Director: Gwon Hyeok-jinn
Year: 1967
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: Ujugoe-in wangwagmi; Big Monster Wangmagwi
Genre: Tokusatsu
Plot:
Trying to initiate an invasion of Earth, a group of aliens releases an enormous, nearly indestructible creature in the middle of Seoul and waits as the monster makes short work of the city. The air force is called in, but they can do little in such a heavily populated area. One of the air force pilots was supposed to be married on the day Wangmagwi crashed down in the center of Seoul. He calls his fiancée, who insists on waiting for him in the nearly deserted wedding hall right in the monster's path of destruction. By the time she and her mother decide to flee the building, it is too late, and the bride is captured and carried in the palm of the monster's hand as it destroys the city.
Review:
Overall, there's quite a lot going for this one. What works quite well here is the overly simplistic storyline that offers up the necessary beats for a kaiju film. While not doing anything unique or original with the storyline, the initial alien invasion and subsequent attack on mankind with a giant monster offer up just enough to get a giant monster movie rolling. That there are plenty of other genre efforts utilizing this tactic serves to illustrate how simplistic this is as the whole idea of the invasion is to use the monster as a means of wiping out mankind's resistance before they take over the planet, all that matters is a means of instigating the monsters' appearance and mission on Earth which is accomplished here. Building up to the monsters' appearance and invasion with the military exploits tracking the arrival of the alien ship before it appears in Seoul, as well as ties in quite nicely with the traditional genre format by introducing who they are and how they're going to protect the population going forward.
While those could be taken for personal preference issues, the film does have genuine issues present. The main one is the general story that introduces the monster rather well, but doesn't do much else right. The subplot involving the bride being upset about the canceled wedding feels ludicrous in light of the impending monster attacks, as well as bringing up the curious skipping around this does in the timeline by having the military recall soldiers, including her husband, to combat the monster before it even appears on Earth. It feels like missing scenes rather than anything else, and creates a jarring effect on the scenes as a whole due to this. Moreover, once Wangmagwi appears, he just feels aimless as he consists of the monster roaming the city while random citizens pull off increasingly lame and irritating slapstick comedy skits involving their doom. Several last way too much of the running time, and others are just not that funny, furthering the parody angle unintentionally even more, while managing to make the pilot feel like an afterthought who just flies over the city the entire time. He doesn't even have much screen time until the final few minutes due to these factors, which can lead to a randomized feel throughout here. These are the genuine issues to be had here
However much fun this part of the film is, though, this one scores the most fun with its lovably cheesy effects. Not quite bordering on parody but coming off in the same general manner, the effectiveness of the effects and miniatures will depend entirely on the tolerance for cheap and flimsy props. The buildings are obviously hollowed-out shells with dust thrown about to simulate the breaking concrete, the monster costume is ill-fitting to the performer inside and reveals their human eyes at numerous opportunities, and the doll of the girl being carried in the monster's hand is unmistakable. Still, this is all immensely charming and quite necessary for the fun of the film, in that it's all so blatant to modern viewers but is just an accepted part of the film's universe. While effort is made to provide full-scale props of Wangmagwi's hand and ear canal for the characters to interact with, the impression here is one that's overall goofy and silly. Given the amount of screen time featuring the monster throughout here as it goes on its rampage, smashing buildings or standing up to the military, the pacing on display gets right to the fun parts without much delay and lets the charm work itself over rather well in this one.
Overview: **.5/5
A generally fun and enjoyably cheesy genre effort, this one won’t ever be considered a long-lost hidden gem of the kaiju genre, but serves itself nicely as a generally solid C-grade effort. Those who are curious about it based on its history and reputation or are just fans of the genre overall will have the most to like here, while most others who don’t appreciate or enjoy this style will want to exercise extreme caution.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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