Ghidorah:
The Three-Headed Monster
Released the same year as its predecessor, Ghidorah:The Three-Headed Monster (1964)
remade the kaju genre in a way that none other before it. This film doubles
down on the monster action, and invests heavily in weird yet intriguing human
plots involving assassins and aliens. It also introduced audiences to Ghidorah,
a three headed space dragon bent on burning down the planet. This character
would become Godzilla’s key antagonist throughout the rest of the series.
Plot
Line
Princess Salno (Akiko Wakabayashi) is in flight to
Japan from her home in Selgina. A group working for her family’s political
opposition meanwhile plots to kill her. They plan to do so by planting a bomb
on her plane. While it does detonate, the Princess is warned by a disembodied
voice to leave the plane, which she complies. Shortly after, a meteorite
crashes down from the sky, landing in a valley. Professor Murai (Hiroshi
Koizumi) then leads an expedition to examine the rock up close. The scientists
eventually reach it, and discover that the meteor is magnetic, absorbing all
their pics and other metallic objects. In the middle of the night, the object
tears itself open; throwing sparks and flames in the air. The flames then
become manifest into Ghidorah, a maniacal space dragon, which then goes on a
rampage in Tokyo. Meanwhile Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki), who was in
charge of Princess Salno’s security, discovers her in Japan. She rambles on
about a coming crisis, and that her origins are from Venus. Her seeming
incoherence gets validation when Rodan and Godzilla both appear, and lock in
combat. The Japanese once again ask the Shobijin to persuade Mothra to help
them stop the monster invasion, to which she again agrees. After another
near-miss assassination attempt in a hotel, Shindo takes Salno to Dr. Tsukamoto
(Takashi Shimura) to help restore her mind. The assassins arrive however, and
engage in a shoot-out with Shindo. The heroes escape, with the killers in
pursuit. Nearby, Rodan and Godzilla’s fight gets broken up by Mothra, who
attempts to convince them to rally together against Ghidorah. However, both
refuse to help the humans, forcing Mothra to take on the dragon herself. During
the battle, one of Ghidorah’s lightning bolts strikes the edge of a mountain,
killing all but one of the assassins. The survivor (Hisaya Ito) hits Shindo in
the arm. He then clips the Princess on the forehead, which brings her back to
her senses. Another bolt from Ghidroah causes a rockslide, killing the assassin
before he can finish them off. Meanwhile Mothra, outmatched by the dragon, gets
reinforced by a unified Rodan and Godzilla. The three team up against Ghidorah,
and drive him into retreat back into outer space. Later, the Princess thanks
Shindo for saving her, and leaves for home. Elsewhere, Mothra and the Shohijin
depart for Infant Island, wishing Godzilla and Rodan good will. Breaking it Down
Ghidorah
is
many things; among them colorful, energetic, and intriguing. The film’s
strength is its sense of fun: while it avoids being stupid, it still fills the
screen with enthusiastic battle scenes. It’s the first movie to introduce a multi-monster
battle, a concept that would be repeated in future films. The one drawback is
that the plot is too complex. Venusians, assassins, and giant monsters is a ton
of plot points to cram into a single movie. Enthusiasm is good, but too much
can lose an audience in mid plot. Regardless of which way you choose to look at
it, Ghidorah carries one certain
characteristic: it’s a transitional film in the Godzilla series. It’s the first
to give the monsters human characteristics, as they argue amongst themselves
about what to do about Ghidorah. This is also the first movie where Godzilla
takes on the role of protagonist in the series, giving the character a greater
appeal to children.
This Godzilla film brings some mixed baggage, but
overall is a fun one.
A seven out of ten!
1964 Trailer of Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster
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