Director: Jun Fukuda
Year: 1966
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto; Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster; Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Seas; Operation Robinson Crusoe
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
After a violent storm, two friends set out with a stranger on his boat to search for a friend and wash up on a deserted island during another storm. Making their way into the center, they find a large military base on the island and are using natives as slave labor. One of the natives escapes from the base and runs into the group, but are soon found out and chased around the island. Hiding inside a cave, they find Godzilla sleeping inside and decide to wake him, which causes the group to retreat. Weary to get off the island with the monster on the loose, they try to escape with Godzilla distracted by a giant lobster living off the island, and after wrecking the command center and their armed forces, Godzilla turns his attention to the lobster again to get him and the rescued natives away from the island.
Review:
There were some enjoyable factors to be had with this one. One of the better features here is the scattered storyline that manages to incoroporate some solid aspects here even if there are some drawbacks to the story. The whole adventure spurned on by the one guy's search for his missing brother forcing a crazy obsession with boats that feels credible but brings about unrealistic behavior might make for a frustrating time but still keeps this one intriguing enough to be of some value. Arriving at the dance recital and being forced to go with his friends to look at a boat simply to get him to stop talking about them which is what starts the entire film might get them to the island but is quite unrealistic in how everyone seemingly accepts a foolhardy plan to look for his brother, not knowing where he is, what direction to go in or if they have enough provisions on their journey, all without telling anyone where they're going or that they've left is entirely risky and foolish. However, there are some points to like about the story. This still provides a nice bit of exposition about the group regardless of how ludicrous the plot is, and they bcome a fun pairing to follow as they get involved with the terrorist group and the islands’ creatures when they get involved in the action. The idea of interacting directly with Godzilla and seeing how his actions help them out making for an unlikely and unaware ally gives everything a solid touch for a worthwhile if unspectacular storyline.
There isn't a lot to like in the special effects here, but what's here isn't that bad. Godzilla looks exactly like before, and he looks quite nice here. There are some really great scenes in here, including a great attack against a squadron of jet fighters on the island, which features a lot of great tactics involved and is excitingly staged, with lots of great camera angles and plenty of action and explosions and wrecked planes fill the screen. Even better, he gets a great entrance here awakened by a lightning blast through a sword with a wire attached to him, and then bursting triumphantly from a mountainside. It's nicely handled and looks really good. The monster lobster, Ebirah, isn't that well-done, but then he is nicely realized and his claws are very imposing. The change in locales from the cityscapes to the island setting is quite nice and quite refreshing in the overall scheme of the series. The minor miniature destruction, which is basically only one place, is just as excellent as others before and contains some decent action-smashing. There are also some decent battles between the two as the two encounter each other twice and are both fine for what they are. That also describes the film quite accurately, fine for what it is but nothing spectacular.
The film's biggest storyline flaw, though, is a series of instances that don't match up with Godzilla's known behavior or personality. He’s found inside a cave that contains no possible way for him to get there and is revived through electricity which had been used against him in the past to confront him. Worst of all, he has a scene of romantic attachment to a female character in the film, which is completely out of character for him and seems to belong to another famous movie monster altogether. That it occurs in front of one of its highlight scenes is a big sense of confusion and brings it out much more effectively with such an absolutely terrible sequence right after one of the best scenes in the film. All of these are very un-Godzilla characteristics and seem completely out-of-place in the film. Also pretty hard to believe is that Ebirah would’ve been a match for Godzilla. Granted, there are two battles but they’re so one-sided that it’s a complete joke to think that it stood even the most remote chance of putting up a fight. The other fight with a Giant Condor is completely unnecessary and once again doesn’t make any threat to Godzilla or is even being filmed right. It’s so sloppily edited and pieced together with the quick cuts to render it virtually impossible to determine what’s going on. It’s over as quickly as it started, and doesn’t serve any purpose in the film. It’s a real disappointment and doesn’t really do the film any favors.
On top of that, the whole concept of the terrorist group is entirely shrouded in mystery and confusion which raises plenty of issues. The idea that the society, which is completely unknown and has a completely unknown origin and purpose, exists in that part of the world equipping the location with the armaments they do is entirely implausible. They managed to secure a tropical island, install a nuclear power generator, and have enough room left over for a covert airfield capable of housing an entire fleet of planes without anyone knowing what was going on which is rather hard to believe. It's not unreasonable to not have this information known but a chance to explain more about them when they leave Infant Island to come rescue everyone could’ve provided more info on the group and their history beyond one quote which indicated it had been going on for a while. The film’s only other real problem is that it’s a cheap film and actually looks like it. The locales are barren rocky landscapes, the miniatures are kept to a bare minimum, the monsters are so totally non-threatening the suits aren’t that good, and the film screams the lower budget. It’s not a real detriment, but it’s quite obvious compared to others in the series which looked better. It’s not less entertaining, but it's less expensive.
Overview: ***/5
With a couple of flaws to it and a healthy smattering of decent parts, this comes in more towards the lower end of the better entries in the series scale. It's refreshing and has some good monster scenes, but there are also some really mind-numbing scenes in the film as well, leaving this one only for the most hardcore fans of the series looking for something new and unique while those trying to find their footing with the series should look elsewhere than this one.
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