You had to know something was missing from Nightmare Fuel in general, not to mention an international jaunt therein, when you realize that a kaiju flick hasn’t yet showed up. We’re back in Japan to rectify that situation with Dogora.
Sometimes including the surtitle The Space Monster (I believe my copy had those words preceding the creature’s name) and occasionally going by Dagora in the States, the film shows the confluence of two seemingly disparate plot threads. The first involves a strange occurrence in outer space, wherein a bunch of satellites are suddenly destroyed by what turns out to be something akin to a sentient cloud. The second thread follows a group of jewel thieves constantly thwarted by either the disappearance of their crystalline quarry or the intervention of a pesky agent for the diamond industry. As it so happens, the aforementioned disappearing diamonds were lifted by the same extraterrestrial creature that essentially gobbled up the satellites earlier: the giant octopine we’ve dubbed Dogora, an odd thing that feeds off of carbon-based compounds (hence its propensity for diamonds and, as we’re shown elsewhere, coal). As it turns out, the creature was spawned when that cloud I mentioned above came into contact from radiation emanating from the satellites it would soon destroy. Funny thing, though, Dogora is shown to have one particular weakness: the venom from a bee or wasp sting. This venom turns the affected portion of the monster crystalline, rendering it effectively dead. It’s up to a group of UN scientists to take the monster down using this knowledge, all while the thieves need to be dealt with by the authorities.
Dogora isn’t really like all the other kaiju flicks we’ve covered in the past. For one thing, the monster isn’t portrayed by a dude in a rubber suit, but rather with composite shots involving an artificial squiddy thing being propelled in water, making it look as though it’s swimming through the atmosphere. It’s a more believable creature design, even if it is a touch less fun than usual. More than that, the plot is decidedly less focused, with quite a bit of runtime devoted to following the exploits of the “secret agent” from the diamond industry as he goes after the gang of crooks, often leaving the monster plot hanging, less developed and involved than it could have been. Apparently the plan was to spin the agent character off into a series of films, all to star Robert Dunham reprising his role here, but that never materialized, and the film suffers much like other projects made to set off a franchise (see as the ending to Super Mario Brothers or the handful of aborted attempts to turn the Universal monsters into some sort of shared cinematic universe (most recently the whole Dark Universe debacle)). It doesn’t help that the gang portions of the film are needlessly convoluted (especially with regard to Dunham’s role) and a helluva lot less interesting than the monster bits.
That being said, the steady directorial hand of Godzilla’s own Honda Ishiro holds things mostly together and conjures solid performances from nearly the entire cast. VFX director Tsuburaya Eiji’s work is top-notch here, with particular praise due to the compositing work throughout. It’s not your average kaiju movie, but it still provides plenty of giant monster enjoyment, even if that means having to deal with some lame crime parts along the way. It’s worth checking out for kaiju fans, but it might be just a bit too niche for your everyday moviegoer.
Next up on our international journey is another stop in the Land of the Rising Sun, this time the sort of seemingly massive crossover that New Line worked for years to get going in the States. Oh yes. Stay tuned, kiddos.
Allusions of Grandeur 