Objectif Terre, mission Apocalypse

"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.

Godzilla Vs. Gigan has no right to a good review. It makes heavy use of stock footage, has a plot that just barely hangs together, and arguably features the most ridiculous looking kaiju aside from Minya...and yet I love it! The plot, if you can call it that, involves a group of Japanese twentysomethings who stumble upon an alien invasion plot involving-gasp!-a children's amusement park. They unwittingly summon Godzilla after playing an eight track tape, leading to a battle between the Big G, Anguirus, and their old enemy King Ghidorah, along with the grotesque Gigan.

The film suffers from a number of issues, perhaps the most glaring of which is the extensive use of stock footage. At times, Toho did not even bother to match up the footage, with the scenes switching suddenly from day to night and back again. The film also has an anti-technology message, introduced in the last half hour, even more ham-handed than the environmental themes of Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster. The characters never even bother to change their clothes, despite the film taking place over the better part of a week.

Nevertheless, Godzilla vs. Gigan retains a fond place in my memory. It features a good twenty to thirty minutes of sustained kaiju destruction. Furthermore, Gigan, despite its ridiculous appearance, is a surprisingly menacing villain, being the only monster to make Godzilla bleed. In the end, it's a dumb but fun movie.

Godzilla and a giant alien chicken. Great stuff. It's back to the very basic for Godzilla after many were disappointed by the previous effort (I loved it). It kind of throws away everything Godzilla started as. Now we have a fairly kid friendly film, in which aliens design an amusement park in the hopes of controlling some of the monsters from monster island. Because giant monsters are the greatest way to attract families away from their mundane lives. A manga artist uncovers this bizarre plot and soon the aliens release their own monster, Gigan. Fun fights and frolics abound, even if these movies are getting rather crowded.

Well the relationships of the Kaiju sometimes change with every other movie. So while Godzilla was fighting Anguirus the first time they met (in the second Godzilla movie that is), later they became allies. As in this one. And it is necessary they team and tag together, because apart from the new (mentioned) Gigan in the title, we also get King Ghidorah as an enemy of earth and humans - which means enemy of Godzilla too of course.

And while there was always communication between the Kaiju, mostly through their screams and cries, this time we get text bubbles with what they mean. Interesting choice and maybe related to the fact they tried to go kid friendly at the time. Also a nod to comics/manga in general? Very likely.

The monster on monster action (get your mind out of the gutter if it is there) is really something to behold - and fun to watch. Men in rubber suits wrestling other men in rubber suits. While humanity looks and hopes/roots for our beloved Godzilla. Obviously there is a lot of History here. Movie history that is. Something you can have knowledge of, but you don't need too. It just gives you more appreciation of what is happening on screen - and might make you understand why effects that seem dated now, where all the rage (no pun intended) back then.

Enjoy if you can, because this is quite the fun ride

Right, well I hadn't really expected all that much from "Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan" (aka "Godzilla vs Gigan") given the fact that the movie was from 1972. But still, I sat down to watch it with my 9 year old son as we are having a run through all "Godzilla" movies.

Turns out that the 1972 "Godzilla vs Gigan" was actually surprisingly nice. The storyline was adequate. After all, it is a "Godzilla" movie we are talking about here.

But what made it work so nicely was the sheer amount of destruction throughout the course of the movie and the excessive amount of kaiju fighting - which exceeded the contents of many other "Godzilla" movies. And you actually got to see the kaijus bleeding in this 1972 movie. But the destruction of buildings and such was just phenomenal. Sure, it was toy buildings and miniature scales, but still, it worked out so nicely. Especially because they had put so much effort into the miniature scale models that it was just amazing.

Man, I do love it when Godzilla gets frustrated and starts going into hyper-mode. That is just hilarious.

Two things about this movie wasn't overly impressive. First and foremost, the appearance of Godzilla. He looked atrocious in this movie, and it was a bitter pill to swallow. And then the fact that they reused footage from another "Godzilla" movie for the King Ghidorah vs. Anguirus fight. That was just a horrible thing to do, and it was definitely a slap in the face with a dead, cold fish for us that have sat through the majority of the "Godzilla" movies.

But all in all, the 1972 "Godzilla vs Gigan" was definitely a nice surprise and quite worth the effort of sitting through. I am rating it a solid six out of ten stars.