Uchû daikaijû Dogora (1964)

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The monsters are usually symbolic of some destruction wreaked by humanity in Ishiro Honda's kaiju films, and in Dogora, it's mineral exploitation. The diaphanous creature from space (was it an inspiration for 2022's biggest movie monster?) sucks in carbon from the air, turning diamonds and coal into dangerous twisters. The creature is unusually beautiful and the effects among Honda's best. I just wish there had been more of it, and of Akira Ifukube's great score too. It's reminiscent of his Godzilla classic, but different enough to hold its own. What I can't quite recommend - as is often the case in these things - is the human story. The diamond angle gives us jewel thieves and the a couple of cops - one, Japan's most ineffectual detective, the other, shifty Westerner who calls himself a "diamond G-man" and plays a convoluted game that may well lose the audience. It certainly did me. Or perhaps I didn't care enough. In kaiju fashion, the coppers' investigations dovetail with the scientific community and military's efforts to stop this thing (its great weakness might as well have been pulled out of a hat). It's kind of doofy and fun, but seeing as the monster plays like an invisible force at first (ha, "seeing"), there's too little of it to really balance out the necessary human shenanigans. 1 year 7 months ago