Destroy All Monsters - In Which One Monster Gets Destroyed

This one's one of my personal favorites of the original series. Originally intended to end Toho's reputation as the monster movie factory, this movie is basically the Avengers. Not even hyperbole. What we get here is most of the characters the series and universe has already established, because unfortunately a few monsters do get left out, a villain we already have established who was basically the best villain we've had so far, and all of our favorite characters coming together to put an end to evil before it somehow gets even crazier. Destroy All Monsters is ambitious!... That is, in its final 10 minutes. The unfortunate truth of Destroy All Monsters is that while they do have solid build up and really do save the best for last, they REALLY save the best for last. But the thing that is good is that even while you are waiting, it's not a bad wait. We don't exactly get the greatest human story or anything, but it isn't terrible. So buckle your seatbelts, because we're in for a wild ride today!

At the end of the 20th century, the world is at peace. Technology is advancing fast, space is being explored at a rapid pace, and best of all, the monsters of the world are all contained. No longer do Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan and other titans terrorize the world, as they all live safely and peacefully on Monster Island. That is until the Kilaak aliens come to Earth and demand the Earth be theirs. When their demands are not met, all the monsters are set free as the humans scramble to get the monsters back to Monster Island, keep as many people alive as possible, and get the Kilaak aliens off of Earth!



Alright, let's start this off with by FAR the best thing about the movie: the monsters. With a total of 11 monsters in the film, this really is the royal rumble. What's even crazier is that there were supposed to be more, with Ebirah, Maguma, Kamacarus, Sanda and Gaira all to appear in the film as well. And while it is unfortunate they didn't make an appearance, we got almost all of the monsters established in the series so far and with TWO exceptions, they all get some pretty solid treatment. Those two exceptions being Varan and Baragon. If you've seen the movie, or are fans of the monsters, you know those two got shafted HARD in this movie. Which is unfortunate, but only about an hour and a half of total movie to watch, someone was bound to get some crap. So, what to we get instead? Well, we get to see Rodan and Godzilla become villains again, Manda actually gets some screen time, has a really solid puppet AND actually does more than get killed, Gorosaurus became a fan favorite kaiju and Anguirus reminded the world became one of the mainstay monsters of the original series, taking hits from Ghidorah and being a guard dog for the Kilaaks. Almost all of the monsters get really fair treatment here. Even Minilla! If you hated Minilla in Son of Godzilla, I can't say you'll end up loving him in this one or anything, but he does actually contribute to the final battle and is just one of the many monsters who helps kick the crap out of Ghidorah. Oh, and Ghidorah, who doesn't appear until the final few minutes of the movie get some pretty good screentime before he gets killed. While it definitely is a bummer than we didn't get every monster, and not every monster received perfect treatment, almost all of them do get some decently solid treatment and that's not something to snuff at. The only issue is that the monsters aren't actually in the movie that much. Sure, we do get some battle scenes between the monsters and the military and we see them wipe out a few cities, but they don't exactly take command of the plot. That falls on the human cast.

For a movie called Destroy All Monsters, we actually don't all that much monster action. Instead what most of the movie really is is the humans reacting to what COULD happen and dealing with the alien conspiracy, while we get some action of the monsters cut in between every once and awhile. And you know what? I don't actually hate this approach. What this movie is plot wise is basically Invasion of the Astro Monster, if that movie was cranked up to 11. So, we spend most of our time with the human cast. So, how do they do? Not that bad, honestly. Pictured are my two favorite human characters in the movie, the Kilaak Queen, played by Kyoko Ai (pictured left), and Captain Katsuo Yamabe, played Akira Kubo (pictured right). Let's talk about Kubo first. Kubo got a lot of great roles throughout the original series, and unfortunately outside of one of upcoming movies, this is the last we'll be seeing him. So, how's his second to last impression. I think it's strong. He gets by far his most active role in the series, being one of the first characters we meet and part of the Kilaak's ultimate destruction. Kubo gets a lot out of this character and even though the writing can be a little weak sometimes, what we get is a pretty solid performance. He gets to vary a lot in emotion, showing a really happy smile when talking to his sister at the beginning of the movie, and later on we get to see him in a bit of an intense scene of him destroying a major Kilaak device. He gets a lot out of a pretty simple, almost boy scout character. He has a lot of talent, and it really is no surprise he got to be in some Kurosawa movies. Now, as for the Kilaak Queen, I think I just like the cold calculated villain. I think what's interesting is the Kilaaks and the Kilaak Queen actually remind me a lot of the Muans and the Muan Priest from Atragon. I think what separates them however is the Kilaak Queen actually backs up her confidence in her plan. Launching her attack so early and being so well defended for most of the movie, you start to hate her and how confident she is in her plan. So when the Kilaaks lost and she gets her comeuppance, there's a bit of happiness and a feeling of "Yeah, take that! This is our planet, jerk!" Now, she's not going down as an all time great villain or anything. But for what she does do and how confident she is in her evil, she is a delight to watch.

This movie's got some of the best city destruction in the entire series. With so many monsters in so many different locations and a budget that adjusted for inflation is around $13,000,000, it'd better look good! And it really does. For one, all of the suits and puppets no matter how long they're on screen look better than ever. And the sets here are magnificent as well. I gave a lot of props and praise to the miniatures in War of the Gargantuas, and those are still fantastic, but the ones here are just stellar. See the picture of Gorosaurus destroying the Arc de Triomphe for example. Painstaking detail and care went into getting all the etchings of such a famous landmark perfect and they look great. And this is just the start. Other landmarks like Moscow's Kremlin and the United Nations Headquarters that Godzilla blasts the hell out of all look stellar, and for some of them they really didn't need to make them look so good as they only appear on screen for a brief amount of time. There was a lot of time and care made into every effect in the movie that if this actually was the grand finale, I think this would have been a satisfactory ending to the series. Thank Toho it isn't though, 'cause we're nowhere near done.

In short, I like Destroy All Monsters a lot. I like it more than a lot of other G-Fans and I get why. I definitely can see why and in part agree with people who say it doesn't focus on the monsters enough. But what we actually get is a pretty solid human plot and then once we do get the monsters, we get some of the best effects of the entire original series. This movie is JUST shy of my top 10 that we'll see later, so, hate to kill the hype so soon. But, I like this one a lot. Solid recommendation from me!

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Tomorrow we're entering a dark era, folks. After Destroy All Monsters, Toho thought it was abundantly clear from the audience approval and box office return that people wanted more Godzilla. So they decided to keep making more. And make more they did. What comes next is one of the worst movies of the series with a bad monster, LAME human plot and perhaps the most lazy filmmaking in the entire series. I hope you're as prepared as I am scared to revisit All Monsters Attack, or as I have known it my whole life: Godzilla's Revenge.