Obaki the unremarkable.
Commander James Bradley (Myron Healey) is sent to a Japanese island to test chemicals designed to desalinate water; in the process, he awakens Obaki, a prehistoric monster worshipped by the locals.
What's unbelievable is that people ever paid good money to watch this mess, a Japanese kaiju flick heavily re-edited for the U.S. market, with loads of additional American footage and a vastly altered plot. The content that remains from the original Japanese version of the film is fairly entertaining - a giant, spiny-backed quadrupedal reptile stomping on stuff and swatting planes out of the sky - but the new scenes starring Healey, which make up the bulk of the film, are extremely dull and really drag. Endless talk about de-salination of a lake and how it might affect the locals doesn't make for a very entertaining movie.
Although the American version is a dud, it might be worth seeking out the original movie, if only to see the monster fly (we don't get to see it in the U.S edit, but the creature has membranes under its arms that allow it to glide through the air).
What's unbelievable is that people ever paid good money to watch this mess, a Japanese kaiju flick heavily re-edited for the U.S. market, with loads of additional American footage and a vastly altered plot. The content that remains from the original Japanese version of the film is fairly entertaining - a giant, spiny-backed quadrupedal reptile stomping on stuff and swatting planes out of the sky - but the new scenes starring Healey, which make up the bulk of the film, are extremely dull and really drag. Endless talk about de-salination of a lake and how it might affect the locals doesn't make for a very entertaining movie.
Although the American version is a dud, it might be worth seeking out the original movie, if only to see the monster fly (we don't get to see it in the U.S edit, but the creature has membranes under its arms that allow it to glide through the air).
- BA_Harrison
- Feb 27, 2019