Gorath1962

52/100 I wanted to like Gorath, especially since it's one of the Toho films where the focus isn't on a Kaiju, though there is one nonetheless. However, this movie offers almost nothing for me to appreciate. The film is in large part dominated by technobabble, and there is no effort to make this interesting, meaning that we're stuck just watching dry exposition and scientific efforts throughout this film without anything to disguise how boring and slow these procedures are. However, even when it makes an effort with its human characters, the film doesn't quite get there. The cast here is very overstuffed, and as such, I wasn't able to get attached to any one character. There are some momentary conflicts, such as an amnesia plotline with one character, but nothing that actually made me attached. The only character I actually cared about was Ito, and that's only because he's played by Masanari Nihei of Ide fame (Rest In Peace, by the way). He, at least, brings some energy to the role that I liked. The special effects here are actually pretty good, all things considered. This improves the final act of the film, which actually has some pretty entertaining scenes after the blandness of the rest of the film, especially with the well-done destruction scenes as Gorath moves closer to Earth. There is also the infamous scene in the movie every Godzilla fan talks about without watching it: the Maguma cameo. It probably should count as another demerit to the movie, but I liked it purely because of how crazy it is. In a film otherwise entirely focused on Gorath, six minutes is dedicated to a non-sequitur of a monster who dies as quickly as he arrives, and it's amazing in how weird it is. This movie could've been good, but unfortunately it turned out to be just another poor story carried along by Tsuburaya's great effects and a good monster, proving a mediocre movie overall.