From
the opening shots of comic book panels, you immediately know Godzilla on
Monster Island is going to be a colorful, eye-popping, silly romp. It’s loaded with cool monsters, great scenes
of mass destruction, and of course, fun monster mashing mayhem. Not only that, but the plot is even worth
following for a change.
An
out of work comic book artist gets a job at the “Children’s Land” amusement
park drawing monsters for their latest attraction. When he notices a woman running from
security, he investigates and learns the park’s creators are keeping her
brother hostage. She’s also in
possession of a tape the teenage CEO of the park wants back, and when she plays
it for our hero, it sends a homing message to King Ghidrah and Gigan to come to
Japan and start wreaking havoc. It’s
then up to Godzilla and his buddy Anguirus (who are living like The Odd Couple
out on Monster Island) to stop them.
There’s
a lot to like here aside from the monster mashing. The amusement park set-up is a lot of fun. Their main attraction is an observation tower
in the shape of Godzilla. It’s
life-size, and people can go all the way to the top and find out what it’s like to
see things from Godzilla’s perspective.
(I wish they had one of these at Universal Studios!) I also liked the fact that the human villains
were giant alien cockroaches in disguise.
(Franz Kafka eat your heart out!)
The human characters are also memorable this time out, something that can rarely be said
for a Godzilla picture. The comic book
artist hero is plucky and likeable, but the thing I liked best about him was
that he’s kind of a wimp, and his badass girlfriend (who is a black belt in
karate) always has to bail him out of trouble.
There’s also a hippie sidekick who is obsessed with eating phallic
shaped food who’d fit right in in a John Waters movie.
Of
course, it’s those monster mashing sequences that makes Godzilla on Monster
Island such a blast. Gigan makes for a
rather badass adversary. Sporting a
four-pronged beak, blades for arms, and a glowing cycloptic eye, he causes
destruction with his gnarly buzz-saw belly, a weapon that is as puzzling as it
is awesome. Ghidrah looks like he’s
suffering from a stiff neck(s) (the puppeteering isn’t what it once was), but
the scenes where he and Gigan fly around like Maverick and Iceman in Top Gun
are appropriately kick-ass.
The
fight scenes are chockful of all the Saturday Night Wrestling moves you know
and love, but what makes the kaiju brawls so intense is that for the first time
ever, the monsters bleed when they’re hit.
In fact, Godzilla bleeds in this one just about as much as Rocky does in
any given Rocky sequel. There’s a
particularly great shot where Anguirus tries to perform a Bill Goldberg spear
into Gigan, winds up going headfirst into his buzz-saw belly, and his blood
splatters all over the screen!
Oh,
and I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.
Once Godzilla finds out something’s gone wrong in the park, he tells
Anguirus to go check it out. Yes, you
read that right. THE MONSTERS TALK IN THIS ONE!
What makes it even better is the fact that they kind of growl and moan,
but the translations appear onscreen as little thought bubbles. You see, it’s that whole comic book
inspiration again. It just goes to show
that more kaiju movies should take a… ahem… page from them.
AKA: Godzilla vs. Gigan. AKA:
Extermination: 2025. AKA:
Earth Destruction Directive:
Godzilla vs. Gigan. AKA: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah: Earth Destruction Directive. AKA:
War of the Monsters. AKA: Earth Assault Order: Godzilla vs. Gigan.
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