Daimajin / 大魔神 (1966)
Directed By: Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Starring: Ryūtarō Gomi, Jun Fujimaki, Miwa Takada
While every now and then I do enjoy seeing a typical, action-filled kaiju flick, I've always preferred films like Shin Godzilla, which was more about government bureaucracy and ineptitude than it was about the giant monster itself. Going into Daimajin, I had no idea where on the scale it would fall, but I had seen some comments mentioning that we only see the majin in the final scenes of the film. Some viewers might be disappointed by that, but it actually made me more interested in seeing it.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-made samurai story about good triumphing over evil and honouring tradition, with themes warning viewers of the dangers that greed and excessive ambition bring. It's similar to a fairy tale in nature, and reminded me of the old fantasy films I watched as a kid, especially with the tyrannical antagonist. The plot is very predicable, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable.
The sets and costumes are amazing, and the visual effects are incredibly impressive. There's a clever use of angles to make the daimajin look imposing, and you can feel the weight of its steps, except in one close-up where its clearly moving but no sound effects accompany it. The performances from the human characters were great across the board as well, and they felt far more grounded in reality rather than theatrics. I doubt I would've watched this had it not been nominated, so I'm very glad that it was.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-made samurai story about good triumphing over evil and honouring tradition, with themes warning viewers of the dangers that greed and excessive ambition bring. It's similar to a fairy tale in nature, and reminded me of the old fantasy films I watched as a kid, especially with the tyrannical antagonist. The plot is very predicable, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable.
The sets and costumes are amazing, and the visual effects are incredibly impressive. There's a clever use of angles to make the daimajin look imposing, and you can feel the weight of its steps, except in one close-up where its clearly moving but no sound effects accompany it. The performances from the human characters were great across the board as well, and they felt far more grounded in reality rather than theatrics. I doubt I would've watched this had it not been nominated, so I'm very glad that it was.
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