Kaiju Friday: Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Destroy All Monsters (1968)


Plot Summary

 In 1999, the United Nations has established bases on the moon and on Ogasawara Island off the coast of Japan. Ogasawara is also where all the world's monsters,Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Angilas and Minya, among others, have gathered for study and to keep them from wreaking havoc on the world. However, a group of alien women known as the Kiraku take over the island and put the monsters as well as the humans under mental control in order to conquer the rest of the Earth. It is up to astronaut Katsuo Yemabe and his crew to stop the Kiraku as well as release the monsters and the humans from their control before it is too late

Wow! I can say without a shadow of a doubt this is the best Godzilla movie (besides the original) that i've seen so far during this project and for good reason as Toho originally intended this to be the very last Godzilla film as the popularity of the monster movies were waning however seeing how popular this movie was they continued to make Godzilla films into the '70s.

Everything about this flick is just about pitch perfect. The story is set up very well with narration about the monsters on the island and the way humanity has them controlled. It's less of a prison and more of a controlled wildlife preserve as the monsters can do just about anything they want without leaving the island. The "earth invasion" plot in this film is just as goofy as in Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) but it's done in a far more compelling and competent way as the Kiraku breach the base underneath Monster Island and mind control the scientists to allow them to take control of the monsters. Shortly after you have the monsters attacking various cities all over the world, including Godzilla attacking New York. This prompts the UN Space Council to act and bring home the Moonlight SY3 captained by Katsuo Yamabe who is the hero of the flick. The main scientist that helps out in trying to find out what's happened to the monsters is a Dr. Yoshita. In fact, it seems Yoshita is in charge of the whole world's scientific community! Anyways the crew of the ship gets down to the base and discovers that the scientists there are acting strange and they take Yamabe and crew to see the queen of the Kiraku. The Queen demands that humanity be under their control or they'll unleash the monsters on the world.

So right there the premise of the invasion is pretty nebulous but the execution of the plot is quite good what with Yamabe and Co. trying to take the mind altered head scientist and his (Yamabe's) sister (Dr. Otani and Kyoko respectively) only to see Kyoko escape and Otana being uncooperative due to his altered state. The race against time to find out where the Kiraku are and to find a way to subdue the monsters is done in a fast but well paced way.

The budget is clearly beefed up in this one what with all the monsters and the climactic monster battle after the aliens are just about to be defeated is FANTASTIC. The Kiraku bring in King Ghidorah to face the now human controlled monsters and it's a monster mash! They're literally biting, kicking, stomping and making King Ghidorah bleed on one of his necks! It's pretty intense as far as monster fights go.

The mish mash of sci-fi and action movie works well here and the acting is excellent throughout. There isn't any comedic type in the movie and it's done in an earnest way that brings home the seriousness of the situation but frothy enough that it's entertainment. The aftermath of Tokyo being destroyed by Godzilla, Manda and Rodan was reacted upon in a very good way as Yamabe remarks that the destruction is horrible. You could hear the shock and sadness in the actor's voice as he says this.

If this was to be Godzilla's final film it would've been a great send off as the story was strong and the monster action was one of the best in Godzilla movie history. I give this a strong *****