Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan (1972) Reviews

• Pleasingly surreal, decently action-packed, but a bit flawed nonetheless

  vkn2001-03-27

  Second only to Godzilla vs Hedorah in terms of weirdness, this Goji flick sees a bunch of aliens trying to conquer the earth using a children's theme park as their base. No, seriously. The bizarre theme of the film also shows in several other ways. The human characters are a bit of an oddball crew. No brave explorers, psychics or secret agents this time. Just a budding manga artist (who comes up with monsters and plots so daft not even Toho could take him seriously), his karate champion girlfriend, a funky hippy and some others. The aliens are their usual ludicrous and badly-dressed selves (they wear orange two-pieces with pink shirts underneath. Heaven help us) and their whole earth conquest plan is utterly ridiculous, of course. Something about an answering machine that can summon two monsters from space, probably. Thing is, all the silliness seems right in place this time, as the whole movie doesn't take itself seriously. Other good points include Anguillas being quite active, music by good ol' Akira Ifukube, and new baddie Gigan, who really is rather groovy. But for all that, there's plenty to dislike as well. Godzilla himself looks terribly messy in this film. Small bits of rubber are litterally falling off him during the fight. The rubber suit was in pretty poor state, apparently. It ends up looking as if Goji's suffering from kaiju-dandruff of some kind. Then there's the disappointing use of stock footage a go-go, which looks very lazy in some scenes. The scene where Anguillas pops up at Sagami bay and then blatantly -runs away- from the puny millitary without even smashing up one single thing is really shameful (and is probably the reason why Anguillas is often regarded as a bit of a wuss). Finally, the only really serious flaw is that the big battle at the end has a poor structure. Godzilla takes a huge beating for about fifteen whole minutes, then somehow decides that enough is enough and begins to kick back with some help from Anguillas (who did fairly little so far). But just then, after a few good smacks, the two nasty monsters just turn tail and run away. Booh. It's doubly disappointing when you consider that a battle between four monsters, Godzilla and Anguillas on one side, and Gigan and Ghidora on the other, could have been so much more, especially with such cool-looking nasties. So that leaves a bad aftertaste, but this is still an interestingly strange and silly kaiju movie that should please die-hards of the genre, or people looking for something hilariously odd. Worth watching once, just for it being so loveably off-the-wall, but you can find lots better if you want quality kaiju action. The pinnacle of freakiness has to be the scenes where Godzilla and Anguillas -talk- to each other. Not only do we hear some utterly ludicrous distorted voices, but both kaiju are also pretty poor conversationalists (especially Anguillas). Wonder what they talk about when there aren't any big, nasty aliens around?

• I really like this one

  TheUnknown837-12006-05-26

  "Godzilla vs. Gigan" is perhaps the best of the 1970s Godzilla films that was aimed for children. It's definitely the most fun and enjoyable. Not as good as the first couple of Godzilla films, but better than others. What I mostly like about "Godzilla vs. Gigan" is the lengthy and very entertaining four-way monster battle at the end. It's very fun to watch and I never get tired of it. Not to mention that this film was the one that brought Gigan to life, and Gigan is one of my top favorite monsters. King Ghidorah and Angilas, and of course, Godzilla, were great in this one also. The music score is also very good. I love the dramatic music score that plays when it looks like Godzilla's going to be killed by the laser beams. Also, the drum score when Godzilla and Angilas are heading to fight the enemy is great. Overall, a good fun Godzilla flick. I'd recommend it.

• Great one!

  Movie Nuttball2005-06-27

  I am a huge Godzilla fan, I grew up with Godzilla, I just love seeing this awesome monster just destroy cities and fighting other monsters. I like his enemies as well but Godzilla is the Icon! This Godzilla film is a great one. The story is very good and I really love the way Godzilla looks in this film. I love it when he roars and moves his tail. The big G is joined by Angilas and he is great and I love it when he roars as well! As for his enemies Gigan and King Ghidorah, they too is awesome. I love it when they roar. The fights between the two monsters is really good. The acting by the film's human stars are also good. The music is just excellent! I really love this Godzilla film for many reasons and its arguably the best! If you love Godzilla I strongly recommend that you do what I did and buy Godzilla vs. Gigan today!

• 70s Godzilla-juvenile,cheap,sometimes shoddy,and FUN!

  DrLenera2004-04-19

  After the interesting but none too successful experiments Godzilla's Revenge and Godzilla Vs Hedorah,Toho made this film,which sometimes feels like an attempt to make a 60s Monster Zero-type film on a fraction of the budget. Obviously,it's not a good film in the traditional sense,but all the 70s Godzilla films,despite their childishness,cheapness,shoddy effects work,samey plots,and 'wacky' ideas {in this one ,Godzilla and his mate Angilas TALK to each other in the non-Japanese version,whilst the Japanese version has speech bubbles instead!}etc,are fun to watch,and Godzilla Vs Gigan is no exception. The plot is the aliens-out-to-conquer-Earth-by-controlling-monsters one already used in Monster Zero and Destroy All Monsters and it would be used a few more times,but here it is reasonably successful,with some fairly intriguing ideas {though often badly done}and unusual human characters,although their constant in-and-out of the Godzilla Tower,the alien's base,becomes a bit tiresome. When the monsters show up,we have probably the longest battle in a Godzilla film,and one of the funniest,too,as Godzilla and Angilas engage in a tag team duel with the evil Ghidorah and Gigan. Sadly the movie is badly let down by excessive stock footage from previous films {Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster,Monster Zero,Son Of Godzilla,Destroy All Monster and probably a couple of others too!}. At least in Godzilla's Revenge the stock footage had a sort of context,here,it jars with the new footage. The worst bit for this is the lengthy destruction scene,where new,night time footage of a tattered,slow moving Ghidorah who can barely move, is intercut with older,daytime footage of Ghidorah,showing a fast-moving dragon in action. Somehow all this adds to the film's quirky charm,a sometimes good,occasionally awful,entry in the series. The soundtrack is one of the best,it's all Akira Ifikube stock music,much of it from Godzilla films,but it has many of the great Ifikube tracks and a wonderfully rousing title theme.

• GooD Movie~

  irishdrinkah4202010-02-16

  Man, i don't know if it's because i grew up on godzilla; or something like that because i enjoy just about every godzilla movie made. Honestly, I've seen most of them. And every one is watchable and enjoyable, look at the time this movie was made. Obviously its gonna be corny.I'm watching it right now, and i am enjoying it :P I really don't get Why all the godzilla movies are giving such a low rating, besides a select few. I also just watched Godzilla Mothra and king ghidrah, made in 2001 and wow it was pretty sick. The ending fight with king ghidorah is ridiculous. Anyway i rate this movie an 8 out of 10, maybe a 7.5 i see it as an enjoyable old sci fi flick, thats worth watching if you have a good imagination~