Frankenstein Conquers the World

It's time for the movie on this list which might have my favorite title: Frankenstein Conquers the World! As a Toho movie from the 1960's, Ishirō Honda directs, but this time Haruo Nakajima does not play the lead! He is still in the film, of course, but as the 2nd creature. Frankenstein himself is played by Koji Furuhata, a new name to us. We watched the American cut of the movie for this one because the Japanese version was extremely difficult to find. The internet tells me that the differences are relatively minimal so I'm not too worried about it. Let's talk about Frankenstein!

First: background. As mentioned in the post on King Kong vs. Godzilla, the original plan for that movie was to have Prometheus (Frankenstein) be Kong's opponent. For whatever reason, they wound up with Godzilla being in that movie instead of Frankenstein. But apparently not wanting to lose out on the chance to make a movie with Prometheus (Frankenstein), we wound up with this movie: Frankenstein versus random new monster. It is honestly an entire long story about how we wound up here and at one point there were even plans for a follow up Godzilla versus Frankenstein movies which has gone, sadly, unmade. I assume at this point it will not happen, but one never knows for sure! Okay, for real, let's talk about Frankenstein.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- During World War II, a mad scientist is visited by literal Nazis. They take his special box containing his latest work and head to Japan. 

- Managing to hand off the box to the Japanese, they are bombed by the Allies and die (fuck yeah!) to get this important thing to the Japanese mainland. It is revealed to be the immortal Heart of Frankenstein.

- The appeal of Frankenstein's Heart is the potential ability to learn to regrow any body part (or an entire body), being a significant medical breakthrough if true.

- Right as the Japanese begin to experiment with Frankenstein's Heart, the nuclear bombing on Hiroshima begins and they die. This has been a truly wild ride in like 10 minutes of film.

- 15 years later, we meet our two main human characters: doctors named James and Sueko. They eventually run into our sad main character: Frankenstein, who lives in the caves nearby and goes into town to find small animals to eat.

- Frankenstein is resistant to radiation and keeps growing, eventually growing too large to be kept in regular residences.

- Eventually running away after being rejected by most humans, James and Sueko hunt for Frankenstein to both make sure he's cared for (and potentially for some medical tests to utilize his Heart).

- As Frankenstein takes refuge in the mountains, the other monster of the movie: Baragon, appears and tears down a mountain community. Frankenstein gets blamed despite no one confirming he was there.

- While searching for Frankenstein, James and Sueko are confronted by Baragon who seems to just be hanging out in the area. Frankenstein comes in to save them and now we have a good ole' monster fight.

- Frankenstein and Baragon fight outside a village in Japan, Frankenstein explicitly keeping him from entering the "city limits" and destroying the town.

- After defeating Baragon, the earth itself opens up and seems to swallow Frankenstein, killing him so the humans don't have to. End.

Kaiju Notes

- Frankly, I kind of hate Frankenstein's design. While it's clearly inspired by the traditional flat-headed bolt-in-neck version from the old Universal movies, the damaged teeth and especially prominent forehead ridge make him a bit more neanderthal than I think is appealing as design. I do appreciate his wiryness compared to most kaiju, as his humanity means he's built more as a human and less like a giant angry dinosaur. I suppose his lack of aesthetic appeal plays to the roots of the Frankenstein character, as he too was rejected by society based upon how he looks. But I think there's a difference to be split here: Boris Karloff's famous look as Frankenstein was iconic and good design while still being quite inhuman and horrible.

- Baragon, on the other hand, is cute. He's no Mothra, it's true, but he does have some distinct qualities working in his favor: good ears and loving, soulful eyes. He also sploots sometimes, making him the first kaiju to be imminently petable if he'd just stop destroying civilizations.

- Baragon loves to jump toward his opponents, apparently, and it's hilarious to watch because he also misses almost every time and lands on his head. He also has some sort of red beam, but the jumping is his best trait by far.

- Frankenstein seems to have no unique powers besides being semi-intelligent. This is not a bad thing, necessarily, but we don't get enough attention on that fact. All I want in life is for an intelligent kaiju to even the odds by making genuine weapons to make up for their lack of lasers or ice breath or whatever.

- In Frankenstein's defense, he does at one point make makeshift torches which he uses to simultaneously ward off and fight Baragon. Of course he creates a wildfire in this process, but it's something.

Random note: in the beginning of the movie when Frankenstein is running around eating small animals we get the most gruesome shot we've had in any Toho movie thus far: a torn apart rabbit. With bunny pieces and blood all over the floor, it seems a strangely grotesque shot given how relatively non gory most of the movies about giant monsters killing each other are.

When it comes to a takeaway for this one I am of two minds: on the one hand it seems very much like a pointless movie, neither terribly fun nor particularly interesting. Just an hour of Frankenstein growing until shoe-horning in the cute Baragon and having them fight for no clear reason. At least the original conceit of Frankenstein fighting King Kong would have been more fun because of the background of both characters, but once they decided against using Kong for this movie they probably should have just scrapped it.

On the other hand: is this movie a re-telling of the original novel, Frankenstein? Our Toho Frankenstein is also a creature brought into the world by the horrors of modern science (nuclear war) and rejected and persecuted by society. Unlike the original story, our Frankenstein here is able to have a redemption arc when he protects some humans from a creature even less human than he. Perhaps this is truly a reflection of how humans are happy to dispose of those different from themselves until they can be of use? Besides our two human leads, every character is happy to try to kill Frankenstein until they realize there is another monster. Whether this means they understand that the rampant destruction has been causes by Baragon or not is not disclosed, but either way people seem happy for Frankenstein's existence, briefly, once Baragon is known. And as they fight the military continues to plan to kill him once they are done, so no claims of appreciation for Frankenstein can truly be made in this one.

It's hard to decide. The retelling is almost entirely a surface reading of what happens on the screen, but the same could be said for most kaiju movies we've seen so far (especially the versus ones). Even Godzilla Raids Again features the military trying their hardest to kill Godzilla until he and Anguirus start to fight, and then simply continuing to try to kill him. It doesn't make this movie fail as a retelling of the novel Frankenstein, of course, but it does seem to make it a bit redundant in the canon. At a certain point saying the same thing over and over with different monsters seems unnecessary, but then again there's no way to determine/know/predict that people who see this movie will have seen any of the others. Shrug.

Next: Gamera, the Giant Monster!

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

Today we watch Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. This is the introduction of the creature that is most commonly regarded as Godzilla's archenemy: King Ghidorah. A movie of returns, the director remains Ishirō Honda with Godzilla still played by Haruo Nakajima. Shoichi Hirose also returns from playing King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla to be the titular King Ghidorah, so we're dealing with veterans all over this flick. I am trying to get notes on the style of all of these people as we go, but because they have remained consistent thus far it is not yet possible to compare how Nakajima's Godzilla looks opposed to anyone else, or Honda's direction holds up to his successor. But we'll get there, so this information will be more relevant as we go!

If You Haven't Seen it Before

 - A group of UFO enthusiasts are joined by a reporter when they see a meteor shower rain down.

- Onboard a plane, a literal princess is told to flee by an alien force. She jumps out of the emergency exit, unaided, just as the plane explodes in an assassination attempt.

- The Princess reappears, but now claims to be an alien from Venus here to help save this planet.

- The Twin Fairies (Shobijin) of Mothra fame appear on a show to sing a song to Mothra.

- The Venusian/Princess appears at a volcano to warn people just before Rodan re-emerges for the first time in many years.

- As the Shobijin head back to Infant Island, the Venusian appears to insist that they not set sail. We find out later that the Shobijin sensed something wrong as well and listened, hiding out elsewhere.

- The ship that was meant to have the Shobijin on it is destroyed by Godzilla, who emerges from the ocean.

- Rodan and Godzilla meet and don't immediately duke it out. They seem to be moving toward the same place together.

- The Venusian warns of the arrival of King Ghidorah, who will completely destroy the world.

- A meteorite that landed in the first scene and has been a source of curiosity throughout the movie continues to grow and now hatches, unleashing the three-headed monster King Ghidorah.

- The Shobijin explain to government officials that even Mothra cannot defeat King Ghidorah, and it will potentially take all three monsters (Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan) to take him down. Right after, Ghidorah flies through the city and destroys several buildings with his Gravity Beam.

- Apparently having a disagreement, Rodan and Godzilla begin to fight before being interrupted by larval Mothra. After a quick game of volleyball (it's hard to explain) she string shots them until they listen to her.

- The Shobijin translate for the humans as the kaiju discuss saving the planet from King Ghidorah.

- As this happens, King Ghidorah is approaching the location where all of the human and kaiju characters are, forcing their hands right now.

- Unable to convince the others, Mothra (larval) goes to fight King Ghidorah on her own. The ass-kicking she receives finally prompts Rodan and Godzilla to help.

- King Ghidorah is ultimately driven away, but not killed, by the trio. He appears to fly away into space. Methinks he'll be back.

Kaiju Notes

- Rodan's first appearance is ugly as hell. And he unhinges his jaw in a truly distressing manner to roar. I hate it. But if it's intentionally horrifying, then it's very effective.

- King Ghidorah has a cute little paunch where the heads meet, making him the first kaiju with a dad bod.

- Rodan has been greatly improved. Besides just the movement of the wings, the designer did a good job in giving Rodan the perfect amount of simple improvements. His stomach armor is a nice touch that I don't remember from his original appearance.

- At one point Godzilla is literally picked up by Rodan and it's hilarious. Like Mothra dragging his ass in the last movie, seeing Rodan grab him by the dorsal plates and him flail helplessly is pretty funny. I will watch kaiju actors flail about anytime.

- Every time larval Mothra has been seen in this series she gets uglier and grosser. I thought the first version was kind of cute, but each one gets slimier and I hate it. Especially given how majestic Big Girl Mothra is.

- Ghidorah's lack of arms is a choice that I have to respect for being bold but it makes him look weird. Perhaps the necks aren't long enough to make it seem as though they could reasonably substitute having any other appendages. Otherwise it's a strong design and his color is one of the better choices they've made from an aesthetic perspective.

This is the first movie to feature kaiju actually communicating in a discernible fashion. With the Shobijin translating, we're able to gain some insight into the various monsters personalities. When Mothra initially tries to convince them to help her save the Earth from King Ghidorah. Godzilla and Rodan disagree that they should team up to protect the Earth, they don't care. Humans are always bullying them anyway, so why should they help protect their planet? They also demand apologies from the other, because apparently kaiju can communicate complex ideas and are as petty as any human. Even when Mothra points out that the Earth doesn't belong to humans alone so they should defend it as well, Godzilla and Rodan disagree. Like the single episode of Pokémon that features the pokemon speaking with each other, I would watch this shit all day. I want more kaiju discussions! I know at least one more happens, but I want way more of this.

My favorite moment is when Rodan is facing off with Ghidorah and hides behind a rock. After Gravity Beams stop shooting in his direction, he adorably peeks his little pteronadon head out to check if the coast is clear and it's just... perfect. And this comes immediately after Godzilla helps a weakened Mothra climb up a mountain by biting onto his tail while he walks. Godzilla also does a little shimmy at one point after being hit by Gravity Beams. The volleyball scene happens before all of this so it really just sets the stage for all of the upcoming kawaii. There are more cute moments to discuss, but then this would be a post about all of the cuteness kaiju are capable of so let's just say that this movie gets 10/10 on the adorableness scale.

The end fight is interrupted with a long scene about the Venusian/Princess regaining her human consciousness, and it's a weird and pointless thing to interrupt a 4 Kaiju fight. Fortunately when this is over we get right back to a true 3-on-1 beatdown, but it's just bad moviemaking to include this part in the middle of our climactic showdown. King Ghidorah retreats, presumably back into space, by the combination Rodan flying Mothra on his back while she shoots string shots to bind KG and Godzilla throws rock at him. It's a relatively innovative way to have them join forces, Rodan making Mothra and hard target and Godzilla doing the assault while Mothra hinders. It's like a proper TTRPG party firing on all cylinders.

I have something I do want to say about this movie, and generally. I know that men are almost inherently stupid/over confident. I'm not going to claim that I've never been completely sure I could do or accomplish something well beyond my capabilities. BUT, in this movie there are multiple examples of men doing just this in very silly ways. Early on, a man and his apparent girlfriend are hanging around one of the "giant monster sights" and things start to go askew. She says they should leave and he says "don't worry, I will protect you." HOW?! Rodan kills everyone around him accidentally, Godzilla sometimes does it intentionally, and if it's a new creature why would you roll those dice? Later still, the Venusian is warning the world about the incoming doom and is, of course, disbelieved by all of the very important men. She even predicts something will happen on one mountain and is ridiculed because another mountain is the one that has been having recent volcanic activity. AND THEN RODAN COMES OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN SHE SAID AND DUDES IS STILL LIKE "LUCKY GUESS."

It's either a weakness of the storytelling or an indictment of the overconfidence of mankind that they live in a world of frequent kaiju attacks and everyone is still insistent that every woman with some insight is simply overreacting or delusional. But these dudes deliver every time, even as the Venusian is proven correct time and time again. Me thinking I could be the greatest Guilty Gear Strive player in the world if I just set my mind to it is one thing, me thinking I could protect anyone from hundred ton monsters with nothing but my wits and charm is a level of arrogance I simply don't understand. Charitably, I am going to chalk this one up to the writing of the movie, but something in my core tells me that I am incorrect to do so. There's entire websites and subreddits dedicated to people being unreasonably sure they could handle situations despite all evidence speaking to the contrary, and many of them die.

This movie is not one of the deeper ones of the batch, but as we discussed with King Kong vs. Godzilla, that's okay sometimes. The human plot is oddly complex for a movie that brings in 4 giant monsters to enjoy. Streamlining and focusing on all of the arrangements of the 4 in a versus situation seems like a more obvious choice, but word on the street is there was some drama behind the scenes that kept Ghidorah from being on screen as much. People will be people, I guess. Even if it hurts what they're working on. Outside of being the most adorable kaiju movie so far, it lacks the extra specialness that makes the great ones great.

Next: Frankenstein Conquers the World!

Mothra vs. Godzilla

The 4th movie in the Godzilla franchise, this is the first Toho movie to pull kaiju from two different Toho franchises into one instead. Whereas King Kong vs. Godzilla was the first explicitly versus film in the franchise, now we've got two Toho-originating beasts to enjoy. Once again directed by Ishirō Honda with Godzilla (as always) played by Haruo Nakajima, one day those credits will change but I am glad it hasn't yet.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- A giant egg is found. Obviously, in the continuity of Godzilla movies, this is concerning.

- Happy Enterprises, a company, has purchased the egg. The rep is a real smug bastard.

- His company wants to build an amusement park around the egg, the largest in the world. They expect to make possibly 1 billion yen from this endeavor.

- We saw what happened last time someone tried to profit off of kaiju. Why do people keep trying?

- The Twin Fairies (Shobijin) appear in the office of Happy Enterprises to ask for the egg's return. Nuclear testing has destroyed their home and sent the egg into the sea. They escape before being captured.

- Because the egg is Mothra's egg, it is the only hope of restoring Infant Island. And just as last time (see: Mothra), when the egg hatches the larva will head to their destination and destroy everything in its path.

- Before the egg hatches, Godzilla wakes up. One can imagine this is going to end poorly for at least one of these kaiju and a lot of humans.

- A group of humans go to Infant Island to ask Mothra to aid them against Godzilla. After the Shobijin implore Mothra on their behalf, they are told that Mothra will use the last of her strength to help them. The current Mothra is dying but will be reborn from her egg.

- Godzilla attacks. The greedy businessmen have turned on each other with one shooting the other. Revenge comes by way of Godzilla, crushing the building the murderer is in and he also dies in the collapse.

- As Godzilla approaches Mothra's egg, adult Mothra appears and it's time for a kaiju duel.

- At one point Mothra drags Godzilla around by his tail and that shit's hilarious.

- Eventually struck by Atomic Breath and badly wounded, Mothra goes to her egg and dies near it.

- The military attacks Big G, to the traditional and expected no avail.

- The egg hatches and TWO Mothra larvae emerge. They use their cocoon powers against Godzilla, encasing him in an impenetrable shell.

- The Mothra larvae head home and the movie's over.

Kaiju Notes

- Mothra spends much of this movie simply sitting on a rock. She looks much more friendly in this framing than in her previous appearance, and I argued she was pretty majestic in that one.

- Godzilla no longer has ice cream hands, but otherwise looks very similar to the last one. My initial impression is that his face has changed a bit (for the positive) but nothing major. Dude has BROWS now. And they're angry.

- Godzilla's tail has relaxed significantly from it's wild flailing in King Kong vs. Godzilla, they seem to have settled into a nice "dangerous but purposeful" movement style for it.

- Mothra looks even better in movement here than she did in her own movie. They do closeup shots to obscure some of the clunkiness, and this girl is way more mobile than she was. The improvements they've made with flying creatures is legit impressive. This is still the 60's, after all.

- Godzilla flailing around trying to Atomic Breath Mothra is one of my new favorite shots. Hilarious image.

- Mothra's secret weapon is "poisonous" pollen she can cover her foes in, so it's not just sonic booms and mobility she has to win fights. She technically loses, but she stomped his ass for a minute.

- Mothra larvae are way less cute this time. Way slimier looking, wrinkly, and with disconcerting little beaks.

First thing to note: in the beginning of the movie Mothra's egg is purchased for ¥1,224,560. I did some math and some googling and discovered that this is *roughly* about $56,000. That's a lot of money, yes, but is... not a lot for such an incredibly rare and potentially dangerous artifact. This is not a movie that takes place in its own continuity, Mothra and Godzilla and Rodan and the rest all exist and are known to the world. If you found a gigantic egg, I would wager most people would realize that going anywhere near it is just going to cause trouble. But business people be business people, greed always comes first. More on this later.

Mothra vs. Godzilla has more in common with King Kong vs. Godzilla than any of the other movies we've seen so far. They spend an hour of the movie building up to a big showdown between two established creatures, and then pay it off in a pretty satisfying way. In comparison this one is significantly better, I'd argue, if for no other reason than the creatures don't have multiple underwhelming encounters before finally having a showdown worth talking about. I especially liked seeing Godzilla get his big ass literally tossed around by a cute moth and then get sniped by baby Mothra's with String Shot. They literally hide behind rocks while he tries to harm them, then stick their little heads out and cocoon him up while he screams helplessly. It's not the most noble or courageous way to take down Godzilla, but the shit works.

While this movie isn't terribly metaphorical, I think I can tease one out, especially given the scenes on Infant Island and the final lines of the movie. "The only way to thank them is to create a better world... A world based on mutual trust." Infant Island, as it appears in the movie, is destroyed by nuclear testing, only habitable because of the special juice that the natives of the island make and consume regularly (as established in the original Mothra). When the humans come seeking Mothra's aid they are initially rejected by both the natives of the island and the Shobijin (the voices of Mothra). Told they cannot trust the humans from the mainland/outside world, especially because they've destroyed Infant Island by refusing to stop nuclear testing, they'd rather just let Godzilla sort them out. Only a plea that "even bad people deserve a chance to live" convinces Mothra to help fend off Godzilla. Apparently Mothra is quite compassionate, cause it was not the most convincing argument I've ever heard for saving the world. Godzilla himself is a sort of symbol of consequences. He only seems to wake because Mothra's egg is brought to the mainland, and heads toward it directly. When he destroys the building that the unethical businessmen are inside, they die as a direct result of their greed (and take many innocent people with them). 

Thus, the two kaiju can be seen as a kind of metaphor for the consequences of bad actions like greed and nuclear testing (Godzilla) and the sacrifices needed from those note responsible to save everybody from the former (Mothra). Mothra literally dies to save people who caused all of their own problems, but has to get involved because the fate of her egg has become tied into the situation. Like the real world, those responsible for causing damage and destruction are shielded from the true consequences of their actions by those who would actually pay the price; Mothra has to save them because if she does not then she will not be reborn. Unlike the real world, at least some of the responsible parties of this film face the fates they've set others up for, in the form of Godzilla stepping on their building. Read it as a metaphor for global warming, oil spills, unfettered capitalism, nuclear testing, war, or whatever other ill springs to mind (perhaps them all), but Mothra and her larvae sacrifice themselves and put themselves at risk because even if they try to avoid the situation they become inevitably threatened by it. The larvae in particular are real champs, because once they hatch they could definitely just go to Infant Island and chill, but they really are looking out for humans who've done nothing for them. And ain't that just the way?

Overall, this is one of my favorite Godzilla movies so far. It speeds by in comparison to some of the others despite relatively little kaiju action until pretty late into it, then pays it all off at once. It's a great example of how pacing can improve a movie overall, as even the other versus focused movie (King Kong vs. Godzilla) in the canon so far had some serious pacing issues that made it a bit of a drag. The metaphor is also a bit more subtle in this one, but I think clear enough that it's not the simple giant ape vs giant lizard of the previous outing. I have no problems with movies about nothing (we've got like 50 more to go for this blog, so you'll see), it's also nice to sometimes see a movie that has something on its mind. Side note: Mothra is now the kaiju with the most consistent record for greatness. Of the 2 movies she's appeared in so far they've both been pretty great. If she keeps this up she could be the symbol of "dope shit here" in this series.

Next: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster!

King Kong vs. Godzilla

It's time for our first proper versus movie! It's even in the title. While I don't always do this, let's talk about the background of this one. It was originally supposed to be an American movie about King Kong fighting Frankenstein (or Prometheus as he was going to be called) but no one wanted to make it in the US. Those producers are all fools. But eventually it became what it is now: the most famous Japanese kaiju against the most famous American kaiju. Directed by Ishirō Honda with Godzilla primarily played by Haruo Nakajima and King Kong played by Shoichi Hirose, that pedigree of director and cast definitely tells us that this is as much a Toho production as anything else we've seen thus far.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- The human element of the story centers around a pharmaceutical company run by a buffoon, hoping to use the "Demon God" of (fictional) Faro Island to advertise.

- In the meantime, Godzilla wakes up from his burial under snow and ice and is attacked immediately by the military.

- A giant squidlike creature attacks the native people of Faro Island and King Kong saves them. They sing his praises and he goes back to sleep before he can turn his attention to the humans.

- News of King Kong is published and it's a big deal for our pharmaceutical company. Immediately, talk begins of whether King Kong or Godzilla is stronger.

- The eventually meet and Godzilla appears to win the first match after setting Kong on fire, both simply walking away. It's a pretty dreadful showdown consisting of a couple of Atomic Breath volleys and King Kong throwing (and missing) with a few rocks.

- Attempting to kill Godzilla twice fails despite the G-Man falling for both traps. He's just darn tough.

- In an allusion to the original King Kong, Kong kidnaps a woman and climbs to the top of the Diet Building in Tokyo.

- Using gas from Faro Island and the music which lulls him to sleep, King Kong is knocked unconscious and captured once more by humans.

- Hoping the two will kill each other, King Kong is airdropped to fight Godzilla on Mount Fuji.

- After falling underwater and continuing/finishing their fight, Kong is the only one to surface and swims off, heading back home.

Kaiju Notes

- For the first time so far in this journey, I had a companion watching along with me. When Godzilla first emerges she said it "looks like Godzilla is coming back from McDonald's, holding ice creams." BRUH THEY WERE HIS CLAWS

- Godzila's first appearance in color: his atomic breath still makes his spines glow but this time it's blue. As discussed in Gojira, I love this effect. The blue is a cool choice, but the Atomic Breath itself is a bit underwhelming, it still lacks substance.

- Godzilla retains a lot of the mobility from Raids Again, but the suit seems to be different. A different (less threatening) face/head at the least. The tail is also incredibly mobile now.

- The King Kong suit is hilarious because it sucks. Gorilla costumes have been being made for generations and somehow the best Gorilla suit that existed for this movie made Kong look awful. The face looks like it's made of wood.

- Both Kaiju do a lot of taunting and less fighting than I would like. It's like they have to gesture before they attack each other and it's distracting.

- King Kong is apparently empowered by electricity (the opposite of Godzilla) and in the final sequence gains electric hands and it's hilarious.

This movie actually brings up a question for me which I've pondered before: Gojira is considered the first kaiju movie but King Kong probably belongs on the list too, so should I have started there? Gojira is considered the first "kaiju" movie, but did kaiju movies begin to exist when there was a name for them or can we retroactively place movies into the kaiju category? I'm unsure. While this blog is largely focused on Godzilla movies (as the most famous kaiju and an excellent excuse to watch them all), it's also about the history of kaiju flicks. Either way, this is Kong's first crossing into the Godzilla series so let's talk about it on it's own terms before making any determinations on the future of this project.

One quick note on the music: the opening song of the movie reminds me of the classic One Winged Angel. Which is to say it's fucking awesome.

King Kong vs. Godzilla is the first movie we've seen so far which is explicitly funny. It actually seems to have very little going on for it besides being a spectacle with a humorous underlining. The jokes don't really land for me, but this is not uncommon when it comes to Japanese style humor: it often isn't for me. There is one joke of note that I enjoyed when the explorers were trying to get in good with the natives of Faro Island: giving a child a cigarette to get in good with him before his mom snatches it away and keeps it for herself.

When Godzilla awakens in this movie he is immediately attacked. Taking place in the same timeline as all of the other movies we've seen so far, the Japanese military is becoming more proactive than they initially were with giant monsters. Plans are made to kill Godzilla in a damn gas chamber, and when that fails they go for deterrence using 1 millions volts of electricity. The downside of this plan, which initially works, is that Kong grows stronger as he is shocked, which only makes the fighting more dangerous for everyone involved and nearby. There could be a message in here about the consequences of being too focused on a singular problem and creating an equal one instead, but it's not a strong theme of this script. The electrical powers of King Kong eventually grow to the point where a thunderstorm near the end of the movie gives him electric fists which he uses to finally equalize the fight between him and G.

Quite honestly, this movie has very little going on besides good old fashioned giant monsters fighting. Kong shoves a tree down Godzilla's throat at one point and Godzilla does a jump kick. This is more professional wrestling than allegory of the horrors of war or whatever, and sometimes isn't that just what you need? There are, however, a few things to note in conclusion. When the the monsters fall into the water King Kong is the only one seen swimming away, heavily implying he was the victor after losing two previous battle (before having electric hands). This makes it, to my knowledge so far, the only time Godzilla has truly lost a battle in any movie, but especially one with his name in it. Obviously many of the movies revolve around him losing initial skirmishes but rallying and taking down his foe, but this works almost exactly the opposite: Godzilla soundly defeats King Kong on two separate occasions before Kong is aided by a lightning strike. Worse still, Godzilla seems to lose this battle after being taken underwater. While not really expanded upon until later, Godzilla should have an advantage in the water. He's amphibious and takes refuge in the ocean, so taking a fight with Godzilla underwater usually means you get your ass kicked. But this is an early movie in the series so the rules haven't been established quite yet.

Ultimately, King Kong vs. Godzilla is dumb as hell and I like it a lot because it knows what it is and embraces it fully. While I might prefer my kaiju movies with a little more heart, sometimes you just want to see big leezard fite big monkee and the final third of this one gives you exactly that.

Next: Mothra vs. Godzilla!

Mothra

If you know little about kaiju movies, you probably know the name Mothra. She's the Queen of the Monsters, and this is her first appearance. Not just a support character in Godzilla flicks, this establishes Mothra as a force in the wider Kaiju-verse before she gets subsumed into Godzilla movies. Directed by (the OG) Ishirō Honda like Rodan before it, I think it's intended to see what kind of legs Mothra had on its own before deciding what to do with the character in the future. Let's talk giant flying insects.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- A Japanese ship is caught in a typhoon and sinks near Infant Island. Impossibly, none of the survivors have died of radiation poisoning.

- An expedition led by fictional nation Rolisican businessman Clark Nelson is set in place to investigate the secrets of Infant Island with just a few reporters in tow.

- While being attacked by a blood sucking planet one of the reporters is rescued by a pair of tiny, identical women, no more than a foot tall.

- Returning back to Japan, the expedition is considered a success.

- Clark Nelson returns to Infant Island separately and kidnaps the women, killing a bunch of the natives in the process. With his dying breaths, one of the natives calls out to Mothra to help them.

- Exploiting the tiny twins for commercial purposes, Clark Nelson has them performing on stage against their will, calling them the Secret Fairies.

- Mothra is revealed to be a protector of the island who will be coming to Japan to rescue the Fairies. They warn that innocent people will be hurt until they are returned to the island and there's nothing they can do to stop it.

- Mothra begins a rampage in a beeline toward the Fairies. The newspaper blames Clark Nelson even as he sues them for libel.

- The military attempts to stop Mothra, to no avail. Even her larval form is too strong to even be slowed by human weapons.

- Despite all this, Clark Nelson refuses to give up the Fairies and the Rolisican government protects his right to maintain possession of the kidnapped women.

- Mothra builds a cocoon which and begins her metamorphosis. In the meantime, the Rolisican government agrees to loan Japan their newest weapon: Atomic Heat Cannons. These set the cocoon on fire but Mothra emerges from it in her new badass moth form unharmed.

- When civilians surround Clark Nelson to insist he return the Fairies before Mothra arrives to kill them all, he whips out a gun and begins to threaten people. He is shot by the police and the Fairies are returned to Mothra as safely as possible, though with some significant collateral damage being done in the process.

- Mothra returns to Infant Island as soon as the Fairies are secured, the threat she poses to those who threaten her Fairies now over.

Kaiju Notes

- Larval mothra is equally gross and cute. Not slimy or otherwise unpleasant like a bug, but definitely an unpleasant creature.

- Mothra's powers are similar to Rodan, mostly powerful winds caused by wings. It's the only thing about Mothra that's not an improvement over the previous flying monster.

- Mothra as a flying creature is a huge improvement over Rodan in a small amount of time. Perhaps because she doesn't use her legs to do a lot of standing or towering, Mothra is a lot more believably moved around then the previous flying kaiju. The wings in particular are much more wing-like, actually flapping.

- Mothra's design really can't be argued against, it's one of the most inspired ones in all of kaiju. Mothra's colors and features reflect that she's less aggressive than her Godzilla counterpart, nothing about her stands out as aggressive or even a weapon as opposed to Godzilla's claws, size, large dorsal fins, and Atomic Breath.

- Mothra's (dope) design is also the first to truly utilize color: the design simply wouldn't work as well in black and white, whereas Godzilla and Rodan are perfectly suitable for the limitations of black and white picture.

This movie is actually quite good. It has more purpose than Godzilla Raids Again, is more coherent than Rodan, and is the best directed movie we've seen so far besides Godzilla (and the argument could be made that Mothra is better). Obviously some of the effects are quite dated by now, but the tiny Twins actually mesh relatively well with the rest of the actors and Mothra herself is a true feat of puppetry. On a pure technical level the first Mothra outing may be what earned her the place as Queen.

Mothra as a creature is distinguished from all other kaiju we've seen so far by being relatively non-violent. While she definitely causes collateral damage, most notably the civilian ship which just happened to cross her path, for the most part Mothra only does damage to people and structures either in her way or trying to stop her. Sequences of civilians falling prey to her are limited to the ship (mostly bad luck) and no one else, every other person targeted by Mothra is someone trying to stop her. Granted, the buildings that are destroyed definitely have people in them as well so it's not as though her kill count is low, but the (relative) pacifism is reflected in everything Mothra does. It's an interesting choice, especially so early in kaiju history.

The Twins are an interesting element to add to the movie, both the driving force of the film because Mothra pursues them relentlessly but also as helpless as anyone else in the movie because they do not control of even truly influence Mothra despite their obvious importance to her. When the other natives of Infant Island are slaughtered by Clark Nelson Mothra remains idle, but once the Twins are taken she awakens and wrecks havoc to get them back. The Twins performances themselves also serve as a really useful backdrop of the storytelling, allowing us to see Mothra move toward her goals while we listen to the forced performances of the Twins. I'm not sure if these scenes are part of the message, but I have to think it is.

Onto that message: this seems pretty obviously a warning against unfettered capitalism. Clark Nelson is described explicitly as a capitalist and nothing else. We don't know if he's an oil baron, businessman, banker, or treasure hunter, but he's a capitalist all the way. He funds an expedition to an uncharted island with the express purpose of exploiting it, and once he captures the twins her forces them to perform so he can profit off of the spectacle. The scenes of Mothra destroying things to rescue them while they seem to perform happily can definitely be read as an allusion to the pain and suffering that is truly in the background of many capitalistic endeavors. As every disingenuous person who reads anything critiquing anything capitalistic will point out: this is often done these days on computers or iPhones, products made by people in some pretty brutal conditions. The performance of the Twins also causes carnage by Mothra, just as the convenience of modern technology causes the exploitation and brutalization of people all over the world. Clark Nelson is even protected by his countries government and uses the legal system against anyone who correctly pins some blame on him, which seems a pretty simply transference. 

The most significant difference between the two examples is that Clark Nelson actually does suffer the consequences in this movie, whereas real world exploiters are almost never punished in any way (let alone meeting a fate similar to Clark Nelson). While his country's government was finally prepared to force him to return the Twins once Mothra had set her sights on Rolisca, he would likely have gotten off scot-free had he not overreacted. The only mistake Clark made was using the same tactics he does around the world on people in his own country, drawing a weapon at home rather than only abroad. Another reason to appreciate Mothra: she makes capitalist face consequences.

Next: King Kong vs Godzilla!

Rodan

The first non-Godzilla movie on our list! Rodan was released in December of 1956 and the first movie in color. We're watching progress happen as we watch kaiju flicks, folks! Directed by familiar name Ishirō Honda and with the titular kaiju played by famed Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima, this is a movie definitely made in the same vein of any other Godzilla movie, just with no appearance by the Big G. Let's get to the point.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Miners doing miner shit. A series of murders begins to happen, all the men sliced with an "incredibly sharp" object.

- Initially falsely thought to be the work of a particularly ornery miner, the true culprit is revealed to be a giant ancient dragonfly larvae named Meganulon.

-  An earthquake follows. Some time later, a fighter jet pilot sees an "unknown aircraft" doing loops in the sky, faster than his state of the art machine. As he approaches it he's unable to do anything but shout that it's huge before his plane is cut in half and he dies.

- While passing by and killing a couple in the mountains, presumably by accident, the new creature is identified as a giant Pteranodon: the titular Rodan.

- Rodan is hunted down by the military and attacked, in full view of civilians. They are able to slow but not stop Rodan as bridges, buildings, trains, and planes get destroyed.

- Eventually pinned down by tanks and other artillery, Rodan appears to be losing before a 2nd Rodan appears and rescues the 1st. They escape and the military regroups.

- Hunted down to a volcano, the military devises a plan to bury them underneath the fire, rock, and ash of the volcano. 

- In the conclusion, the plan succeeds and one of the Rodan's is set into the volcano and catches fie. Presumably not wanted to be alone, the 2nd Rodan joins its mate in the flames and they die together.

Kaiju Notes

- Rodan's powers are the ability to cause sonic booms by flapping its wings and also causing great damage by flying past things. In its first few appearances people are killed and vehicles destroyed just by the force of the giant creature flying past.

- As far as the creature itself, I honestly found it didn't make much of an impression at all. Besides the difficulty and clunkiness of having a flying creature onscreen in the 50's, Rodan leaves no major impressions.

- Meganulon is a much more interesting suit: claws and clearly a complex creation, if I had to choose one creature to have featured more (or even had as the main character) it would have been the much more interesting Meganulon.

To put it bluntly, Rodan is a very bad movie. It builds up a premise that has a lot of potential and wastes almost all of it. Meganulon is a demon from the gates of hell in the beginning of the movie, but when the earthquake happens and we shift focus to Rodan the movie begins to suffer. Making some initial good moves to establish Rodan as a danger to everyone around it despite not even being violent or angry, the major loss here was writing Meganulon out of the story entirely. Following Godzilla Raids Again I would assume that the idea of featuring two monsters fighting each other took hold here, but they squander it in a much bigger way than they did there. When we find out where Rodan came from (a giant egg), we also find out that in order to grow so large baby Rodan(s) just ate all of the Meganulons! What the actual fuck is that? There's not even a scene showing the swarm of Meganulon trying to fight Rodan off, just an off-screen explanation and with no more mention of Meganulon at all.

Now, I'm no kaiju movie writer (yet!) but I simply don't understand why you'd spend the first third of a movie focusing around a ferocious murderous bug monster only to have your giant flying dinosaur creature to simply eat them all offscreen. It makes no sense at all. When you factor in all of the additional work that had to be done to establish the new threat of Rodan (and earthquake, a plane, killing a couple, stealing cows, then there's a second one) it just makes the entire endeavor clunky. Especially when you had the great opportunity to have the larval Meganulon as a threat that could have evolved into the giant angry dragonfly monster that it was clearly conceived as. Everything else can function very similar, you just have a giant dragonfly instead of a flying dinosaur. You could even include the loss of the swarm of Meganulon, as maybe one eats all the others as they vie for being the Mega-Meganulon for the finale.

Speaking of failures, I have no idea what this movie is about. I read somewhere that Rodan was supposed to represent the threat that the Soviet Union posed to neighboring nations, but I don't see it. The only scene that comes remotely close to reflecting that is the scene of the fighter pilot encountering Rodan for the first time, initially thinking the dinosaur was some advanced new aircraft. But at no other point is anything even resembling arms race or invasion concerns even touched on. Rodan is a force of nature that mostly seems to accidentally harm people, so the military hunts it down and eventually succeeds in killing them. I could be missing something but I don't see how that serves as a metaphor for anything except possibly other natural disasters? Even if we take it as that, the military can't exactly shoot down a tsunami or a tornado so it still doesn't work.

Quite simply, Rodan is a mess. It's unnecessarily complicated, truly baffling narrative choices are made over and over, and it doesn't seem to be going for anything like an idea. Perhaps the kaiju genre is still truly finding its feet with releases like this and Godzilla Raids Again, but for me this film in particular just seems like an unforced error that failed to realize the potential of its own premise. I fully believe that in some alternate dimension there's a version of Rodan, probably called Meganulon instead, that is actually pretty awesome. A man can dream, at least. This will not be the last time we see the Main Man Rodan, so stay tuned for that. Hopefully his next appearance will be little more cohesive.

Next: Mothra!

Godzilla Raids Again

 

Now we speak of the first sequel to Godzilla, and truly the spawning of the franchise, Godzilla Raids Again. Going from what was (I would argue) clearly intended to be a one-off film about the perils of the arms race to a series of movies about giant monsters, the evolution of the kaiju genre truly starts here. Released in 1955 and directed by Motoyoshi Oda, both Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka return as suit actors this time, with Tezuka as the actor for new monster Anguirus. Get used to Nakajima as the Godzilla actor, he plays Godzilla for 12 films straight so is the true original Godzilla actor. Original, but is he the best? That's a question we will explore as we go.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Two pilots discover ANOTHER Godzilla, apparently woken up at the same time as the first Godzilla. 

- This Godzilla gets attacked by Anguirus, a giant anklyosaurus and an ancient rival of Godzillas.

- With no Oxygen Destroyer to destroy Godzilla (or Anguirus), things look hopeless.

- Godzilla appears on land and destroys some stuff after being attacked by humans. Anguirus attacks and the two kaiju have an epic battle, Godzilla ultimately the victor.

- Godzilla leaves the city after killing Anguirus.

- Weeks later, Godzilla is trying to chill and is attacked by humans on an icy island. He kills one of the main human characters but is ultimately frozen underneath snow and ice.

Kaiju Notes

- I still don't like Godzilla's eyes in some shots.

- Atomic Breath is improved somewhat, apparently by creating a puppet with an actual stream that can be expelled from it.

- The monsters are much more mobile this time around, going at it a bit like MMA fighters, including some grappling and ground-n-pound action

There is a lot of focus on human characters in this movie, but without a lot of substance behind it. An entire sequence of escaped criminals being hunted by police ultimately ends up being a very long road to get to the point of causing an explosion which attracts Godzilla and Anguirus to the city. It makes a degree of sense but takes up a lot of time and could've been resolved much more effectively. While the romance between two characters being interrupted by Godzilla and Anguirus' appearance could be an interesting story to explore, most of the human stories fall pretty flat if for no other reason than they're not really related to the main tale being told: Godzilla and Anguirus punching each other. The death of the pilot near the end that gives humans to idea to freeze Godzilla under snow and ice is the closest things to any human actions which relates to the kaiju story here, ultimately making it a movie about one fight between monsters and a bunch of boring shit otherwise.

Anguirus is very aggressive, it's kind of cute. Dude bites the neck a lot, where Godzilla always seems to be holding back somewhat. Godzilla does learn from his example and eventually chow down on the back of Anguirus' neck in return, but it did seem to be a learned response. For good measure Godzilla does then Atomic Breath Anguirus until he's fully dead, so he was only holding back in the beginning part apparently to annihilate his foe later. False sense of security, a classic move. That Godzilla is a crafty one!

One interesting change in this film from the first is that much of the emphasis of surviving Godzilla is just that: survival. While military forces always attempt to damage/kill him, this is ultimately futile. Two plans have worked to stop/deter Godzilla: turning off all electricity when he approaches so that he is not reminded of the nuclear bombs that caused all of this and freezing him under a massive pile of snow and ice. The first plan is ultimately undone by an exploding building and Anguirus attacking shortly thereafter, but Godzilla simply returns to the ocean afterward. The "freeze Godzilla" plan is successful, but is important to emphasize does very little actual harm to the Big Guy. It stops him in his track and allows him to go back to sleep, but that doesn't even seem like something Godzilla would be opposed to. The only reason either one has been upset was because they were woken up by human activity, so being encased in ice and allowed to chill seems a bit like a dream come true.

There's not much to say about this movie, honestly. It lacks any of the substance of the previous one and even the action sequence between Anguirus and Godzilla is one scene in the middle of the movie which is never matched by anything else that happens. The ice-shattering finale is well-done but by the time we get there it has just been such a boring ride. Godzilla versus military is always a fun concept though, and he really does do some damage in this one after they start several fights with him. Outside of a few interesting action sequences there's nothing to sink your teeth into with this one, and I find myself surprised that anyone was clamoring for more Godzilla if this was the result of the first sequel.

Next: Rodan!