DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968)
Time for one last Battle Royale. Or at least that was the intention at the time of its release, before the producers at Toho decided that making more money and having the series last for another seven years was a better plan. Looking at it now there are moments in which it's clearly the last of its kind, but in other ways it's also another alien invasion story in which many familiar narrative moments appear. But purely as a large scale spectacle it's debatable whether this really is the biggest and best of the Showa era, as the marketing would have you believe. Claims that this is the brawl to end all brawls, featuring every classic monster, are certainly in doubt as things unfold.
At this stage in Toho and Ishiro Honda's foray into science fiction most ideas had been tried already. Monsters being controlled by aliens, aliens with plans to dominate Earth, humans in a near future using orbiting bases and space technology; you name it. So in some ways this is a 'best of' compilation of what had come before, although it's probably not the best of its kind. Earlier monster wrestling matches were more interesting and earlier films about rocket ships and UFOs were more colourful. Still, it was several years earlier when the likes of The Mysterians and The Battle in Outer Space were released, is there anything else to be mined from the genre?
The aliens this time around, The 'Kilaaks', are not as interesting visually as the visor wearing bad guys from Astro-Monster. The apparently female villains just stand around wearing silver bathing caps and have little charisma. In the same way the human astronauts involved are certainly not as memorable as Glenn and Fuji. Akira Kubo plays Captain Yamabe, going against type as a more stoic figure this time around, but his relationship with his crewmates barely registers. The Xiliens had more style and the Mysterians had cooler robots. Oddly nobody thought to use one this time and even though King Kong Escapes had just been released; it would be a few years until MechaGodzilla arrived.
Still, there's some charm to the story which depicts all monsters being housed in the Bonin Islands inside a sealed preserve called 'Monsterland'. Apparently this age of peace has meant that new ways of controlling the creatures have been developed, and in the meantime the nations of the world have prospered and started to build on the moon. Island zoos and lunar bases are admittedly very disparate ideas, but it's a necessary contrivance to allow another story about rocket bases and kaiju rampages to unfold. Unfortunately with all this technology the scientists in the UNSC haven't learned to build any defences to avoid another flying saucer attack, despite this being linked to those earlier films.
At least the film makers themselves learned to build an improved Godzilla costume this time around; the googly eyes might be a little big but the face of the Big-G is much better than in Son of Godzilla. Meanwhile some of his brainwashed buddies are looking rather mistreated. This is particularly true when looking at King Ghidorah, who gets yet another thrashing. Considering his losses in the previous films it's unclear why aliens ever think he can win. The finale is one of the funniest as he barely makes any ground before being stomped by half a dozen monsters. Gorosaurus (previously brutalised by King Kong) and Godzilla's son (now named as Minilla) even get to do their signature moves.
Elsewhere the other creatures available fare less well; the likes of Baragon and Varan, linking the Godzilla series to their own movies, get laughable cameos resulting in zero monster action. A single Mothra larva and the spider Kumonga try and help with little effect. Manda from Atragon is sometimes present and sometimes vanishes. Why not have the Kilaaks do something more large scale in the finale to spread out the action among so many combatants? It's odd considering that the first half of the story seems intent on showing many world capitals and the moon itself, lending it a grander scope. The conclusion at Mount Fuji is fun but often baffling to watch as a result.
Beyond the creature feature effects the rest of the movie has its ups and downs. Models are often detailed with miniature vehicles lending them scale. But the destruction of things like tanks and a monorail train lack human inserts, draining any sense of realism. I guess at this stage in the series the monsters were too heroic and human casualties were being shied away from, as was any sense of collateral damage. Some of the city effects just lack the grit of the original Mothra and Rodan. Which is odd when the results of alien mind control are not censored with sub-dermal implants and a classic dummy fall linking this to Honda's prior espionage plots.
The connecting tissue that really holds this together is of course another musical score by Akira Ifukube. His opening theme is another great brass tune that pushes the rocket action forward. Like many other elements it's immediately familiar as one of his typical military marches, but it's a memorable iteration. There's also an interesting piece of moon music to accompany the outer space sequences. The only odd part is the way that Rodan's theme is often used in place of music that would normally follow the regular kaiju appearances. It's one many strange choices in a story that could have been more cohesive with a few little touches.
It's a film that leaves and lot of questions unanswered. How is Anguirus alive? Why isn't Mothra an adult? Why not add Ebirah or the Gargantuas? Why is monster control so easy yet Earth hasn't figured it out until now? Why is it set in the future? It's fun while it lasts but saying it's the biggest monster battle ever is stretching the truth. However, even if it's weirdly paced, weirdly constructed, and often rather sloppy, this is still the end of an era. The alien lairs are cute, the 2001 style video calls are charming, and the way it ends with a battle for Tokyo again is entertaining. It doesn't have anything new to say and the themes of atomic energy and international co-operation have been lost, but it's still engaging.
The end result is a story that would be repeated again several times in the years to come. In fact little here is new and most of the characters are robotic even without alien interference. Kyoko (Yukiko Kobayashi) is a very cold romantic interest before she gets brainwashed, while Dr. Otani (Yoshio Tsuchiya) is clearly going to do a heel turn thanks to type-casting that hasn't been changed. But it's still a very watchable final note for the classic Ishiro Honda period, even if his grander ideas had to be scaled down. There's still something appealing about the premise, the music, the 1960s style, and seeing this much Showa are suit-mation on screen all at once.
3/5
