Family reunion photoshoot, everyone!
Space aliens have landed and, using projection, look like humans – but their shadows are of giant cockroaches. Nice, budget saving touch, that.
They want peace, much like the Soviets wanted peace – strictly on their own terms.
But they have one big problem.
Godzilla.
“Mr. Gigan, is it true you have rockets up your ass?”
And thus is the plot of Godzilla vs Gigan (1972, aka Godzilla on Monster Island [American]), the story of how a bunch of cartoonish[1] Japanese characters aid Godzilla as Godzilla and his[2] trusty sidekick, Anguirus[3], upon sensing the broadcasts of the space aliens, come to investigate. But waiting for them are the space monsters King Ghidorah, he of the snaky three heads and lightning breath, and the eponymous Gigan, a Cyclopean plastic critter with a buzzsaw sense of humor.
And then there’s the space aliens’ secret weapon, lurking in plain site.
Yay, there’s a plot! Since the space aliens’ planet has come to the end of its natural life cycle, the space aliens have a reason to desire Earth and aren’t incomprehensibly evil, just a trifle provincial and randomly vicious. That makes this plot better – slightly – than a lot of members of the genre.
But the space monsters, when traveling in space, were absolutely the pits. Not quite as bad as the monster in the badly sewn costume which is trapped in a cave in some other movie of which I refuse to remember the title. That was the worst – but our plastic space going models were their own kind of awful. In fact, there’s not much to like in the special effects department – the models are obviously models, and when stepped on by an inconsiderate monster, they crumble just like models would, with plastic inserts popping out in a most unrealistic fashion. The explosions and fires are well-done, true, but repetitive.
But the real highlight is Godzilla and Anguirus talking. Yes, talking.
Just like cartoon strips, with little conversation balloons.
That’s unique in my experience of the genre.
And it’s funny in that dreadful sort of way you’re imagining.
So it was nice to have a plot, but the whole thing is painfully ridiculous.
1 There’s a pun here, but you’ll have to see the movie to understand it. Perhaps you should just let it pass.
2 Does gender apply to Godzilla? Or does that link prove too frightening in connection to Godzilla?
