Director: Kazuo Mori
Year: 1966
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Daimajin gyakushû; Daimajin Strikes Again; Majin Strikes Again; Return of Majin; The Return of the Giant Majin
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
In a mountainous region of Japan, an evil warlord kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. After learning one of his prisoners has escaped, he invades a peaceful lakeside village during one of their annual festivals. In the course of burning down buildings, executing helpless civilians, and generally looting and pillaging, the warlord's men blow up the statue of the village god and sink the pieces deep in the lake. Everything looks hopeless for the villagers until a strange force from beneath the water's surface begins pulling enemy soldiers to their deaths. Encouraged by the sign that the local God has come back for its revenge, a band of young boys decides to rescue their enslaved fathers on their own.
Review:
Like the other entries in the series, this one has a lot going for it. The storyline once again manages to construct an enjoyable setup that provides enough cause to ensure the creature’s entrance is reasonable. That comes off due to the immensely enjoyable villain who shines as the most unreasonable warlord of the bunch. Despite featuring a plan that comes up short compared to the end-games of the others, the whole purpose of enslaving the workers of nearby villages is to use them as slave labor in a ploy to extract sulfur, in used for making gunpowder and other weapons, is a strong start. The fact that he organizes actual executions on those who try to escape, rather than whipping or beating, is a first since this was actually carried out instead of being interrupted. Carried on by the child-like sense of adventure that takes place with the kids attempting to rescue their parents and forced to turn to Majin for help, the setup here is quite good.
As well, it also scores incredibly well with the sense of spectacle involving the creatures’ existence. The very opening is a wholesale spectacular onslaught of destruction, with the creature’s wrath bringing about ferocious winds, pouring rain, and landslides that tear a small village apart is a fantastic opening. The miniature work is incredible, and the devastation brought about is impressive to watch, much like the later scenes with the creature itself in action. As expected, that rampage here is immensely fun and enjoyable, with the creature appearing at the sulfur pit and destroying the rock wall to make its presence known. The ensuing chase through the mountain roads and full-scale assault on the area since the creature continually crashes into rocks or other equipment left behind, which ensures tons of chaos, is quite entertaining. Managing to include the usual destruction of the miniature castle since the compound is located right next door, the scale of the destruction is impressive by generating a lot of destruction in a small scene that is pulled off flawlessly. To be expected, it's the highlight of the whole piece.
Despite the positives, the film is a slight downgrade from the others. The main factor here is a slow-going first half that doesn’t come close to the fun of the other entries. Whereas the first two films were more concerned with the exploits of the main warlord to establish the need for Majin’s arrival, here we spend more time on a quest into the mountains trying to discover what’s going on. The adventures of the kids against the warlords’ guards trying to capture them have their moments when they’re tricking the guards and outwitting them or escaping by raft down a raging river, since something is happening in these scenes. Otherwise, there are long stretches here where it’s just the kids trampling through the woods while the guards are shown to be ineffective in capturing them, and intermittent cuts back to the sulfur pit. This makes for a somewhat sluggish experience in waiting for God to come to life in the final act, which feels further along than normal than the other entries, but doesn’t detract from the rest of the film too much.
Overview: ***.5/5
A bit uneven in the first half in regards to utilizing a proper build-up to make Daimajin come to life, necessary while also running through some underwhelming aspects, on the whole, the film has those few issues keeping it from being the classic the others are. Still, fans of the series looking to continue his saga or those just plain curious about the series will find a lot to like here, while only those viewers who don't enjoy the style or the previous franchise entries should heed caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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