Daimajin Ikaru
1966 / 79m - Japan
Fantasy, Action
2.5*/5.0*
Return of Daimajin poster

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January 20, 2021

2.5*/5.0*

The middle entry in the Daimajin franchise. Three films in one year is quite a lot, it's no surprise then that the makers have taken a couple of shortcuts. The setup is pretty much identical to the first film, including the perks, sadly also the warts. While the overall quality didn't really drop, the straightforward repetition was a little disappointing.

The story is virtually the same as the first film. A village is overrun by a malicious gang. The survivors retreat and pray to their God, hoping he'll rise to help them. After some back and forth, Daimajin finally awakes and gets ready to kick some ass. Cue 20 minutes of solid destruction and that's that.

Like the first film, there's not quite enough Daimajin to be truly satisfying. The Kaiju action is cool, but there simply isn't enough of it. The samurai elements feel a bit more tedious and even though it's a short film, the first three quarters are a bit slow, even dull. Luckily the cinematography is well above par, which pushes the film to a positive rating. Not bad, but could've been better.