HoopTober 8: Mosquito Takes Mandragon

Movie 1
1st of 12 countries: Japan

Why does this feel so different to other kaiju movies? I'm sure it's something to do with the creature design. The very strange thing about it is that although these look even more obviously like people dressed up as creatures than the likes of Gojira and Rodan, the ultimate effect is that they seem somehow more realistic.

I'm not sure what we're supposed to call these things. Are they Gargantuas or are they Frankensteins? The Japanese language version I watched used the name Frankensteins, and that was clearly what the Japanese actors were saying. And there is something about that name for them that I really love. Not having seen Frankenstein Conquers the World (I didn't even know this was a sequel), I don't know what relation they bear, if any, to the traditional Frankenstein's monster concept, but there are scientists involved so I'm guessing Sanda (the brown Frankenstein) was the result of some kind of experimentation on that weird ape we see in flashback here? But even if there is no real logical connection, I just love the idea of these giant Frankensteins roaming about the place raising hell. Oh, hi there, enraged villagers, you have flaming torches and pitchforks? Come over here and I'll stomp ya!

The War of the Gargantuas is actually a bit uneven. It's one of the wonders of Japanese kaiju movies in general, and something the modern American adaptations have been signally incapable of managing, that this extensive series of movies which are basically about monsters stomping on shit or bashing each other always seem to manage to create an internal narrative flow which sustains pace and interest from beginning to end. This one, for me, doesn't quite manage that. I found quite a long stretch in the middle to be a little repetitive. Military sends helicopters, Gaira smashes them. Military sends tanks, Gaira smashes them. Military fires rockets, Gaira smashes them. This goes on for quite some time before Sanda turns up.

Poor Sanda. He just wants to be a good big brother, but that Gaira is a fucking handful. Definitely a case of monster ADD, I suspect.

Anyway, saggy though the middle is, this movie nevertheless has a cracking opening scene and a truly magnificent final battle. And at the end of the day, if a kaiju flick delivers on those scores, it forgives a multitude of sins. In the final analysis, this is definitely one of the better kaiju films I have seen - just not quite top tier.