Monday, June 22, 2020

GODZILLA VS. MEGALON 1973 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

Every series has a low point, and in the Godzilla series, this IS the low point.

I first saw this on NBC way back in 1975 or so when John Belushi hosted it wearing a Godzilla suit. What a terrible memory that is as the film was cut to fit an hour time slot, and that was the last time I saw it until I got a VHS of it many years later and saw the entire movie.

I simply hated it then and now seeing it on Blu-ray I can't say I like it much better. The story revolves around the Seatopians, a lost race of people under the ocean who are tired of our atomic testing, so they send a monster to the surface named Megalon to teach us a lesson.

They also bring Gigan to Earth to help out and it turns into a wrestling match against Godzilla and Jet Jaguar, a robot invented by one of the characters who suddenly becomes giant size and helps Godzilla.

The acting is god-awful and the monster antics are no better. Again, tons of stock footage is used and it's not even used well. Seems like it's just thrown together and inserted when they had nothing else to show.

This is a HUGE disappointment and even though I have tried to like it, I can't. Easily the worst of the entire Showa-Era, there were two more Godzilla films to come, and each, while not the greatest, are far better than this turgid junk. I will say the print is gorgeous, but that is all I can say.

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