Talkback: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

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DaikaijuSokogeki!
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by DaikaijuSokogeki! »

*awaits rotten eggs being tossed at him*

Honestly...I'm not a fan of this movie. Don't get me wrong, Sanda and Gaira's interaction is cinematic magic. That's pretty much all this movie has going for it, though. And their interaction doesn't even start until the last half-hour. Sure, Ifukube's music is alright, although the main theme is a bit too overpowering. The SPFX are also stellar, but Tsuburaya was doing better work at this time.

Frankly though, the human storyline is EXTREMELY uninteresting. The characters are dull and the acting is a step down from FCTW. I mean, the scenes between Tamblyn and Mizuno's characters during the climax grind the film to a total halt. I'm sure Honda did this on purpose to make the audience feel more invested with the kaiju storyline than the human one, but that's such a lame excuse for how much the humans drag the pacing of this film down.

Also, the sudden volcano eruption at the end of the film is a lame cop-out and reeks of lazy writing. It's as if the writers were forced to come up with an ending to make sure the flick was less than 100 minutes. Plus, I never want to hear "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat" EVER again. Dumb song, horrible songstress. X_X

It's FAR from a terrible movie, but it's (IMO) far from Honda's best. It's certainly rewatchable, but not as rewarding as FCTW.

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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Starfishman »

When I first saw this film as a kid, I was just awe of Sanda & Gaira, the music and the effects. But when I got older and saw the film for the first time in about 9 years (I bought the Classic Media DVD of the film in 2008) I thought it was average at best. The monster scenes were great but the interaction between the two Frankenstein esque monsters happens half way through the film. Akira Ifukube's score for this was alright and the effects were okay IMO. The 2nd worst aspect of the movie is Russ Tamblyn, I mean he had a look that said "Why am I in this movie?"Also he phoned in his acting and the worst part of this film is the god awful song! I wanted to kill myself when that song came on. Its an okay Kaiju film but not one of Ishiro Honda's best works IMO. Its not a horrible film by any means and it is good to watch once or twice but it is just okay for me.

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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Ethan »

Awesome film is awesome film. I did like the Kumi Mizuno/Sanda connection, and Russ Tamblyn is of my liking (Twin Peaks baby) as well. A sad thing, the song "Feel in my Heart" gets too much hate, what's so wrong about a cheesy musical number?
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by edgaguirus »

I like this movie. Sanda and Gaira show much more character than most kaiju. In Sanda, we even see a monster that would rather make peace than war. The human subplot was not interesting, but the Japanese actors acted their parts well enough. I've always heard people talking about the too abrupt ending, but I feel it adds to the empathy; That the hero must die along side the evil to stop it.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Goji »

DaikaijuSokogeki! wrote:The SPFX are also stellar, but Tsuburaya was doing better work at this time.
Really? Like what exactly? :eh:

Other than that, you're complaints are more than warranted. The film is far from perfect (just like any of these films).

As for me, the film is (obviously) one of my all time favorites, and my favorite of Toho's sci-fi/fantasy output outside of the Godzilla series, from this era. I agree with DaikaijuSoko that the acting is better in FCTW, Tamblyn's "performance" in WOTG really puts a damper on things.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Guardian7 »

I also found the human aspect of the story rather dull. It did tend to drag a bit during those scenes.

The movie opening is one of my all time favorite scenes.
The Daidako attack was a lot of fun and it looked full of menace.
Gaira's entrance into the film here is very cool, I loved battle with Daidako and especially his chasing the sailors through the water.
Creepiest scene in any Kaiju film is the one where the fishermen are pulling up their net and Gaira is looking up at them from that blurry underwater shifting scene. He looks terrifying.
Gaira was simply a sinister monster all around.
Sanda was fun. I enjoyed the other end of the coin thing with him.
It was very Yin & Yang with these two.
Intro of the Maser Cannons is of course a highlight! Not only that, the Masers seriously messed up Gaira which was a bit of fresh air.
I never really looked at the ending as rushed. But now that someone mentioned it. It does seem rather sudden.
Still it looked awesome!
Good film.
Great Kaiju.
Kinda poor human elements. Though the film more than makes up for that in other aspects.

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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by gojimantis »

I had a long interesting view on this film planned out, but the words got stuck in my throat. :|
haven't watched the dubbed version since i got the classic media dvd, it's just seems more coherent in the subtitled one. i saw FCTW long after this, and think that may be the better of the two, but this is just some good old monster movie fun.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by DaikaijuSokogeki! »

Goji wrote:
DaikaijuSokogeki! wrote:The SPFX are also stellar, but Tsuburaya was doing better work at this time.
Really? Like what exactly? :eh:
...Okay, I might've been nitpicking just to nitpick. Not exactly sure WHY I left that comment in now that I look back.
gojimantis wrote:I had a long interesting view on this film planned out, but the words got stuck in my throat. :|
Boo...

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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by bananaoil »

Hi, Russ Tamblyn! Wanna replace Nick Adams? Wanna be in a Japanese giant monster movie? No? Okay, well, all we need you to do is read your lines, and everyone else will carry the movie. Oh, wait, lead actors are supposed to carry the show? Crap.

Everyone else is fine, but if your lead is only in it for the pay check, good luck having compelling character arcs.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by JVM »

Doesn't this movie already have like four threads?
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by bananaoil »

JVM wrote:Doesn't this movie already have like four threads?
It's that good!
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Hedorah »

For members who haven't seen it but have Netflix...

You can now watch War of the Gargantuas instantly via Netflix!
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by JVM »

bananaoil wrote:
JVM wrote:Doesn't this movie already have like four threads?
It's that good!
I should probably raise it on my movies to watch list then.
I used to be a lot more optimistic and outgoing, believe it or not. I used to actually be passionate about this stuff.

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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by gojimantis »

JVM wrote:
bananaoil wrote:
JVM wrote:Doesn't this movie already have like four threads?
It's that good!
I should probably raise it on my movies to watch list then.
yeah, you should check it out soon.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Kubo »

I don't quite know how to say it...'the words get stuck in my throat' . I like the American Version better by a long shot though.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Goji »

Good lord, Why?

Tambyln is much better when he's dubbed in Japanese. He doesn't seem nearly as bored. Also the generic military theme added to the Saperstein version is repetitive as HELL, and gets really obnoxious after a while. The dubbing isn't as strong as it is for MONSTER ZERO, which was also dubbed at Glen Glenn Sound.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Kubo »

@ Tyler: ...Eh you're right. But whatever...anyway I have no real opinion that hasn't been brought up by everyone else...Russ Tamblyn needed to get out of there...he ruined the movie for me.

The American soundtrack at least has TWO overrused themes instead of just 1! Yes, the cut is very poor during transitions of music, but that IMO is better than one freaking song playing the entire movie
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by Goji »

I'll have to disagree with you there. If the military theme used in the Saperstein cut wasn't so grating on the ears, maybe I wouldn't mind it so much. It gets old really fast. Other than that, it's just fine. The film is only re-edited slightly, so what you're seeing on screen isn't all that different from the Japanese cut.
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I'll gladly eat crow if it doesn't turn out that way....but at this point it feels painfully obvious, as it has for months.

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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by therealmccoy »

Goji wrote:
Tambyln is much better when he's dubbed in Japanese. He doesn't seem nearly as bored. Also the generic military theme added to the Saperstein version is repetitive as HELL, and gets really obnoxious after a while. The dubbing isn't as strong as it is for MONSTER ZERO, which was also dubbed at Glen Glenn Sound.
This is one of my favorites, but I liked FVB better. Russ Tamblyn made me want to barf. I can't watch the dub anymore because of him. Anyway, the suits were cool, I liked seeing the actors eyes, and the military march is probably my favorite theme song of all of these movies.
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Re: The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Post by The Dark Uniter »

I agree with most of you guys. Russ Tamblyn didn't really give any kind of great performance whatsoever in this movie. Even his Japanese counterattacks are doing a better job than him. Despite Tamblyn, the movie is pretty fun. But I like Frankenstein vs Baragon more. Probably because of Nick Adams.
Last edited by The Dark Uniter on Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

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