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Agon
Agon: Atomic Dragon
Maboroshi no Daikaiju Agon / Giant Phantom Monster Agon
Japan 1968
produced by Nippon Denpa Eiga
directed by Norio Mine, Fuminori Ohashi
starring Shinji HirotaAsao Matsumoto, Nobuhiko Shima, Akemi Sawa, Shinya Irie, Yoshihiro Kobayashi, Shozo Fukuyama, Nobuhiko Nozaki, and as monster: Etsuji Higashi
written by Shinichi Sekizawa, Kozo Uchida, music by Wataru Saito, special effects by Fuminori Ohashi
TV-miniseries
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Young reporter Goro (Shinji Hirota) is tipped off about a truck
carrying uranium having fallen into the sea due to an accident and rushes
to the site, to be met by nuclear scientist professor Ukyo (Nobuhiko
Shima) and police detective Yamato (Asao Matsumoto), and before you know
it they witness the first appearance of what appears to be a giant
dinosaur (Etsuji Higashi), eventually dubbed Agon. Goro soon gets friendly
with the professor's assistant Satsuki (Akemi Sawa) and eventually saves
her from being trampled to death by Agon. Agon walks towards a nuclear
reactor, tearing it to pieces, and when the reactor explodes, it's assumed
that Agon has died in the explosion. Only professor Ukyo is not so sure,
as he believes the monster feeds on radioactivity. Soon enough, the army
arrives with tanks, mortars and whatnot, but their puny weapons are no
match for Agon. It's only when detective Yamato drives a truck full of
uranium into the sea that Agon follows its "food" and ends its
landfall for the time being ...
Two narcotic smugglers get into a storm in their rowboat, delivering
goods from an offshore vessel, and lose their boat and their cargo. They
find abode with a fisherman in a nearby village, who also agrees to go
diving for their cargo - a suitcase full of narcotics - the very next day,
not knowing of course what the cargo is. But once under the sea, he finds
the suitcase right next to Agon and panics. The crooks find he won't go
diving anymore any time soon, so they take his son Monta (Yoshihiro
Kobayashi) hostage to force the man. However even that doesn't prove to be
enough incentive, so they steal some uranium from a nearby powerplant and
lure Agon away. That works suprisingly well, and soon enough they got
their suitcase - which due to negligence drifts off on a rowboat with
Monta on board, and for some reason, Agon picks up the rowboat and won't
let go. Now the army can't fire at the monster to not endanger the boy,
and a rescue effort suggested by Goro goes horribly wrong - and thus, Agon
roams and lays to waste the countryside with little opposition - until
professor Ukyo has an idea to lure the monster back into water with a
barrel of uranium dangling from a helicopter. This works, and with the
uranium within arm's reach, Agon finally drops the rowboat. Monta is safe,
but everybody's a bit puzzled by the suitcase full of trucks - until the
two crooks show up, retrieve their suitcase, steal the helicopter with the
uranium barrel dangling from it, and try to make their escape. But Agon
finally catches up with the uranium barrel, devours it, and when the
helicopter crashes into Agon as a result, he also devours all the
narcotics and dies as a result.
Originally made in 1964 already, film company Toho
originally suppressed the four-parter's release, as the resemblance
between Agon and their in-house monster Godzilla
were just too striking, and didn't loosen their stance until 1968, when
series like Ultra
Q and Ultraman
have already made kaiju a staple of TV entertainment. The miniseries
itself is ... serviceable is probably the best word to describe it. It
tells a formulaic story that's somewhat scaled back for the small screen -
but still contains some good scenes of destruction. It's not as campy as
kaiju cinema and TV has gotten by 1968, but frankly doesn't stand out in
any way. Still an amusing piece of nostalgia, but little more.
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