Destroy All Monsters

Japan / 1968 Directed by Ishiro Honda Starring Akira Kubo Yukiko Kobayashi Jun Tazaki Color / 90 Minutes / Not Rated Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC) ADV Films

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		Review by Brian Lindsey

5     3   10 = Highest Rating

Along with perennial crowd fave Godzilla this film features appearances by such rubber-skinned behemoths as Rodan, Mothra, Ghidorah (alias "Monster Zero") Anguirus, Manda, Gorosaurus, Baragon and a couple of other critters I'd never seen or heard of before. But even with all these cool kaiju on display the story focuses most of its attention on a crew of heroic U.N. space jockeys. Though a moderately fun exercise in Toho-style model-stomping, Destroy All Monsters ultimately promises more than it delivers.     Apparently all the kaiju who've brought destruction to Nippon in the past are now living in a sort of 'monster preserve' on Ogasawara Island (also referred to as "Monster Land"), from which they cannot escape. They're kept from straying too far by means of force fields, repellent chemicals and the like, allowing scientists to study them at leisure. A new researcher joining the observers, Kyoko (Yukiko Kobayashi), has just arrived at the island's monitoring complex when everyone is overcome by a mysterious gas. The communication link with U.N. scientific headquarters in Tokyo is cut off. Shortly thereafter the various monsters who'd been caged up on Ogasawara start appearing at different points across the globe... Godzilla wades out of New York Harbor, smashing Manhattan; Rodan pulverizes Moscow; Mothra leaves a swath of destruction across China; Manda rampages through London; Baragon does to Paris what Donald Rumsfeld only dreams he could do himself. (The supersonic, airborne Rodan I can understand, but the other kaiju sure hotfooted it over there pretty fast!) With the major cities of the world being destroyed one by one by the monsters, the U.N. orders Capt. Katsuo Yamabe (Akira Kubo) and the brave crew of the interplanetary cruiser SY-3 to check out Ogasawara and find out what happened to the researchers there. (Katsuo's pretty gung ho on this mission because Kyoko happens to be his girlfriend.) The rocketship touches down on the island where they discover that a race of extraterrestrials, the Kilaaks, have taken over the monster control center and enslaved the minds of the scientists, including Kyoko. The aliens have released Godzilla and the other monsters and are now controlling them, using the beasts as weapons of war. Their goal: conquest of the Earth.     So the movie spends most of the middle act, and a good portion of the conclusion as well, following the adventures of Katsuo and his shipmates as they skirmish with the aliens and gain enough information for the U.N. scientists to devise a countermeasure. This means that in lieu of kaiju wrasslin' we get many scenes with guys in bright yellow space suits snapping "Right!" with alacrity to Katsuo's barked orders of "Let's go!" Actually some of this is rather amusing, as when the SY-3 crew get into gun battles with the enslaved scientists. To procure a key sample of alien technology Katsuo and his men attack a Kilaak base hidden in a crater on the moon, using a cool armored assault vehicle to blast their way inside. But I think a Japanese giant monster movie should primarily be about, well... Japanese giant monsters. For a good chunk of their time on screen they're glimpsed only on monitor displays watched by the scientists. It isn't until well into the film, when Godzilla, Rodan, Manda and Anguirus team up to flatten Tokyo, and the battle royale conclusion, as the monsters (now back in the control of the U.N. scientists) square off against a late-arriving King Ghidorah, that the kaiju really strut their stuff. Godzilla gets the lion's share of the monster footage, of course; some of his brethren are only briefly glimpsed. (What was that giant spider thing?) Surprisingly, the armadillo-like Anguirus and the super T-Rex dinosaur Gorosaurus (whose butt was kicked by Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla) receive screen time at the expense of the more popular kaiju Rodan and Mothra. (Gorosaurus demonstrates a mean drop kick on Ghidorah.) Unfortunately that redheaded stepchild of Japanese monster flicks, Minilla — the goofy, smoke ring-blowing son of Godzilla — also shows up. The good news: he's only in the flick for a few minutes. (As for Godzilla himself, I much prefer the meaner-looking Lizard King of Godzilla 2000.) It's all utterly ridiculous and quite a lot of fun, especially for kids. Some of the dubbing is hilarious, too.

American kaiju fans have been disappointed with the treatment of their beloved monsters on Region 1 DVD ever since the format debuted. Generally, titles have either been shoddily treated (see EC's Rodan review) or aren't available at all. On the surface ADV Films would seem to have done a respectable job with Destroy All Monsters — at least the film is shown widescreen. Sound quality is pretty decent, too. But some really damning problems with the disc will quickly dampen the collector's enthusiasm.     Inexcusably, there are no chapter stops. That's right... the movie is just one long chapter! This can get pretty frustrating should the viewer not be able to watch the flick in its entirety in one sitting; you'll have to fast-forward all the way to the point you left off. And believe it or not, there isn't even a menu screen! This is the first commercially released DVD like this I've ever come across. If you hit the Menu key on your remote control, instead of going to the main menu the disc merely replays the company logo and starts the movie all over again at the beginning. Pathetic! Still, it is good to see a kaiju film in its proper aspect ratio. The print used here is a little beat up, with minor damage (mostly speckling) in almost constant evidence, but colors are quite vivid. The dubbed English audio track is strong and clear despite being occasionally marred by sporadic popping noises. 2/15/03

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