Director: Ishiro Honda
Year: 1968
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Kaijū Sōshingeki; Attack of the Marching Monsters;
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
In the distant future Earth, a scientist has managed to corral all the monsters of the world onto Ogasawara Island, which is soon renamed Monsterland and run by staff to keep the monsters peaceful. When a strange accident occurs at the location, the monsters and staff disappear, and soon the world's cities are invaded by the creatures. The UN sends the spaceship Moonlight SY-3 to investigate the area and finds a race of aliens known as the Kilaaks have taken over both the monsters and staff, demanding the world or the monsters will destroy it. When they stall to negotiate with them, the Kilaaks unleash the monsters on Tokyo, finally forcing them into action and finally breaking the monsters free of the aliens' control. Applying a trump card, they bring in King Ghidorah to confront the remaining monsters, and they battle for the planet.
Review:
One of the greatest entries in the series, this has a lot of great things about it. One of the main factors here is the strong story is a great feat, not being overly complicated and yet getting everything needed that is wanted in a film of this type. For the central setup of the facility, Monsterland is a fantastic idea offering enough intriguing ideas with the ability of mankind to entrap and ensnare the monsters on the island with a slew of ingenious, logical, and effective countermeasures to ensure their safety to study them away from the rest of the world. The way everything comes together is incredibly realistic and effective while also providing some stellar sequences showing how that takes place, and while it’s bizarre that this peace on the island is enforced through dominance the fact that humanity has won by taking the monsters out of the world and leaving them alone is a fine touch. The way it goes into the mechanics of the setup and how it all works, the purpose behind it, and the various connections made within the facility and the UN council looking over it manages to bring this together quite nicely with a series of intriguing ideas brought up throughout here.
On top of that, there’s also a lot to like with the alien invasion setup even with the idea of this one going for a slightly similar route for the idea. The aliens themselves take a rather far-reaching plan of action with the takeover of the facility and placing the monsters under control to overtake the world which sets the stakes right off the bat about what they’re capable of and how they can accomplish the feat with how it spreads across the world. It’s nice to see other cities being attacked, and Moscow, Paris, New York, and Beijing being attacked in great, albeit brief, fashion makes them all great scenes to get an idea of their power and intent. How it leads to the discovery of their controlling devices and the race to free the monsters which leads them on a globetrotting adventure that looks to take the fight to the aliens before getting to the moon battle for the big final confrontation. It’s also quite well-paced, with enough subplots to keep it from lagging and with lots of interesting, logical ideas put into place that make it a joy to watch, even though it’s the second time in the series they’ve gone with alien invaders taking over the planet putting the monsters under their control.
It also handles the monsters seriously, rather than handling them as mindless beasts under strict control. The monsters are treated as destructive forces, unleashed upon the world to do what comes naturally to them and bring about a sense of awe and wonder. This means the monsters here are all quite impressive, with Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus coming off the best with slight redesigns or streamlining of their usual looks to become immensely effective and enjoyable for how everything comes off which helps to make the film far more fun than it normally is. The film contains no shortage of highlights, though special mention has to be said for the awe-inspiring, incredible, and memorable final battle. A contest between eight different creatures, most of who get their shots in, but the sheer chaos of what’s going on makes it such an impressive sight, and the battle is just the right length to avoid being boring. Of special note is Ghidrah’s entrance, emerging from a flaming fireball and landing gracefully among the others assembled. It’s simple but pulled off expertly and leads into the rest of the fight which is one of the greatest ever done being upbeat, energetic, and makes up single-handedly for most of the rest of the film, which is not that easy to do.
The Tokyo attack is simply masterful, as a large number of buildings are flattened grandly, and really marks the return to Godzilla's original glory. To see him behaving in such a manner is great to see, and he gets in some great scenes including the legendary scene where one of the monsters wraps around a raised railway and pulls it down as Godzilla knocks down a flaming building in the background. That it also includes a confrontation with the Defense Forces is just the icing on the cake with other great encounters, and with later scenes featuring the monsters confronting the military including Rodan chasing the SY-3 and Anguirus thwarting a land invasion. Rodan also has a rather nice chase with a flaming flying saucer that is one of the most intricately shot and creative scenes in the film to help out in the final battle which helps to overcome the fact that it’s possible that a favorite doesn’t do all that much as there are a couple that don’t do a lot even though they are present. In terms of flaws, a gory autopsy scene is a little out of character for a Godzilla film and could’ve easily been accomplished without it being as graphic, while the sequence where the humans attempt to dismantle the aliens’ rays takes forever to accomplish and really could’ve been done easier and earlier. All in all, this one rarely disappoints and continuously entertains.
Overview: ****.5/5
One of the overall best films in the genre, this is really hard to find a flaw in this one featuring what every monster fan wants and craves, and even provides them in spades. It’s recommended viewing for just about all monster fans or those who have a curiosity about the film while only those not interested in the genre will want to heed caution.
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