seem that he could burrow with his small arms, I would have choose Anguirus but whatever. One flaw is that there are a lot of monsters, but after the attack all the monsters do on Japan, you really have to wait a while to see them. Waiting for monsters to appear when you know there are a lot is usually bad, but I think that the suspense build up is worth it in this film. SO it is not bad. Just a little odd that with so many different monsters there is a long period of time between them appearing on screen. The final monster fight at the end between Ghidorah and all of the Earth's Monsters is one of the greatest fights ever in movie history. Although all of Earth's monsters show up, Godzilla, Anguirus, and Gorosaurus do most of the work. Rodan, Kumonga, Minya, and Mothra(damn) all help a little. Manda, Baragon, and Varan do not take part in the fight at all. But this fight is awesome. You get to see one of the most brutal fights, even Ghidorah chooses to use his brute strength more than just using his gravity beams like he usually does. The part where Gorosaurus kicks Ghidorah in the back knocking him down is easily the best part of the whole fight. A major reason this movie is so good is that they have Anguirus and Gorosaurus help Godzilla fight Ghidorah. If they had chose to show Rodan and Mothra help more people would think that they had already seen a fight like this before. Also well done is the monster attacks on major cities. You get to see a lot of different cities get destroyed like Moscow, New York, Paris, and Beijing. That is cool how a different monster goes after a different city and then they all converge on Japan at once. So this is the monster film of monster films. You get to see most of the monsters for a good amount of time. Great science fiction style story, lots of monsters, great monster fight, and lots of destruction. One of the best in the series and one that I will always recommend to people.

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