Reigo, The Sea Monster vs The Battleship Yamato (2008)

The setting is World War II. Japan launches the Yamato, the largest battleship in the world, to lead the Japanese fleet. The mission gets complicated when the Yamato mistakes a huge undersea monster for an enemy destroyer and accidentally kills its offspring. The monster, Reigo, wants revenge and starts attacking the fleet. But if anything can stop it, the Yamato can…

This is a very low budget kaiju movie from a fan of the genre and it clearly shows. The first thing you notice is the truly awful CGI effects, probably one of the worst examples in a movie I’ve ever seen. It just looks cheap as hell. The creature looks great but again it is let down by the crappy CGI. Awful acting by the entire cast. The attack sequences by Reigo aren’t very good either. Mercifully, this movie only runs to 80 mins which is just as well as I don’t think I could have fathomed taking any more punishment from watching it. If you can take this movie as it is, you might enjoy it but those expecting a big budget kaiju spectacular are going to be dismayed. Had this movie been done with proper CGI, I’m sure it would have been great.

I can’t find a trailer.

Sadako’s Rating: 1 star out of 5

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Godzilla vs Mothra (1964)

When a giant egg is washed ashore with a greedy businessman eager to exploit it for all it’s worth, 2 emissaries from Mothra Island (acted by popular j-pop idol duo at the time – The Peanuts) come to ask for it’s return. When this do not happen and they return empty handed, Godzilla awakens from his slumber and proceeds to raise hell. Now the humans seek Mothra’s help from Godzilla who threatens nearby cities and Mothra’s unhatched egg.

The 4th Godzilla movie is one of the best from the Showa era. Great SFX for the time with a coherent storyline and the fight scenes between Mothra and Godzilla are pretty well done.

Sadako’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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King Kong Escapes (1968)

An evil genius named Dr. Who (no not THAT Dr Who!!) has created a robotic version of King Kong named Mechani-Kong in order to dig for a highly radioactive element called “Element X”, but the power of it shuts the robot down. Meanwhile, the crew of a submarine investigate the legend of King Kong on Mondo Island and Susan Wattson is attacked by Gorosaurus. However Kong comes to her rescue and kills it by breaking their jaws, before also saving the crew from a giant sea snake, named the Serpent of Mondo Island. Later, Dr. Who kidnaps the real Kong along with the submarine crew and hypnotize him to dig for Element X. He soon snaps out of it, escapes and swims off to Tokyo. The submarine crew also escape and Kong picks up Wattson, who he carries to the top of the Tokyo Tower where he fights Mechani-Kong.

Toho’s 2nd Kong movie and one of the most laughable kaiju flicks I’ve ever seen. The plot concerning a Doctor Who (not the British Doctor Who though!) capturing Kong to extract an element called X is terrible and the creature costume is hilarious. Seeing a dinosaur dropkicking Kong was the icing of the cake for this silly movie. It was fun just to see how bad this really was.

Sadako’s Rating: 1 out of 5

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Gamera The Brave (2006)

The movie begins in 1973 when Gamera dies fighting a group of his arch nemesis Gyaos. In the present day Toru, a young boy, is dealing with the death of his mother a year before. The boy notices an odd red light on an island in the harbour. Swimming over to investigate Toru finds a glowing red stone and an egg from which hatches a tiny turtle. Toru names the turtle Toto, then takes it home as a pet. He is forced to hide Toto as his father won’t allow a pet. To Toru’s amazement Toto begins it grow rapidly and in a few days is almost as big as Toru himself. More amazing is the fact that Toto can fly. Meanwhile there are reports of missing ships in the sea. No one is sure what’s going on. Whats going on is a giant monster (Zedus) from under the sea has begun to develop a taste for human flesh and he soon comes ashore where there are plenty of people to feed upon. Will Toto be able to grow fast enough to save his friend Toru?

At it’s heart this is a kids film and completely different from the trilogy of Gamera movies that came out in the 90’s where it was more of a serious and darker tone. I still like this kaiju flick though. Very surprised at the liberal amount of blood – human and monster considering that the target audience was specifically kids. The movie also serves as a nice introduction to those that might not have seen or heard about Gamera before – chronicling his past very briefly and also his rebirth. The story might drag a little bit and you’re just waiting until a monster comes and start smashing things up. The action short though it is – is definitely worth waiting for. The special effects are superb especially for the monster Zedus who’s like a huge lizard with spikes all over his body.

With Godzilla now officially in semi-retirement, it’s been left for Gamera to pick up the baton for kaiju movies. Unfortunately Gamera The Brave bombed big style in Japan but I’m still hoping that new movies will be made in the future. I’m sure hardcore kaiju fans were left sorely disappointed by this effort – minimal fight sequences between the creatures and a storyline involving too many children. But hopefully with Gamera now a fully fledged adult the studios can produce something a bit more dark again. My dream would be to see Godzilla take on Gamera but it’s unlikely that scenario will ever happen. Those that were expecting something like the 90’s Gamera movie trilogy will be left wanting.

Sadako’s Rating: 3 out of 5

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Monster X Strikes Back:Attack The G8 Summit (2008)

The monster Guilala returns to Earth during the G8 Summit which leads to a big crisis amongst the G8 leaders. The G8 leaders take their turns in coming up with a lame brained scheme to destroy the creature. It doesn’t surprise you that none of them work until a TV reporter comes across a golden deity in a remote village called Take-Majin that could save the day.

Guilala is a kaiju that’s made it’s one and only appearance in the 1960’s flick The X From Outer Space which flopped big time in Japan. This comedy sees it’s return. This movie is fairly amusing but some of the jokes fall flat on it’s arse. It’s embarassing rather than funny seeing how they lampoon the G8 leaders. Typical stereotype for example the French Sarkozy guy bedding his interpreter. It’s the type of film you’ll roll your eyes rather than laughing out loud. That’s how bad it is but there are one or two humourous moments. I liked how they made fun of the delicate situation in Asia right now – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il makes a surprise appearance trying to sabotage the summit by disguising himself as former Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi! I would have liked to see more destruction by Guilala but even that is kept to a minimum. This could have been a far better comedy but it’s let down by the script and bad performances by the cast. I thought it would be better seeing as I enjoyed watching the 2 previous movies the director made – The Calamari Wrestler and Executive Koala. To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t waste time watching this drivel.

Sadako’s Rating: 1.5 out of 5

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