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Something of a pseudo-sequel to the Kaiju monster movie “Frankenstein Conquers the World,” Ishirō Honda’s follow up is a movie that’s begging to be remade. It’s a great film all on its own, but there are so many scenes here that would look incredible on a modern screen, including one moment when a fisherman looks in to the deep water only to look down at the massive monster Gaira who is lurking at the very bottom. That said, “The War of the Gargantuas” is a movie that thankfully doesn’t require too much foot work from the original film to understand what’s happening. Even though the monsters Gaira and Sonda are referred to as “Frankensteins,” they’re two sides of the same coin.
At the end of “Frankenstein Conquers the World,” the monsters heart is taken to Japan at the end of World War II. There it’s subjected to testing and then consumed by a young boy who is transformed in to a giant humanoid Frankenstein. But when the original monster died, a piece of its flesh grew in to its own monster, this is the evil one who is now intent on eating people and fighting with his brother. Now as they both do battle because—well, that’s the movie—Japan tries to intervene and take them both down before they destroy the country.
In spite of the nonsensical premise, the whole good monster and bad monster dynamic posits a fun dichotomy that amounts to a entertaining kaiju film. It gets by all the usual doldrums of this sub-genre with the unique twist on the whole kaiju formula. Despite the monsters possess almost no personality, I was very engaged in their personas, and how they were generally at each other’s throats due to the primal nature of their existence. “The War of the Gargantuas” is often cited as one of the more memorable movies of its ilk and for good reason. Despite the somewhat plodding central plot with the humans, the movie has a great time staging some great monster rampage.
Whether it’s being attacked by a giant squid, the two giant monster brothers doing battle in the middle of military intervention, or the twin Gaira’s penchant for eating helpless women, it’s all such a blast through the very end. Director Honda is also never afraid to get a bit edgy as one scene finds Gaira devouring a woman whole and then spitting out her tattered clothing in disgust. That kind of innuendo really compliments the films sheer chaos and nihilism. Honda’s direction is s good as ever with some very well-placed green screen as well as some epic sequences of monster chaos that felt better suited for a horror movie when all was said and done.
What hinders the events is the lack of compelling human story lines as the characters pretty much do nothing but run around and engaging in garbled pseudo-science lingo. Meanwhile Russ Tamblyn’s boring protagonist is tasked with pairing up with a dreamy eyed Kumi Mizuno. Mizuno is fine in the role, but her purpose is: fall in love with the star, get taken out halfway. The end. Of course they never share a kiss or even a hug, heaven forbid. While it surely gets its share of mockery, “The War of the Gargantuas” is a fun kaiju action film with a great concept.