August 1, 1968 (Japan)
May 23, 1969 (USA)
Suffice it to say, I’m something of a Godzilla fan.
I haven’t seen every movie yet (I’m working on it), but I’ve seen well more than half (certainly all from the Shōwa-Era, thanks to Criterion), which is pretty good for an American; and I made certain to see Shin Godzilla when I had the chance.
In my opinion, no Godzilla movie is truly great. Some are very good (the 1954 original unquestionably belongs in the worldwide film canon), but most are okay at best. Destroy All Monsters falls somewhere in the muddled middle (about on par with Godzilla vs. Megalon; perhaps a slight tick better).
I imagine some people may be internally screaming right now, wondering how this movie isn’t one of the best, because up until 2004 it was the Godzilla movie with the most monsters in it, but, here’s the thing: for one, not unlike the the James Bond series, people’s rankings will inevitably vary based on personal tastes; but also, if I may draw such a comparison, if Godzilla films are like professional wrestling, then Destroy All Monsters is like a Royal Rumble. It sounds cool, and seeing all the entrants introduced is fun, but, in reality, once you have more than a certain number of wrestlers in the ring, it never quite lives up to what you imagined in your mind.
Me personally, I prefer the movies with a smaller, more focused scale (e.g. the two previous films in the series: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and Son of Godzilla), and I may even go as far to say that I prefer Jun Fukuda to Ishirō Honda in the director’s chair (now I know that’s blasphemous to some), but honestly, the human story does matter somewhat in these movies, and while Destroy All Monsters does have some fun espionage-type stuff, it just doesn’t hook me as much as other ones in the franchise.
All-in-all, Destroy All Monsters isn’t a bad movie, I can’t fault it for not delivering on its poster, I just expected a little something more. A little more…je ne sais quoi, if you will.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
P.S.
It’s worth noting that the version I saw at the Mahoning Drive-in was the English-dubbed version released by American International in 1969, as opposed to the original Japanese version that I have at home. As far as I can tell, there isn’t an appreciable difference, other than some minor gore and swearing cut from the American one.
P.P.S.
This closes out August as Sci-fi Month.
September will be a potpourri of stuff, and October will be very heavy on the horror.