Destroy all monsters: Kaiju Toho vs. King Gidora A movie that has over ten giant monsters! Godzilla, Minilla, Angirus (aka Anquilas), Horosaurus, Varan, Manda (hit on the first syllable), Baragon, Kmunga (Spiga), Motra in the form of a larvae, Radon (Rodan) - and all this ten fight against the alien golden dragon - King Gidora! Truly a triumphant and masterpiece spectacle!
More than that! The original script featured King Kong immediately after his participation in King Kong's Escape, but Toho's license expired. The picture was supposed to appear a giant walrus Maguma from “Horus” and a giant lobster Ebira from “Godzilla against the Sea Monster” but something did not grow together. For example, the costume of Baragon during the filming was involved in “Ultraman”, and the costume Varan generally broke, so in the picture they are nothing.
And instead of Baragon digs tunnels under Paris for some reason Horosaurus. But Radon attacks Moscow - where else you see this, we have kaiju films somehow do not shoot, but the "Chernobyl" potential could such "godzilla" in the domestic cinema spat that wow!
The plot of the film is such a correct and updated version of Monster Zero. There are warlike and cunning aliens who control King Hydora and bring down an army of all kinds of monsters to Earth, gaining control over them. Initially, all the monsters live in Monster Land – a separate island, where they are fed and studied, not allowing to escape.
Of course, it is impossible to keep such a number of monsters without incident, and once the entire ecosystem is destroyed by the invasion of an unknown enemy. At this time, earthlings are already fully mastering the lunar space - one of the main characters is an astronaut who likes to call his girlfriend home. Only she and her colleagues are kidnapped, and then returned with “brainwashed”, and monsters are taken to attack the world’s capitals.
Godzilla is destroying New York City! I finally got to the house of King Kong, Redosaurus and other Hollywood monsters. By the way, the costume of the Monster King is quite well updated compared to the films of Fukuda. Especially in profile, he now looks quite decent, and behaves not so “human”. And the atomic ray has been improved graphically, it looks cooler now than before.
But Minya and Rodan came out mediocre. Godzilla Jr. is all some plush and generally the most unnecessary monster of Toho. And Rodan in his main upright scenes has an extremely stupid look. However, several Radon models are involved in the picture, which is perfectly visible in the flight scenes, in the episode of fishing and in various action - the main part of them looks quite decent.
Kumonga - he is Spiga, a giant spider from the "Son of Godzilla" remained unchanged at all and looks great, like the Horosaurus from "King Kong Escape" - that's who, and he was here to turn around to glory in all its glory! Another lizard in addition to Godzilla, but actively participates in numerous episodes of the picture.
The sea serpent from "Atragon" Manda is now quite a land creature. There are few scenes with him, but they are all memorable, especially the moment of squeezing the railway bridge! Manda and Godzilla even had a small skirmish here, but the episode was cut out of the film.
Motra's larva was very coolly updated, now her image is perhaps the best for the whole Shova-Era - she looks much more realistic insect than before, when she could catch the eye of some " plushness" when moving.
What anguirus! Such an ankylosaurus can be safely given in “Jurassic Park” to give, that’s who made the most realistic and believable, the yard was only 1968 – for the first time appeared in color he turned out to be the most classy monster of the picture, and even scenes he was given quite a lot.
At the same time, the filmmakers managed not to turn this whole gathering of monsters into a children's morning - they did this in the next film, but this is a completely different story. Monster Parade does not spare costumes or characters. Monsters get bloody wounds and choke to death, people rush out of windows, in general, the film does not lose a serious tone, even having aliens in its plot.
If "Monster Zero" was on the verge of thrash delirium, then "Attack of All Monsters" is a magnificent work on errors, to literally put the same story in a more appropriate way. This time, the characters are bright, not flat, including the “ice” villain and the people under her control. And monsters, although they work together, but at least much more appropriately.
By the way, they will have to fight against King Gidora, who here for the first time will not fly whole and healthy back into space - finally the script suggested something more cardinal and tough in the battle of monsters. There are so many monsters in the film and so many different scenes with their various participation that you wonder how they all managed to fit here organically!
This time Honda did not blunder, correctly placing accents in the picture and not repeating all the minuses of Monster Zero. True, real military equipment in the film is not enough, the emphasis is more shifted to action destruction and miniature models, albeit of excellent quality. Usually, the director liked to arrange a real parade of native weapons and alternate real people in tanks side by side with models.
Unfortunately, not all monsters take an active part in the battle with Hydora. Baragon, Varan and Manda generally perform as spectators, Radon with a large number of his scenes – also in the final fight circling and watching when even Minilla makes at least one volley radioactive ring around the neck of the golden dragon. Varan and Baragon at least for the final get their close-ups, delighting with the presence. That's just King Gidora wings are quite ragged, which spoils his image with perfectly executed three mouths.
Let’s assume that the authors did not set a goal to balance the participation of all monsters – some of them here, as it were called, “in cameo”. And then, if you do not find fault with the fact that Baragon does not share scenes with Hydora, you can get an unspeakable pleasure from the film. Memorable and cool scenes are full here, the tape gives an incredibly strong viewing experience if you are a fan of the Kaiju genre.
To Destroy All Monsters is definitely the best Shova-Era movie. Or, at least, the second best for those who put the first Godzilla of 1954 directly above all else. Yes, the topic of the atomic bombing is not raised here, but the motives for retribution for rashness still slip, and the topic of world unity is actively raised, like “Mysterious Aliens”.
The film is rich, spectacular, not childish and not family, with blood, cruelty and murder. One of the most outstanding films is not only about Godzilla, but also about Japanese kaiju in principle! A masterpiece for all time! In 2004, he was “modernized” by removing the mega-homage of Chauvay-era at the end of the Millennium – “Final Wars”, but this is a completely different story.
10 out of 10
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