Destroy All Monsters
AKA
All Monsters Attack
(1968)
(Page 2)
Plot-wise, the movie steals shamefully from two previous Ishiro Honda films that Toho has under it's belt, The Mysterians and Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. I suppose it can be argued that those two films delivered a superiorly made product (though I'm not too crazy on The Mysterians myself), but if Destroy All Monsters has one thing going for it that those two films don't, it would be a campy quirkyness to it. One that knows exactly what it is and doesn't apoligize for it. Almost as if it's staring defiantly at the viewer and saying to them "Yeah, it's been done before, but we're doing it again. Deal with it and enjoy the ride."
And enjoy we shall. The monster all-star lineup is really fun. Would have been cooler if Toho somehow managed to secure the rights for King Kong's inclusion as well (imagine...Kong vs. Ghidorah...that would have been sweet), but you can't have everything. I love the new Godzilla suit, which is one of my all-time favorites. It's a bit friendlier looking than previous films, but has a sort of hard edge to it that gives off a sense of badassness. It's probably my favorite suit of the Showa series. The human plot, as generic as it is, is one of those unremarkable plots that will just keep you watching, with spicy action and cool special effects (those glowing flying saucers are awsome). It very much looks like a 60's event film, and the charm of it can't help but rub off on me.
Ishiro Honda's direction is, as it mostly is, top notch, showcasing wonderful imagination with glorious models and props. Productions don't come much funner than this. Akira Ifukube's music is pretty good, though a bit too chipper and lightweight to rank it up to his best.
But, the film's faults are a bit of a hard blow, unfortunatly. It's easy to see why it's not very highly reguarded amung some Godzilla fans, who complain that despite the giant monster lineup, there's a severe lack of kaiju action and too much familiar alien invasion fluff. This is true, and I will not deny it. The story is utter nonsense, and the script isn't fleshed out as well as it could have been. A lot of the dialogue and actions of the human characters is enough to make any reasonably intelegent person go "huh?" My favorite of these moments occurs when our main astronaut hero becomes fed up with his sister, who is being controlled by the Kilaaks, and takes her by the arms and rips her ear rings off. Why does he do this? Because the ear rings are what's controlling her. How does he know this? I don't have the faintest idea. I wouldn't have been surprised to hear her shout out in retaliation "Mother gave me those before she died, you bastard!" or "Did you have to rip my earlobes off, you son of a bitch?!"
While overall the monster lineup is a pro, I also have a few nitpicks with it as well. Overall, to me, instead of picking out which monsters would be best suited for the film, they seemed to just throw in whatever suit that they had that was in good shape. The appearance of a Mothra larva is a bit strange, since an adult would have probably been more handy in the final battle. While I think Gorosaurus is cool, for the life of me, I can't figure out why he's in this movie. He really wasn't a special or noteworthy addition to King Kong Escapes, and his size upscale is puzzling as well. And this new ability of burrowing? Yes, I'm aware of the story of how the scene was meant for Baragon, but the suit was loaned out to Ultraman at the time, but couldn't they have at least picked a monster that at least looked capable of the act? Goro's arms can't even rise above his head. The final battle between the monsters and King Ghidorah has it's disappointing aspects as well, seeing that the only monster who truly activly get involved are Godzilla, Gorosaurus, and Anguirus. Rodan, Mothra, Kumonga, and Minilla minorly get in the game, but they don't contribute nearly as much. And poor Baragon and Varan, two monsters I would have loved to see in action again (especially Varan), sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Hell, throughout the entire movie there were only a few brief glimpses of these two period.
All this in consideration, I still get the biggest kick out of this movie. It may be nothing special, but it packs a zing to it that I can't ignore. I love this movie.
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