“Godzilla Vs. Gigan” Review

The 1970s were not a really bright spot for The King of the Monsters. Toho’s budget for the films declined sharply due to theaters not performing well as a result of more Japanese households carrying televisions. Consequently, many of the Big Guy’s movies were aimed at children, as they still frequented the theaters.

However, some of the King’s movies were a little bit more adult in their content during the decade. I would classify Godzilla Vs. Gigan as one of those 70s era films that, at the least was aimed more towards the teenagers.

Growing up, Godzilla Vs. Gigan was one of my favorite Godzilla films; but as I’ve gotten older, I find myself watching it less. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean I think it’s a bad film (on the contrary, I think it’s a pretty fun film), but I figure it signals that my taste in films has, somewhat, shifted. This could be the reason why I find many of the earlier Godzilla films (from 1954-1966) to possibly be the best films in the franchise.

Godzilla Vs. Gigan centers around a young comic book artist named Genko, who

is attempting to make a name for himself in the comic book business. After being let go from an earlier job, he finds himself working for the newly constructed Children’s Land theme park; which has a giant Godzilla tower overlooking the park at one end.

The heads of the park are wanting to bring all of the world’s monsters to the park and put them on display, but as we find out later, the park owners want to exterminate said monsters. Genko is suspicious of his new employers due to their radical ideas and bumps into a couple of people that are out to destroy the park.

What ensues is an entanglement between Genko, his new-found friends, and his employer. After playing a tape one of his friends steals from the park, Godzilla and Anguirus realize that something isn’t right (they can understand the garbled signal that is being emitted from the tape). Genko also finds out that one of his friend’s brother is being held hostage in the Godzilla tower by the park owners.

The group decides it’s time to take down the park, but are quickly captured. While captured, they find out that the park owners aren’t human. They are cockroaches from a distant planet with conditions similar to earth’s. After they had, literally, trashed their planet, they came to earth in hopes of destroying mankind and claiming earth as their new home.

How are they going to destroy mankind? That’s where, not one, but two tapes come in. These tapes are confiscated and played out into space where Gigan and King Ghidorah are called to destroy the earth…starting with Tokyo.

After a bad run-in with the military, Anguirus heads back to Monster Island to tell Godzilla that things are not looking up and the two swim to Tokyo to take on Gigan and King Ghidorah in the battle for earth!

The story is pretty straight-forward and, while including a rehash of the old cliche of aliens wanting to dominate the earth, is still a fun one.

The drama of Genko attempting to unravel the secrets of Children’s Land is extremely entertaining and one sorts to kind of forget they’re watching a Godzilla film. Which could also be a downside depending on his/her tastes.

The kaiju don’t show up until about the final half-hour and a lot of nice destruction and kaiju fighting take place.

The acting is pretty bland at times, but also really goofy. The hippie and some of Genko’s antics tend to steal the show when it comes to some of these goofs. But the acting is still fairly solid despite all of these.

The kaiju suits look fantastic…except for Godzilla’s. This is the fourth consecutive film this suit has been used and it is literally falling apart in front of the camera in some scenes. This is one of the signs of the tremendous budget cuts in this decade of the franchise. It’s a sad sight to see, but the suit isn’t in absolute tatters. Gigan’s suit steals the show and is, in my opinion, one of the coolest Godzilla foes Tanaka could have conceived.

What really steals the show is the giant battle at the end. This is one of the best kaiju rumbles I’ve seen in the franchise…and that’s saying a lot! The destruction of Tokyo, at the hands of Gigan and Ghidorah, is fascinating! The only complaint I have with this is that some of Ghidorah’s destruction scenes are taken directly from Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster and Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero.

I find Godzilla Vs. Gigan to be in very close contention with Terror of Mechagodzilla for best Godzilla film in the 1970s. The film is pretty well made despite the budget cutbacks and the acting, while not great, isn’t horrible either.

The kaiju action doesn’t start until a bit past the halfway marker of the movie, but all that waiting pays off when Gigan and Ghidorah touch-down on Tokyo. The rumble between the good kaiju and villain kaiju is some of the best kaiju action I’ve seen in the entire series and it makes up for any short-comings the film may have had prior to the kaiju eventually stealing the show.

It’s a film that every Godzilla fan needs to check out. Not to mention Gigan is one of the coolest-looking Godzilla villains ever!