The War Of The Gargantuas (1966)

It's giant destructive manbaby versus giant destructive manbaby in this latest kaiju movie to pass in front of my eyes, and I have to start this review by saying that this was a tough one to gain access to. Sadly, I had to settle for the dubbed version, although I like to think that either version is just as entertaining for anyone used to spending their time sourcing these movies before we didn't have the relatively easy access provided by the internet.

Two giant creatures start to cause panic throughout Tokyo when they attack monsters, boats, and one another as the cityscape looks ready to be devastated by them. One creature is brown in colour, one is green, and some people eventually figure out that the brown monster (which could be called a gargantua or a Frankenstein, depending on which version of the film you see). Our leads are one Dr. Paul Stewart (Russ Tamblyn) and Akemi Togawa (Kumi Mizuno), but this is yet again a film in which some giant creatures literally and metaphorically overshadow the main human characters.

Directed by Ishirô Honda, who also worked on the story with Takeshi Kimura, this serves as an enjoyable sequel to Frankenstein Conquers The World, but you don't necessarily have to have seen that film to understand this one. The past onscreen events are mentioned, and everything boils down to the fact that two giants (easily identified by colour) might cause parts of Japan to once again suffer at the hands of battling monsters.

Although Tamblyn seemed to be far from a helpful cast member, he does well enough in his role as the standard doctor/scientist so often at the heart of these movies. I've praised Mizuno almst every time I have mentioned her in reviews of other kaiju movies, and she's a welcome addition once again. While they may not be recognisable, buried under a fair amount of false hair and make-up, Haruo Nakajima and Yû Sekita also deserves a bit of praise for their performances as the titular monsters. While I often forget to mention the "man in the suit" when it comes to these movies, Nakajima is the name I should at least credit as often as Honda for the success of these films (having been responsible for bringing so many great creatures to life with his incognito performances).

Better than the movie that preceded it, although not up there with the absolute classics, this is a fun bit of silliness that moves from start to finish with decent pacing and enough of a twist on the familiar material to stop it from feeling like a carbon copy of many other films structured the same way.

7/10

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