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Godzilla Vs Gigan 1972 Director: Jun Fukuda Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 89 minutes Studio: Columbia Tristar Hom Region Code: 99 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-10-19 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com Known to Stateside moviegoers as Godzilla on Monster Island, this slight but fun 1972 entry in the Godzilla franchise pits the King of the Monsters and four-legged cohort Angilas against aliens bent on world domination, as well as their old nemesis, the space dragon King Ghidorah, and a new creature, the birdlike cyborg Gigan. Diehard G-fans may be disappointed by the film's kid-friendly tone (a shift in direction signaled several years earlier by Godzilla's Revenge) and its overreliance on stock footage from other Godzilla films to depict the monsters' orgy of destruction, as well as an unfortunate decision to make Godzilla "talk"; however, children (Gigan's real audience) will undoubtedly enjoy the frantic action. Parents should know that there are two brief moments of blood-letting (Godzilla and Angilas both suffer wounds from a buzzsaw that juts from Gigan's torso), but otherwise, the film is free of objectionable material. --Paul Gaita |
 "Hippies, stock footage and a talking Godzilla! "Any long running series has its ups and downs, and in a series as long-running as Godzilla those downs can be pretty low. This one isn't bottom of the barrel, but you can definitely see it from there. "Godzilla vs. Gigan" ("Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan" or "Earth Assault Order: Godzilla vs. Gigan ") is the 12th film in the Showa series, at a time when Godzilla had turned from a rampaging beast of fear and destruction into a kid-friendly beastie cheered by the citizens of Japan. Due to the hard times of the 70's Japanese film, the budget is tiny, and there is a heavy reliance on stock footage taken from previous Godzilla films. The plot is somewhat oddball, with developers attempting to build Godzilla-land, a theme park built around Godzilla. Of course, the developers are secretly cockroach-aliens, and when a hippie and a failed cartoonist get wind of their plan, quickly summon the terrors of King Ghidra and Gigan to Earth to help in their nefarious plan. Godzilla and his stocky pal Angirasu are on hand to stop them. Of course, the worst and most bizarre aspect of "Godzilla vs. Gigan" is the chatty Godzilla, as he and Angirasu exchange a few well-timed quips. This isn't so bad in the original Japanese, where the audio is growling sounds and the dialog appears as word-balloons, but in the English dub there is an actual Godzilla voice. A horrible decision on someones part. However, unforgivable cheesyness aside, Gigan is a decent foe for the Big G, with his buzz-saw belly and sharp claws. He and King Ghidra make a nice tag-team pair, easily trouncing Godzilla and Angirasu to within an inch of their lives. Godzilla isn't quite so mighty here, and he seems to have forgotten how to breath his atomic fire, until the last possible moment. While more kid-friendly, the series gets bloodier with this picture, as Godzilla starts spouting red, and gives some back to Gigan and King Ghidra. King Ghidra takes some nasty neck damage as well. People attracted to the sillier aspects of Godzilla will love "Godzilla vs. Gigan." Those who like at least a little menace with their monster should probably give this one a miss.  "Godzilla vs. Gigan, the stock footage fest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"Godzilla vs. Gigan is cooooooool. Gigan, a cyborg maniac with a saw on chest, is one of the best foes ever, and making the show better is King Ghidorah's appearance. Gigan would've killed Godzilla if he wasn't the star. I liked the original idea which the scrapped better, but this is still good. To sum it all up: Godzilla:GOOD! Angilas:GOOD! Gigan:GOOD! King Ghidorah:GOOD! Gaira stock footage scene:GOOD! The rest of the stock footage:GOOD! The Hippie Who Threatens you with corn:HILARIOUS! Evil Nebula M Spacehunter Cockroaches:GOOD! Godzilla and Angilas talking: okay. "Attack of the Stock Footage!"The 1970's were for the most part a bad time for movies. Economic troubles amongst other such woes seemed to plague the entire world. And the cinema had it no better. Again, for the most part. See, for every Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Star Wars, there always seemed to be a Giant Spider Invasion or Food of the Gods to make the average moviegoer queasy. Add the increasing popularity of television to the mix and well, you get the idea. Seemed Godzilla was one of the lucky ones. Well, yes and no. See, Godzilla managed to continue to be a mainstay in the theaters, but in order to do that, he would have to do an embarrasing amount of things most of us hardcore fans would soon like to forget. Like... A. Use his breath to propel himself in the air. B. Play second fiddle to Jet Jaguar in the following film Godzilla vs. Megalon. C. Do a flying missile dropkick in said Megalon. and... D. Go from a walking doomsday device to lovable children's hero. Which leads us to this film. See, having to weigh their budgetary options, Toho Co. Ltd, along with director Jun Fukuda, director of 5 Godzilla films, opted to use stock footage from previous Godzilla films like Monster Zero (which in itself used footage from Rodan (1957), also in this film), Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster, Destroy all Monsters and Son of Godzilla, as well as other Toho outlets like Frankenstein Conquers the World. The idea was by using this footage Toho could save money in visual effects. This decision was and still is not appreciated by fans (me, I liked it, considering that at least most of the footage was from good films), blaming Jun Fukuda for ruining the Godzilla legacy. But it wasn't all his fault. In the days where there was no money, screenplays were written in a day and moviemaking was basicly a rushed, incoherent job, even Fukuda today fells like watching these films are like "opening old wounds." In either event, most of this footage was used again in Godzilla vs. Megalon, but I would reccomend watching this film at least once to get a glimpse of that infamous time in moviemaking. Later! "Stock Footage, Talking Monsters, Exploding Minitures and Four Giant Monster Battling"Although Godzilla and Angilas both talk in two infamous scenes and this movie has the biggest overuse of stock footage since GODZILLA`S REVENGE, I think the final battle between Godzilla and Angilas and Gigan and Ghidora made up for it. I watch this movie alot.  "G & Nubula Spacehunter M (Okay, I admit that Godzilla vs Gigan is one of the corney Godzilla movies of the 70s but it isn't nearly as bad as Godzilla vs Hedorah. Okay, let's see: We have a Team Battle Between four of some of the most famous kaiju, an alien invasion plot, explosions, and a bunch of fighting that doesn't seem to get old. Mix it up and you get a great Sci-Fi flick! Okay, it's not the best Sci-Fi movie but it is one of the best Showa Godzilla movies. I keep watching it and it never seems to get old. Many other movies like Star Wars original trilogy, Lord of the Rings, A.V.P, and a lot of other stuff, I just don't find appealing when I watch it for the second time. But Godzilla vs Gigan never gets old! It has King Ghidorah, my third favorite kaiju, Angilas, my favorite Godzilla ally, Gigan, now a very popular favorite of mine, and of course Godzilla the King of Monsters. This is just a really good movie for soemone who's in the mood to have fun! Buy it, you can keep watching it a bunch of times and it just never expires! |
