Destroy All Monsters - The Criterion Collection!

Destroy All Monsters is seen by some as the last gasp of the classic Godzilla to take the world by storm. Nuts I say. This is a cornball remake of Toho's signature kaiju flick bonded with their singular take on sci-fi. Like Monster Zero which was made some years before, we get the obligatory aliens who take control of Earth's monsters to wreak havoc and force the world to do as they wish. The Kilaaks, a race of women (is looks like anyway) want the Earth's heat and the monsters they use are a mighty flock indeed. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Anguirus, Ghidorah of course along with rare critters like Manda (Atragon), Varan, Baragon (Frankenstein Conquers the World), Kumonga, Gorgosaurus (King Kong Escapes), and even Minya. And truth told all that doesn't help make this meandering kaiju flick. 

As for Godzilla himself, he's reduced once again to a mere puppet who wreaks havoc on New York City and later Tokyo but who doesn't really feel all that menacing despite that. He's just a monster like all the others, a bit more deadly than some and seemingly a leader when the alien control is broken, but he gets relatively little screen time and is not necessarily the focus of the movie. 

But next time, well things change again. 

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Invasion Of Astro-Monster - The Criterion Collection!

I really love the movie The Mysterians, an early 50's flick from Toho about aliens who invade the Earth to breed with our women. It's a great lark of a sci-fi outing which landed amongst the monsters before Toho gave over to Godzilla and his kin. Invasion of Astro-Monster is The Mysterians with Godzilla and gang, and it's a lot of fun. If features an American co-star, Nick Adams, present for the sole reason to make the movie marketable overseas. And he's an enthusiastic addition to Toho stock company of seasoned pros. 

But focusing on Godzilla himself for a moment let's all agree that the movies never got sillier than one single moment in this highly memorable screen saga. The aliens (called "Xillians") are attempting to trick mankind into thinking their invasion is not that and that they mean us only the best, such as when they offer up a cure for cancer. They say they are afflicted by King Ghidorah on their homeworld "Planet X" out around Jupiter. But they are liars and Ghidorah is under their control and by trickery theyget Godzilla and Rodan also who fight off Ghidorah. As he flies into space Godzilla crosses his arms and jumps for joy in a move called a "Shie dance" after a cartoon character who performs the move and yells "Shie". It's goofy and lots of folks including the director didn't like it, but it stayed and after that Godzilla moved into another place completely. 

Like most hardcore Godzilla fans I hated it for a long time, but I've changed my mind and embrace it. Godzilla in this movie is not the "Big G" of other films, he's a movie star who can appear in a range of different kinds of movies and comedy is just one. More next time. 

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King Of The Monster Movies!

Finished school, wrapped up the paperwork and cleaned up the room, but my main mission yesterday was to catch the debut of Godzilla King of the Monsters.

The Avengers can play all the endgames they like and I don't really give a fig who sits on the Iron Throne, but I do care mightily who is the King of the Monsters, and despite a powerful bid for the role by "Monster Zero", the vile Ghidorah, we all know that there can be only one.

That one is Godzilla and this movie was an absolute feast for fans of the franchise and featured many shout outs to fans of the older movies, especially the movies of the Heisei Era. If there is a flaw in the movie, it's that there are too many of these wonderful features, one appearing almost before the last one faded out. It only means I need to see the movie again and again...which I will.

There are monsters galore in this movie. In addition to Godzilla and Ghidorah, we get close looks at Mothra and Rodan, both of whom play significant roles in the movie. The human story which always must parallel the monster saga in these things is a little scatterbrained at times, with a family broken by Godzilla's first appearance trying to cope and doing so in some decidedly dangerous ways. There is a sense that humans are debris in this movie and that's always sad to see. We are gifted with what I'm dubbing the "impossible human", the person who by hook or by crook gets to all the most pertinent places in the movie, and that stuff wears on me a bit in epics this large, but played against tableau this large I get the reasoning.

We get glimpses of creatures (or "Titans" ) named Baphomet, Typhoon, Abaddon, Bunyip, and Methuselah. The movie makers invested nearly all the featured "Titans" with a bit bit more of a recognizable human personality, more so than the 2014 Godzilla which really tried its damnedest to give us an exotic but almost believable Godzilla. When the Big G takes back his throne (you know he would), we see behaviors not alien from animal life, but invested with a sprig of humanity. It's not exactly "Monster Island", but you can see it from here. Speaking of islands, clearly Skull Island will be the center of attention next year when Godzilla and Kong clash at long last.  

I've seen some early reviews are negative about the movie. Sheesh! What do you want? This movie delivers monsters baby! Great big old giant monsters! I say yes to that!

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The King Of Monsters Is Here!

Today is the last day of school for this year. I close out all accounts and then begin enjoying two full months of relative lassitude which I plan to fill with science fiction, comic books, and adventure and monster movies. I kick off the holiday right after work today by going to see the debut of the latest Godzilla epic. Godzilla, King of Monsters is the direct sequel to 2014's Godzilla and adds to the plate Kaiju favorites Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. I'm agog to get to see this movie from the safety of my plush seat swilling coke and munching popcorn thrilling to get a good look at the havoc they monsters wreak on the world of man. 

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The King Of Monsters Cometh!

I'm getting very very excited about this latest monster flick. While most folks seem to be dazzled by the last days of the Avengers,I'm looking past them somewhat to see a real world beater take the stage. Be still my heart! I love the Avengers, but I worship Godzilla!

The gang's all here. It's time to dig all those classic monster epics out and watch them all yet again to feed my hungry Kaiju-loving brain. Long live the King!

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Tohope And Change - Destroy All Monsters!

Destroy All Monsters is one of those movies which eluded me for a very very long time. I never saw it on TV and never came across a VHS or DVD of it until several years ago. Now I own it twice and that's just fine. It's a delightful romp of a Toho kaiju flick with monsters from all over making appearances. This one has aliens once again taking control of Earth's myriad monsters and using them to make mankind kneel. This is the movie that introduces what will become "Monster Island", a remote place where Earth's monsters live in relative harmony until the mavens at Toho require their presences in a good old monster flick.

The difference in this one is the global nature of the threat. While as usual Japan leads the counter-assault the menace is a clearly presented as a worldwide one with monsters targeting cities all across the globe. King Ghidorah makes his usual appearance as the space monster who is opposed to all of Earth's more amenable monsters and his identity as a villain is reinforced. This is a monster rally of the purest kind, probably not a movie which is as emotionally involving as early kaiju which work diligently to create characters we care about, but it is a feast for those who love seeing monsters amok.

More to come.

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Tohope And Change - Monster Zero!

Monster Zero otherwise known as Invasion of Astro-Monster is likely the second Godzilla movie I ever clapped eyes on. This is the second of three co-productions between Toho and UPA to attempt to find purchase in the American market in a more coherent fashion. That really didn't work, but that doesn't stop this movie from being a real humdinger. The basic plot of Godzilla Vs. The Thing is picked up up with the addition of Nick Adams as one of our stalwart spaceman heroes. Aliens invade the Earth with the help of King Ghidorah after first pretending to be the friends of Earth men. This time it's up to Godzilla and Rodan to fend off the invaders.

A standout performance in this movie and one of the most memorable in any kaiju flick is Kumi Mizuno as the alien temptress who is turned by love into a defender of Earth, but who loses her life in the process. The aliens in this story are more completely realized than in the earlier movie and their inhuman nature is more thoroughly explored such as the detail that all of their women are identical. This notion of sameness, of loss of personal freedom is a key theme in one of Honda's most successful stories. With Godzilla and Rodan already established as protectors of Earth, there's little need to develop that notion much and the increasing affinity audiences have with the living H-bomb and his flying buddy is at once understandable and odd.

Today we have a double bill. More to come in just a few hours.

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Tohope And Change - Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster!

If there is a monster that can rival Godzilla in sheer awesomeness it might be Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. The alien three-headed dragon from space is unusual in the coterie of kaiju in that his small trinity of heads make his motivations obscure. He's always ferocious and dangerous but lacks any opportunity like the other monsters to become something people can identify with with. In this movie Godzilla switches sides and teams up with Mothra and Rodan to fend on Ghidorah, the deadly weapon called down from the depths of space by aliens intent on stealing the women of Earth.

This is the movie in which the kaijus become more cartoonish and even have a confab between themselves with the less aggressive Mothra attempting to get the monsters of Earth to work together against a common enemy. But always the focus is on Ghidorah, the powerful enemy. It's not a tiny jump by Ishiro Honda to the real world in which mankind must pool its resources to confront all sorts of evil and damage throughout the world. The aliens here are the ultimate enemy from beyond, who duplicitous and deceptive and deadly. Mankind must face these facts and work together just as the monsters must do for Earth as we know it to maintain. And that's no small message for all of us.

More to come.

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Tohope And Change - Rodan!

Rodan is one of my favorite Kaiju movies. Though it doesn't star Godzilla and though Rodan himself is not the sexiest of monsters, the movie succeeds on the sheer strength of really good storytelling. Rodan does the best job since Godzilla itself of presenting strong well developed characters who are involved with one another before they are drawn into the larger melee of monster madness. The story of Rodan is brilliant in that we begin with a small mystery, a horror yarn really about killings in the depths of a wonderfully realized coal mine. This yarn spins out with great attention to detail before the threads of the larger tale become clearly seen by one and all. When Rodan appears there are still more surprises to see, not the least of which is the that there are two. This is a movie which does a fine job of keeping the watcher engaged on all levels.

Rodan holds up exceedingly well after all these years because it is so very well constructed as a story of horror and threat. Rodan's power of producing enormous winds is one aspect of the bomb which was not included in the elegantly designed Godzilla himself, the shock wave is terrifying. Since the Rodans are once again products of radiation, the sins of man come back to haunt him quite literally as the skies become havens for threats. Watching the skies is a warning about space aliens, but of course it's really a shout out to be aware of pugnacious neighbors right here are on Earth who would do us harm. The Japanese, and Honda were all too aware of the nightmare which can arrive via the air.

More to come.

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Rodan!

I love Rodan, the movie that is. It was my first Japanese monster movie I think. For some reason it played on my local TV stations while I could hardly get the other films, save for some of the later and weaker Godzilla flicks. Along with the other dandy Godzilla Vs. The Thing which showed up on Halloween flim fests, I cut my teeth on Kaiju with Rodan.

And as it turns out I was lucky to do so. Rodan is a rich movie for any pulp-genre fanboy. It's part noirish murder mystery, part bug-monster movie in the traditon of THEM, part UFO flick, and part giant Japanses monster movie, with a little romance flicked in at the end for good measure. This movie has got it all.

Recently I finally got to see Rodan in the original Japanese form, and it's a somber monster movie, with a real mystery to be solved. Rodan doesn't show up for a very very long time, while the screen is occupied by some above-average acting. The scenes where the hero finds himself stranded among the insect-monsters in the egg chamber of Rodan gave me shivers as a kid and still is an effectively creepy scene. That it's presented as a memory gives it an added dimension, a dreamy delusional quality.

The UFO portions of the movie are decent, but when Rodan finally shows up and starts blowing over buildings the movie really gets humming. More even than Godzilla (a living a-bomb), Rodan is a natural disaster producing in his/their wake a small flood, an earthquake, and an ersatz hurricane. Maybe it's the recent news, but seeing an entire city getting blown off its foundations was pretty unnerving, even in a funky old monster movie.

The ending continues to affect me. The Rodans cleave together in a world they cannot cope with, and die in yet another natural disaster, a volcano. It's an odd twist and ties them to the young lovers we've watched throughout the movie, who have also been rocked by the disasters both personal and ecological in the movie.

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