December 12th: Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

So, we have just had the best film in this series since the original, a breath of fresh air for the franchise. Where should we go from here? Bring back Jun Fukuda and go back to the formulaic family friendly stuff we were doing before? Sigh. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) reintroduces aliens back into the franchise, who again are wanting to use Ghidorah to help takeover the world. However, this time around they also use a new foe, Gigan, to create a terrible double act. Earths only hope, as usual, is Godzilla.

Look, I’ll be honest with you I am full of a flu and also very aggrieved that that this series got interesting again and then decided to go back to the formula that was running stale so my opinion on this film may come across quite harsh, but I really don’t like it. I don’t particular like the return to the family friendly tone that happens and the comedy of the film never hits for me. I don’t like that we’re back with aliens as the antagonists, although it does become very funny when it is revealed they are massive cockroaches (yes, really). And I don’t like that the film reuses old footage from previous films in place of its fight scenes which is just the height of laziness. I also think the film is badly paced. We basically get no monster action for the first fifty minutes, and then the last thirty is all monster action. Now look, I like monsters fighting and destroying stuff as much as the next guy, but you need to have break it up with something else or it just becomes a drag and that’s what happens here. I just found myself bored. On a positive, Gigan is a fun new villain. Yes, he looks like something a seven-year-old would draw, but it is at least interesting and silly enough to be memorable. Other than that, I have nothing else to say really, this is a bad one.