After the disappointment of Godzilla vs. Hedorah, long-time producer Tomoyuki Tanaka wanted to take the series back to its roots. In the early 1970s, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of Astro-Monster were rereleased and drew a large audience. From this, Tanaka decided the best thing was not to try new things but bring back fan-favorite King Ghidorah. Shinichi Sekizawa and Kaoru Mabuchi were hired to write two different drafts, stipulating that Ghidorah and a new monster, Gigan, were included. Jun Fukuda, who previously helmed Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and Son of Godzilla, was hired to direct. The filmmakers used tons of stock footage and music from previous entries and other Toho productions to keep costs down. This ended up being Haruo Nakajima’s last time donning the Godzilla suit, a role he had played since 1954. Godzilla vs. Gigan hit Japanese theaters in 1972 and American theaters in 1977.
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Synopsis
Manga artist Gengo Kotaka (Hiroshi Ishikawa) has gotten a job as a concept artist for World Children’s Land. Unbeknownst to Gengo, the park is a front for a group of cockroach-like aliens from the M Space Hunter Nebula. Using the park’s centerpiece, a giant “Godzilla tower,” they take control of the monsters King Ghidorah and Gigan. When Gengo accidentally finds out about the plan, Godzilla and Anguirus hear the aliens’ signal and decide to investigate. Unfortunately, the Japanese Special Forces mistakenly attack Anguirus, but he reports back to Godzilla before it’s too late. Godzilla goes to fight King Ghidorah and Gigan while Gengo and his friends try to stop the aliens. Things go south for the King of the Monsters when the aliens use a laser in their tower against him. Will the cockroach-like aliens wipe out humanity, or will the monsters stop King Ghidorah and Gigan?
Review
Sadly, Godzilla vs. Gigan marks another low point for the franchise, though it’s at least better than All Monsters Attack. At least the monsters fight for real instead of being the dreams of a young boy getting bullied. Unfortunately, the monsters don’t even show up until the halfway mark, and even then, it’s incredibly underwhelming. You can tell the budgets got lower due to the overuse of stock footage and the monster suits falling apart. For instance, there’s a shot where King Ghidorah and Gigan fly around the Godzilla Tower, looking like parade floats. There are also moments where you can see the Godzilla suit falling apart, having been reused in three movies. Considering Tanaka decided to bring in King Ghidorah, it’s odd that Ghidorah ended up not even participating in the fight. This movie does a first in the series: it shows Godzilla bleeding.
If there’s anything positive I can say about this movie, it’s the design of the titular monster: Gigan. Despite the overall quality, Gigan’s design is one of the more unique monster designs in the series. It’s a shame that Gigan’s first movie ended up being one of the worst in the series. The movie’s biggest flaw is that it’s dreadfully boring, even with cockroach aliens disguised as humans. The human actors do their best with the material they’re given, but they don’t have anything interesting to do. Usually, the human story is secondary in a Godzilla movie, but even then, this one is exceptionally forgettable. Even at 90 minutes, the film moves at a snail’s pace to get to anything exciting. Overall, Godzilla vs. Gigan is not the worst movie in the series, but it’s up there. Hopefully, things will improve from here.
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