San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen (1964) Directed by Ishirô Honda

So what's more awesome than having 2 giant monsters fighting each other? 3 giant monsters fighting each other? No! 4 of course!

It's definitely fun to see the Gojira series progressing and how every sequel is trying to top the previous movie, in terms of destruction and awesomeness. It of course isn't anything too uncommon for a Gojira movie to have a bunch of different monsters in it, who are having a go at each other but this is the first Gojira movie in which the monsters don't just fight each other but also team up to fight a common thread, which in this case is Ghidorah, the three-headed monster.

And really, out of all of the Gojira movies that I have seen so far, this one definitely features the best and most awesome creatures in it. There is of course Godzilla and making her return is also Mothra, which makes her the first kaiju to appear in more than 1 Gojiria movie, next to the big guy himself of course. Introduced for the first time is Rodan, who previously had been the star of his own kaiju movie "Sora no daikaijû Radon", also directed by Ishirô Honda. And then there of course is Ghidorah, who is one great looking and powerful new main villain, that's a worthy adversary to Gojira and 'friends'.

Of course none of these Gojira sequels are great movies in terms of writing, storytelling and acting but that really doesn't matter all that much, since these movies are all about bringing entertainment. And in that regard this movie most definitely does not disappoint. Even though it really takes awhile for all of the kaijus to appear and to start smashing things and hitting each other, it still remains a fast paced movie with plenty of entertaining moments and story elements in it.

It's also fun to see how the series is starting to take more and more shape with its human characters and the overall tone of the series. There is a good balance between the goofiness, ridiculousness and its more serous and genuinely good movie ingredients. The movie never becomes too goofy but it also definitely never gets too serious with anything.

The big guy himself looks more mobile than ever before. This of course ensures that Gojira is better at fighting and stomping things but at the same time it also makes it more obvious that he's played by a guy in a suit. Something far more ominous as well as 'realistic' about watching a giant monster slowly move toward something, without moving his head or arms that much. In this movie Gojira is literally jumping and waving his arms, which was the one main thing that I didn't liked about the new suit and the portrayal of the character in this movie.

Other than that; all of the effects and fight scenes are still quite good looking- and fun ones. There is plenty of destruction again and the miniatures are all pretty decent and convincing enough looking. Of course by todays standards most of it is terribly fake and ridicules looking but that's all part of the charm and in all honesty, it really isn't anything too bad or ridicules looking in my opinion. Some of the closeups of the kaijus are pretty fake looking but other than that, it's perfectly acceptable looking all, especially for normal '60's standards.

Of course nothing brilliant but it's simply very entertaining to watch all!

8/10

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