Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island apparently did well enough to warrant a sequel, so we return to the MonsterVerse once more for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. With this film we finally see an American rendition of King Ghidorah, alongside Mothra and Rodan. Former Godzilla director Gareth Edwards was unavailable for this film, focusing on smaller projects. With Edwards not available and a new script being co-written by Michael Dougherty, he was also tapped to direct. Millie Bobby Brown debuts as one of the most important characters and Ken Watanabe returns as the one and only Dr. Serizawa. The production on this one isn't terribly dramatic or interested except that Legendary managed to get rights to Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah for this film and so insisted they be in the film. The film also features what are essentially cameos from about a dozen other Titans, some of which seem to be version of classic Toho creatures while others are brand new to the mythos. But enough preamble, I have a lot to say about this one so let's get to saying it.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Godzilla hasn't been seen in 5 years and the world is in flux following the most recent Godzilla incident (in 2014's Godzilla). Environmental disasters and civil unrest have followed.

- We meet the central family of mom Emma, dad Mark, and daughter Madison. Madison's brother died in the 2014 incident, which has caused a significant rift through the family.

- Living on a Monarch base, Emma and Madison witness the birth of Mothra. Emma uses her new device called the ORCA to harness bioacoustics to calm Mothra before she kills too many people. Just as she is calmed, terrorists attack the Monarch base and capture Emma and Madison as Mothra takes off.

- Monarch, and Dr. Serizawa, argue with the government about why Monarch should not fall under military jurisdiction and why the Titans should not be exterminated. Essentially, the argument is that the rise of the Titans is our fault and destroying them will cause more harm than good.

- Recruiting Mark to find his wife and child (and most importantly to Monarch, the ORCA), they find themselves headed to Antarctica where the ancient creature Monster Zero has been frozen in ice for thousands of years.

- Using explosives and finally the ORCA, Emma and the terrorists wake up Monster Zero/King Ghidorah just as Godzilla arrives looking for a fight. Mark witnesses this and is able to conclude that Emma is actually working with the terrorists rather than just being a simply hostage.

- Godzilla and Ghidorah are rival Alpha Titans, both hoping to assert dominance not only over each other but over most other (non-alpha) Titans so that their will can be done on Earth.

- Before the next phase of the plan, Emma reveals her motivations: saving the world. Humans have had their chance with the planet and they've fucked it up. So unleashing all of the Titans will allow the Earth's "immune system" to shake off the infection that is humanity.

- Ghidorah heads to Mexico where he awakens Rodan (called the Fire Demon by locals) to serve him. Godzilla arrives again to resume their fight in Antarctica and ends up destroying one of Ghidorah's heads before he is hit with the massive missile The Oxygen Destroyer by the US military. This stops Godzilla's heart but doesn't affect Ghidorah, who regenerates its missing head and establishes his reign over Earth.

- With Ghidorah the new King of the Titans (King Ghidorah), he summons all of the Titans of the Earth and they all wake up simultaneously. Unlike before, with Ghidorah having woken them up, they all go on a rampage rather than seeking any particular goal. Ghidorah (and the other Titans doing his bidding) now aim to exterminate humanity, not restore the planet.

- Mothra emerges from a cocoon in her proper Moth-ra form and attempts to heal Godzilla. Monarch comes up with a plan to explode a nuclear bomb on Godzilla in order to power him up and make him able to fight again as his healing process will take literal years on its own. Serizawa sacrifices himself to set off the nuke as the remote trigger was damaged in the process.

- Madison steals the ORCA from her mother and the terrorists to lure Ghidorah to Boston for a final chance at stopping the three-headed tyrant. After activating it, the attacks from all of the Titans across the world cease but Ghidorah comes to destroy the threat to his rule. 

- With Madison's parents headed to Boston to rescue her, Monarch, Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan also arrive for a final battle royale for control of the planet.

- Godzilla saves Madison's life as Monrach and their military might support his efforts by distracting Ghidorah and trying to evacuate Madison and retrive the ORCA.

- Literally burning with nuclear power, Godzilla is empowered in a manner that's not been seen before but also about 10 minutes away from total nuclear meltdown. This gives us a ticking clock to evacuate all of the human characters before everyone dies when Godzilla explodes.

- Mothra and Rodan get involved in the battle, ultimately facing off against each other as the sidekicks of their respective Alpha Titans. Godzilla begins to lose the battle and is badly wounded by Ghidorah after being dropped to the Earth from the stratosphere. 

- At this point Mothra has taken down Rodan but at great cost to herself and now sacrifices herself to both protect Godzilla and transfer her healing energy to him in one final desperate play.

- Emma ultimately sacrifices herself to save Madison and Mark and manages to distract Ghidorah long enough for Godzilla to rally. He unleashes his nuclear energy in powerful waves which devastate Ghidorah (and everything else nearby), allowing him to finally rip each head off Ghidorah and ensure the alien finally stays dead.

- With Godzilla once again the King of the Monsters, the other Titans arrive in Boston and bow to him, marking the beginning of a new paradigm on Earth.

Kaiju Notes 

- Larval Mothra is definitely the most intimidating version we've ever seen, really harnessing the ugliness of insects in a way Mothra is rarely allowed. She's also, like many of the Titans in this series, almost entirely uninterested in humans, so larval Mothra is also deadly in a way we've rarely seen. It's a brief sequence but sets a fine tone for the rest of the film. Imago Mothra also embraces the insectoid nature of the creature and is probably the only redesign that I don't like as much as the original. Legendary Mothra lacks the distinct colors and beauty of Toho Mothra, still having striking colors in a pretty (literally) dark and muted film but bright blues and greens are nothing compared to the sparkles and oranges of Toho Mothra.

- King Ghidorah is on his king shit in this movie, looking honestly great. While I will likely never be an advocate for CGI over practical effects in all instances, Ghidorah is a creature which is benefited by being created by computers. His three heads actually fit on his body and don't have the same "fattening up" effect that it often did when Ghidorah was a physical suit worn by an actor. The three heads are also given personalities, something we didn't see much in older films. The left head seems to be the dumb one, the middle one the leader, and the right the most vicious. It's a trait of Ghidorah that should definitely be used more often. Lastly, Ghidorah's gravity beams have taken a level in badass. While the literal ability to manipulate gravity is extremely cool as we've seen in other films, these seem to simply atomize their victims. A very different effect, yes, but visually striking to be sure.

- Godzilla continues to be the chunky baby he was in Godzilla, though this time seeming just a touch more empathetic and understanding. He kills fewer humans than even Mothra, coming out looking more as a protector than punisher. Godzilla is physically smaller than Ghidorah in raw size, but is much stockier and powerfully built which allows the size differential to be intimidating without being a foregone conclusion of who will win.

- Rodan is, for the very first time in its history, cool. Adding an element of lava/fire to everything that is Rodan, it's been evolved from a giant bird dinosaur to a pissed off fireball in the sky. The whirlwinds it generates as it flies past folks are effective in demonstrating its raw power (and Rodan is supposed to be one of the weaker Titans!) and setting up stakes in the world. Rodan is awesome in this movie and no others, and the scene where it awakens is one of the coolest goddamn things I've ever seen. We love the Fire Demon Rodan on this blog and in my life. If Rodan was like this all the time he'd be a household name because who could resist such a genuine badass.

First let's talk about themes and start with the obvious: this film has a very clear environmental message. Like some Japanese Godzilla films, especially in recent years, Godzilla serves as a metaphor for the entire environment. This is no exception, but it expands the metaphor to essentially all Titans. Early in the film it is mentioned that huge numbers of fish are dying off and this seems to be a result of searching for the absent Godzilla, and Serizawa mentions that the Titans were only awoken in 2014 as a result of nuclear testing, strip mining, and other environmentally disastrous human actions. The Titans are functionally stand-ins for climate change, being unstoppable forces caused by the actions of humankind. Emma's plan to awaken the Titans is an extension of this: allowing the Titans (the Earth) to supplant humans as the dominant species of Earth and therefore save the planet. Many humans will die, sure, but the Earth and who remains will thrive under the new rule of Titans.

Extending the metaphor further, in this particular film Ghidorah and Godzilla seem to represent two extremes: cooperation and acceptance of Titans as natural elements of the world like hurricanes and earthquakes or conflict and the total destruction of human life. This is, of course, the Titans as representatives of our options to deal with climate change. Ignoring or exacerbating it seems to be the Ghidorah option, resulting in devastation for humanity. Trying to halt or even reverse the issue is the Godzilla choice, perhaps too late to turn back but at least we can continue to live in relative peace. The Godzilla hurricane may destroy a city here or there but at least it'll let everyone else live. When one thinks about it, it's honestly a pretty morbid outlook. On the other hand, any basic understanding of climate change leaves you basically only morbid outlooks (to various degrees). Unlike real life, at least this film seems to have (some) American cities suffering the steepest consequences alongside the rest of the globe.

Now that the metaphor is out of the way, let's talk about this movie. It rocks. This is one of my favorite films, period, period, period. As far as kaiju movies goes this is basically the movie all others should be modeled on. The human elements don't overwhelm the monster ones and tie in effectively, the monsters are all given independence and agency, and the action isn't relegated to just a few minutes near the end. When children play with their toys and bash all the various characters together, this is the movie they've created in their mind and it's spectacular. I have seen this movie no less than 10 times in the few years since it's been out and I love it every time. It's rad. Completely rad. If you have even the remotest interest in seeing a dope movie with giant monsters, this is the one because it's awesome.

The only weakness I would say this movie has is that a familiarity with the various monsters featured improves the movie and helps explain some of the weirder elements of it. Mothra being born a larva and then immediately cocooning herself until she emerges in her Imago form is an example of this, as without the knowledge/context of knowing that this is Mothra's life cycle one would likely be confused about these developments, especially as they mostly happen off-screen. As another example, Ghidorah's literal alien nature is touched on but never explored or properly acknowledged. It might be good to not focus on that in a movie which at least attempts to seem semi-realistic, but it also then becomes quite strange to mention at all without everyone in the audience knowing that Ghidorah has (almost) always been a violent alien creature so the reference to it being an alien is an homage to that legacy. As a kaiju movie fan I think it all works, but I have the context of all the previous films in the history of kaiju flicks to help me make sense of the stranger elements. Mileage will vary on whether any particular viewer would prefer more hand holding or appreciates the "world-building" of not being extremely specific.

To close, I reiterate my previous point. This movie rocks and you should see it. Full stop.

Next: Godzilla vs. Kong!

Rampage

Video game adaptations are almost universally bad. Not just bad, terrible. Today's film, Rampage, is an adaptation of a video games. One with which I have a personal connection, as Rampage: World Tour was one of the games I played the most for my Nintendo 64. It was great. Knowing the game (there were others before World Tour), I'm either the target audience of this one or most likely to hate it since I'd know at least some of what's been changed. Guess it's time to find out!

Rampage stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the main character Davis Okoye, while Naomie Harris and Malin Åkerman round out the human cast. Jason Liles portrays the main kaiju of the film, George the albino gorilla. A director who's worked with Dywane Johnson several times, Brad Peyton, is the director on this one. There's very little interesting background on this, as Warner Brothers acquired the rights to the video games and decided to make the movie as a cash grab (as most Hollywood productions are). These intro paragraphs aren't going to shed a lot of light on why these films were made, it's an obvious reason. But the important thing is whether the film is any good despite the history of video game adaptations working against it, so let's skip to that.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In 1993 (real life), CRISPR was invented/developed as a potential treatment for various genetic disorders. In present day aboard a space station, laboratory mice begin to mutate and eventually destroy the entire station as a result of their mania.

- The debris of the exploding station lands across the US, affecting a crocodile, wolf, and gorilla.

- The gorilla in question is George, friend of former special forces and primatologist Davis Okoye.

- As George grows larger and more aggressive every moment, we discover that the mutation is caused by CRISPR technology which has been modified into a bio-weapon by the Energyne corporation.

- A private military unit is sent to retrieve the wolf affected by the bio-weapon and find themselves eaten by a gigantic wolf instead. George is captured by the government and put on a plane against Davis' advice.

- The evil sibling duo leading Energyne try to attract their experiments gone wrong by using a giant antenna to bring them all to the same location in the hopes of collecting the data from their bodies for development of the CRISPR bio-weapon.

- Predictably, George crashes the plane he's on when the antenna gets his attention. Ralph the Wolf and Lizzie the giant Crocodile also head the same direction.

- When Ralph arrives in Chicago, George and Ralph go on a Rampage as they destroy the city in an attempt to stop the infernal antenna. To make matters worse, Lizzie arrives so now there are 3 giant animals wreaking havoc on the city.

- Davis and his new scientist friend attempt to steal an antidote from Energyne, but find out that it really only reduces aggressiveness and none of the other effects of the CRISPR weapon. They manage to get this antidote into George.

- With George back to his normal personality, Davis and George decide to take down the other monsters before the entire city is hit with a military strike that will likely kill everyone left in the city. Now we've got a kaiju battle baybee!

- The Energyne twins (they may not be twins, who cares) are victims of their own hubris and are alternately eaten and crushed to death by the havoc they've caused.

- George barely manages to stop Ralph, using Lizzie's giant croco-jaws to take his head off. He is impaled in the battle against Lizzie, managing to take her out but only after doing great damage to himself.

- George survives (though perhaps barely), and begins to help clean up the city he destroyed. Davis is now besties with a giant gorilla instead just a normal bigass one. End film.

Kaiju Notes 

- George is a giant ape. Albino, so at least he has some unique coloring.

- Ralph is a giant wolf. He also sprouts bat wings sometimes!

- Lizzie is a giant crocodile who also looks like a dinosaur sometimes.

- It's all pretty easy to understand. Giant animals.

Rampage is an audacious film with very little on its mind besides the spectacle of giant animals fighting each other, sometimes with the help of Dwayne. It's extremely hard to think of anything to really focus on with this one. It's fun and I enjoyed it. Bioweapons are bad! That's... about the extent of it. The movie doesn't seem to have a message or a point besides being an entertaining adaptation of a series of video games that began in the 80's, and it succeeded at that. Dwayne Johnson remains charismatic (if not a bit one note because he plays the same character in almost every movie). George is cute and fun. Ralph and Lizzie have no personalities besides being rage monsters. The movie is popcorn entertainment, but succeeds on that front. Let's not belabor the point. Not all video game adaptations have to be terrible, as it turns out.

Next: Godzilla: King of the Monsters!

Colossal

Kaiju movies can be funny. Death Kappa tried it, Shin Godzilla had some undeniable intentional comedic themes, and now we have Colossal. A dark comedy directed by Nacho Vigalondo, Colossal is a "lite-kaiju" movie for reasons you'll understand as you read on. The stars of this one are not really kaiju actors (especially not in suits), but instead the very famous Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis. Originally billing itself as "the cheapest Godzilla movie ever made" when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, Colossal is a story about a lot of things: the kaiju being more metaphor than character in a manner we have not ever seen in any movie we've covered yet.

This film does have some interesting drama behind the scenes... That promo line, "the cheapest Godzilla movie ever made," alongside using some unauthorized images of Godzilla to bring in potential investors actually got the film in a bit of trouble. Toho, the copyright owners/creators of Godzilla, did not take kindly to the producers using Godzilla to finance their upcoming film and filed a lawsuit before the film even began filming. The resutling settlement that took place before the movie was widely released which caused the film's setting (for the kaiju elements) to move from Tokyo to Seoul and a promise that no Godzilla derivatives would appear. The greatest irony of all? Colossal had a budget of $15 million dollars, which is tiny for an American studio release but obviously quite a bit to most people. The original Gojira had a budget of 100 million yen, the equivalent of about $3 million today. Even Shin Godzilla, released the same year as Colossal's film festival premiere, had a budget equivalent to $15 million, making the fact that Colossal got in trouble for using Godzilla's image in its early stages and the "cheapest" tagline completely unnecessary because it wasn't even true! Hilarious. That all said, let's talk about this dark comedy.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In Seoul, South Korea, we see a giant monster appear. 25 years later, we meet Gloria as she comes home after yet another night drinking. Her boyfriend breaks up with her and packs her things, so Gloria has little choice but to return to her hometown alone.

- Once back in town she coincidentally comes across old acquaintance Oscar. He owns a bar (perfect!) and offers her a job.

- Oscar shows signs of who he really is right away when Gloria almost smooches one of his friends and Oscar reacts very strongly but frames it as concern for her sake.

- Waking up to the news of a giant monster randomly materializing in Seoul, stomping through the city, and then simply disappearing into thin air, Gloria is shocked. She drinks to cope, predictably.

- Waking up to Oscar showing up at her house to offer her a TV they apparently discussed last night but that she doesn't remember, there's been another monster attack. 

- This attack being less severe with the monster mostly standing around looking confused, Gloria notices that the creature shares a particular gesture with her. It seems crazy, but maybe they're connected?

- Gloria conducts a test that confirms she is in fact the monster. While hanging with her drinking buddies (including Oscar) she drunkenly reveals her new secret.

- After accidentally crashing a helicopter into her head (in her defense, it did shoot her first) Gloria gets overwhelmed and ends up falling down. She wakes up panicked to find out how many people she killed when she crashed, but this news comes secondary to the reveal that when Oscar enters the park he also emerges in Seoul as a giant robot.

- Gloria decides to make an attempt at amends by having someone translate some Korean characters and writes an apology in the ground at her next opportunity. She stops drinking, trying to be better given everything.

- Gloria makes a move on the cute guy in her friend group and wakes up in the morning with him to find that the Oscar-Robot is taunting Seoul with threats of destruction. She confronts him in the playground and even slaps him in the face to the cheers of everyone who thinks it's just two monsters fighting.

- Oscar begins to finally act out more obviously, using his power over Gloria as her boss and a threat to the people of Seoul to control her, constantly vacillating between apologetic/kind and abusive.

- During one of Oscar's episodes, Gloria remembers the incident that caused the kaiju connection, when they were hit by lightning inside the playground while carrying toys that look like their respective creatures. She realizes he's always been this way and confronts him just as the air raid warnings go off indicating the time to destroy or save Seoul is nearly upon us.

- The two have a fight in Gloria's house where she breaks all of her furniture trying to stop him, but he escapes and heads toward the park. They square up to fight in the park, but Oscar is bigger and stronger than her so takes her down easily. While she tries to get up, Oscar intentionally steps on several buildings while she begs him to stop.

- Saying he will do this every morning if she leaves, Gloria seems despondent until she comes up with a plan for the next morning. She flies to Seoul.

- When the air raid sirens go off, both parties prepare to confront the other. Gloria uses her human body in Seoul to manifest her monster body in the park, now able to handle Oscar quite easily since now she's bigger and stronger. She throws him into the horizon, finally bringing an end to his robotic reign of terror.

Kaiju Notes 

- Monster-Gloria is a pretty generic looking beast, resembling a goblin as much as it does any animal or human. Considering it's now really the point of the movie, it's difficult to really fault it for not being a complex design. It does have a relatively scary countenance, but it shows a degree of expressiveness that really helps Gloria's thoughts and intentions come across.

- Robot-Oscar is a little more intentionally designed, having a square head and a singular red eye surrounded by little robot horns. The singular red eye (and perhaps automaton-ness) help make it seem a bit menacing.

If it's not entirely obvious, and it should be, this is a metaphor about abusive relationships. Gloria really just goes from one to another, as her boyfriend in the beginning of the movie is clearly fed up with her alcoholism and antics but displays that same "fed-up-ness" even when she's in recovery and in a better position. Oscar, of course, isn't her boyfriend (and could only barely be called a friend by the time he starts acting out) but is the most obvious case of the abusive men Gloria has to deal with. Oscar is an abusive relationship that's primarily empowered by the kaiju connection he and Gloria share with the people of Seoul as his pawns. And it's not just Gloria caught in his tangled web of abuse, as his friends seem unable to do anything against him when either he acts out or turns against them directly.

Joel, the cute guy Gloria starts a little fling with, is the worst. He knows how Oscar behaves and the consequences of it and leaves Gloria to do all of the work in trying to prevent it. I have to assume there's some sort of reason behind why he does nothing and watches Gloria get beat up instead of just punching his so-called friend Oscar in the dick, but it definitely makes me hate him. He does watch happily the television when Gloria confronts him from Seoul, but he was the person most able to actually do something about the situation and it just infuriates me that he didn't.

Both of the lead actors are great. Gloria's growing confidence and subtle recovery comes across quite well, and Sudeikis is quite good at unpeeling the onion of Oscar's rage as we go, first seeming fairly normal before becoming more and more noticeably unhinged. Anne Hathaway in particular is putting in a lot of work by focusing her performance on her body language and expressions, not getting the chance to make the same monologues as Sudeikis but manages to show Gloria's raveling at the same time as Oscar's unraveling.

Colossal is not a complex film. Even this review (is that what I do here? Reviews?) is relatively short because there aren't GIANT COMPLEX IDEAS to be explored. Abusive relationships, metaphor, kaiju, go. Great performances. But Colossal doesn't need to be complicated: it's great. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Next: Godzilla Trilogy (Netflix)!

Shin Godzilla

We've entered yet another era of Godzilla movies: Reiwa. And with it comes another reboot in what is likely to be another series of movies about our favorite giant nuclear lizard, this time called Shin Godzilla. Blog favorite Shinji Higuchi directs this one alongside another absolute legend (in a different medium) Hideaki Anno. Higuchi is most noted (on this blog) for being the mind behind the adored trilogy of Gamera movies in the 90s (and the recently covered Attack on Titan film), while Anno is a legend in the anime world for being the mind behind Neon Genesis Evangelion. With those powers combined, and the knowledge that Shin Godzilla was considered by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association to be the best Japanese film of 2016, I'm looking forward to seeing this one like I should have 6 years ago. 

Since we are in 2016, there is no proper suit actor for the Godzilla in this film. Mansai Nomura was, however, the motion capture artist so we must give him credit. Like the Godzilla of the Reiwa era, the method of portraying him has changed as well. I suppose it's only fitting. But let's stop with the preamble and get to see what Anno and Higuchi have come up with this time.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Off the coast of Japan, an abandoned boat belonging to one Dr. Maki is found. While being investigated, it is destroyed and a flood happens in Tokyo Bay. Several other disasters occur and politicians gather to discuss their options and solutions.

- For quite some time, we watch public servants argue about what to do but actually decide (and do) very little.

- An enormous tail emerges from the sea, which confirms that the responsible party was some living thing. This prompts more arguments about the use of weapons on Japanese land or trying to capture the hitherto unknown creature alive for study.

- While more arguing happens, a horrible beast makes land and destroys part of Tokyo as it moves through the city. As a response to its environment, it seems to transform/evolve into a new form that at least has arms before returning to the sea. This is Godzilla and he's ugly as sin.

- The bureaucrats are now able to mostly agree on getting some sort of force ready to attack, so we watch more people in suits discuss the situation in closed door meetings.

- Despite finding out that Godzilla leaves radiation in its wake, the politicians begin to argue about whether evacuation is warranted (or legal) among many other things. They do ultimately settle on fighting back.

- Just in time, Godzilla returns to shore and now looks much more like the traditional version.

- Godzilla seems completely unharmed by an attack by the JSDF, so the US military aids with some special bombs that actually seem to do damage. 

- The bad news: Godzilla seems to evolve again, now able to breath fire before it focuses into a powerful laser/Atomic Breath, which he also launches from his dorsal plates. Godzilla destroys every bomber, plane, helicopter, and bomb nearby before also slicing damn near the entire city in half with this incredibly powerful Atomic Breath.

- With many of the politicians either dead or missing (unconfirmed) following Godzilla's attack, new leaders are needed while Godzilla simply stands dormant in the middle of the city.

- The US, allied with the UN, commands Japan that a thermonuclear strike will be performed when Godzilla reawakens. The Japanese politicians are almost universally against this, not only because Tokyo will be completely destroyed but also... agreeing to a nuclear strike in Japan.

- Some of the bureaucrats work toward developing an alternate plan, but it has to be absolutely surefire to keep the nuclear strike from happening.

- Using Dr. Maki's decoded notes, the Japanese develop a plan to completely freeze Godzilla to render him helpless. After prodding, the UN/US agrees to let them try this first, but the nuclear strike is the backup plan.

- The Deep Freeze plan goes into effect, forcing Godzilla awake and making him deplete his energy by fending off more missiles and planes. Once he seems tired, several explosives are destroyed which throw buildings on top of Godzilla. Lastly, a group of trucks pump blood coagulant down his throat in the hopes of freezing him.

- Despite the number of deaths this all costs, it ultimately works and Godzilla is no longer a threat but remains frozen in the city.

- Japan is threatened with an immediate nuclear strike if/when Godzilla awakens again, but for now they take pride in their victory over Godzilla.

Kaiju Notes 

- Godzilla, at least initially, is horrible. He's always supposed to be scary and/or intimidating, but his first form is honestly just horrific.

- Once in his "final form," Godzilla is very recognizable but has some significant differences. First off, this is the ugliest Godzilla of all time. His teeth are jagged, his arms are weirdly short, and the red/black aesthetic is just wicked looking. He does look quite powerful (outside of his tiny t-rex arms), but this version of Big G is not nearly as approachable as the older versions.

- Godzilla's new abilities are simultaneous ridiculous and awesome. Shooting lasers/Atomic Breath from his mouth and back and tail and whatever else they could think of is absolutely absurd but truly awe-inspiring when it happens. Godzilla is a true nightmare: always changing and evolving into something more dangerous and more unstoppable as the military throws more might at him. It's great to see in the rare moments Godzilla is on screen and active.

Here's one major note about this movie, this is the first movie since 1954 to do away with Gojira. This is the first (Japanese) Godzilla movie since the very first one where Godzilla had never appeared before. It's an interesting decision and a real marker that this Reiwa era of Godzilla is supposed to be different. And if you read that synopsis up above, you might have noticed that that is certainly true.

There is one major theme of this movie: how useless bureaucracy is, first and foremost. Watching people argue about whether weapons can be used against a giant creature because the rules say that weapons can only be used against an attacking nation of equivalent is damn near perfect scripting when it comes to demonstrating how the people in charge of the most important things are often incompetent at best. There are several funny scenes where the bureaucracy is shown in operation by having about 12 characters all repeat the same order or information in a series. It's effective at demonstrating how utterly dysfunctional it all is. The downside of this theme being hammered home is that much of the film is spent literally watching politicians and strategists argue while actually doing very little. It's effective at getting the point across, but it is not effective at being entertaining.

And that's truly the greatest sin of this movie: it's boring as shit. Quite honestly, it seems so wrapped up in proving its point (which it does do, to be fair) that it fails to make any of it interesting or fun. There are precious few moments that are actively funny, but they don't manage to make up for the constant droning that happens throughout. Combine that with the almost total lack of Godzilla and we've got a Godzilla movie which doesn't really work for me at all. Not a joke, at one point in the movie Godzilla literally freezes for about 30 minutes of runtime before reactivating for about 3-5 minutes before credits. It's honestly bizarre.

I feel like I have to be missing something, as this movie was quite popular when it came out. Both Japanese and non-Japanese reviewers love this thing while I am lost in the woods. I'm confused, but this blog is about saying what's in my heart and in my heart I hate this movie. And I'm so confused by what everyone else is seeing. I might have to watch it again sometime with the hope that I "get it," but I was pretty hyped for this so it's not like I went in with a sour mood.

But, since this movie is so good at themes, let's talk about one more: sacrifice. When this film isn't exploring the true horror of bureaucracy the human characters are dying over and over again. Not in vain, however, as many of the folks who die are doing it knowingly. To stop Godzilla requires sacrifice and so many squadrons of humans volunteer to put themselves in the line of fire and be destroyed so that the plan to take down Godzilla might have a chance of succeeding. Adding this to the hard position Japan is forced into by the UN forcing a nuclear strike on it and there is the shade of something really special here. It's just surrounded by so much plodding dialogue in stuffy rooms in stuffy suits that it really made it difficult for me to enjoy it, because even the more interesting bits near the end of the film are surrounded (and preceded) by raw fun-sucking boredom.

Welp, I'm disappointed. Let's press on and see what happens next.

Next: Colossal!

Attack on Titan (The Movie)

If you've heard anything about anime in the past 5 years, you've probably heard about Attack on Titan. Like most anime, Attack on Titan is based on an original manga/comic series of the same name. But this is a blog about movies, so let's talk about the director of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (an awesome movie) made a movie based on a manga that is not the anime but at least related to it in that they're both based on the same thing. That director is Shinji Higuchi, whose work we previously discussed in the 90's Gamera trilogy. I consider this person one of the best kaiju movies directors in the biz, so here's to hoping he can replicate that quality with this adaptation.

As always, I want to credit the monster actors, but have been unable to find anyone credited as the Titans despite them clearly having at least some human element in their creation (likely human actors augmented with CGI. Word on the internet streets says I am correct). So instead we'll give credit to the 3 main "human" characters: Haruma Miura, Kiko Mizuhara, and Kanata Hongō star as Eren, Mikasa, and Armin (respectively).

There's not a whole lot to explain about the background of this one that wasn't done above, so let's see if Mr. Higuchi can repeat the quality of his previous forays into kaiju film! Fingers crossed.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Over 100 years ago, the Titans appeared. Those who survived the Titan War have built 3 large walls around their city and stay safe inside them now.

- Our three main characters are Armin, Erin, and Mikasa. Eren is the main character and is a dreamer who just wants something besides living and dying inside the city's walls.

- The kids seek to escape from the city to go see the sea, and Eren casts doubt that Titans even exist as one hasn't been seen in over 100 years. As this happens they are caught by guards and Eren starts a fight. He is saved by Souda, an old acquaintance who prevents the guards from shooting him.

- Souda tells Eren of a scouting mission that will lead outside the walls and Eren gets excited. Before he can be too hype though, a tremor begins and the wall begins to shake. A giant, steaming Titan appears above them.

- This Colossal Titan breaks down the wall and it and many other Titans invade and begin to eat people. They are hit with cannons and many other weapons but simply regenerate their wounds, making them functionally unstoppable.

- Mikasa is separated from Eren and targeted by a Titan while trying to rescue a baby. Eren tries to make it outside to rescue her but is too late, but it does manage to save his life as the shelter he was previously in is torn apart by Titans and the occupants devoured.

- We next see Eren and Armin as member sof the military preparing for a plan to reclaim the lost part of the city (the farmland of Monzen). The military has developed a weapon to fight Titans: Omni-Directional Mobility Gear. This allows the user to moves in any direction and use swords to attack the nape of the Titans' neck, their only vulnerability.

- On their mission, Eren and his squadron are attacked by a Titan Baby, which is super fucking creepy, and several other Titans. The survivors, few of them that there are are, are saved by Captain Shikishima and Mikasa. Turns out she survived the invasion!

- Mikasa is (predictably) traumatized now, having barely survived her Titan attack when Captain Shikishima saved her from inside the jaws of the thing. She now lives only to kill Titans.

- As one of Eren's compatriots makes a very forward move on him by sticking his hand on her boob and asking him to be a father to her child, they are attacked by a Titan and she is eaten.

- Eren and his squad are now fighting an impossible battle against Titans, but at least have the aid of the incredibly skilled Shikishima and Mikasa.

- Eren eventually makes a final stand but ultimately has his leg bitten off. He falls onto a rooftop, alive but clearly unable to do much else for himself.

- Armin is next on the chopping block, being grabbed by a Titan near Eren and all of his companions being unable to prevent it. As Armin slides down the Titan's throat, Eren throws himself into the Titans' maw and launches Armin out. In return, of course, he ends up in the Titans' belly after losing an arm.

- Mikasa, low on the gas needed for her ODM Gear, goes for revenge against the Titans but (obviously) finds herself overwhelmed and helpless. Fortunately for her, another Titan literally bursts from the one that ate Eren, killing it (by pulling it's jaw apart).

- This is Eren, in Attack Titan form, and he proceeds the beat the living shit out of and kill all the other Titans. The sun comes up so the Titans retreat (they're nocturnal) and Eren is carved out of the Titan shell he was inhabiting.

- Having just been a Titan, Eren has regrown his arm and leg in his human form. So turns out Eren can become a Titan and fight back, which should really even the odds in the future. But that's the end of this first film.

Kaiju Notes 

- Titans are... horrifying. They are essentially giant, deformed, naked humans (with no genitals or nipples) who eat people but don't subsist on them. They all appear different sizes and shapes, but share the ability to regenerate from all wounds except being slashed across the nape of the neck..

- The Colossal Titan adds some pretty epic abilities on top of that, giving off absurd amounts of hear and being incredibly large compared to the others.

- The Attack Titan doesn't seem to have any unique abilities, but does at least have a distinct look. It does retain Eren's knowledge of how to kill Titans and fight, so it is a much more effective Titan than any of the other thus far seen.

This being a blog about kaiju movies, you might be surprised to learn that I am a nerd. This means that I have seen the anime this movie is based on. And with that anime based on the original manga, at the point of this film we're 2 adaptations deep. So, I know what comes from where and what's changed between the two "moving picture" versions. First and foremost, the characters are quite significantly different: simpler is the biggest change, but their personalities have shifted as well. I would say, quite honestly they're all three pretty boring. Especially Mikasa, who has gone from severe girl who is always the most badass person in any room she's in to... sidekick. Eren's changed from vengeance driven hardcore determinator to regular army grunt. And Armin has shifted from tactical genius to character who I genuinely don't remember being in the movie except when he almost gets eaten (like 3 times).

That's the downside. Here's the upside: pretty much everything else about it is pretty entertaining. This movie lacks depth of character, but of course it does it's adapting a much longer story into a bite-sized chunk. And that bite-sized chunk is actually pretty thoroughly entertaining. The overall impression of this movie is really more horror film than action movie, and that really contributes to the enjoyment factor. And now's the time where I say something controversial: this film as an introduction to the story is better than the actual beginning of the anime. Up to the point in the show where this movie ends: I'd watch the movie any day. I've seen enough to know that the show does pick up, but if I'm being perhaps too honest: the 1st season sucks and I have no idea why people were so into it. But this movie? Pretty entertaining. Lacks some depth of character, true, but that's not the worst sin when you're too busy being horrified/entertained.

Onto a specific point: the invasion scene near the beginning of the film is tremendously effective. The Titans appearing for the first time in these people's lifetimes and proving impervious to all of their weapons is a gripping sequence. The Titans kill indiscriminately and gleefully and the humans face some genuine horrors in their attempts to escape/survive. People's reactions vary, of course, but we see the range from panic to cooperation to acceptance of their fate to suicide. It's a pretty effective sequence when it comes to illustrating the raw terror of a Titan attack, and more explicit than anything we've seen in a kaiju movie thus far. Every Titan scene borders on horror movie territory, which honestly makes a lot of sense for movies about giant monsters but hasn't been done yet so far (probably because it'd be a huge downer). It is, honestly, a bit of an evolution in the genre. While the original Gojira was more akin to a horror movie than most of the ones which follows, Attack on Titan truly embraces it as the point, and it makes the Titan scenes quite disturbing throughout the entire film.

Overall, I liked this movie a lot more than I expected to. A movie adaptation of an anime which is an adaptation of a comic is usually a nightmare (see almost any anime movie made thus far), but Attack on Titan is genuinely entertaining, one could even argue good. The choice to make a horror-kaiju movie is a bold one, and pays off greatly. Showing the scale, danger, and consequences of kaiju battles has always been something I appreciated, but this one adds terror and dread to the equation and makes you I feel how terrible the situation is. It is likley not a coincidence that the director who managed to make the weight of kaiju battles feel real in his Gamera trilogy is also able to do the same here. The special effects are solid but not winning any awards, and the characters lack depth but do at least manage to not be actively annoying or dumb. One could argue that their lack of personality might be intentional to emphasize the lack of identity amongst both the monstrous Titans and their opposition the military, but that's stretching it. Probably just weak character writing. But Attack on Titan is a good choice if you're looking for entertainment value, distinct horror-tinge, or something relatively unique in the genre.

Next: Shin Godzilla

Godzilla (2014)

I mentioned in the previous post that we're doing mostly American movies for a while now, and here comes the second one: the first time in this semi-chronological blog that we've done two movies in a row from a country that is not Japan. The Godzilla film from 1998 was, for a time, the only American made Godzilla movie, but this changed in 2014 when director Gareth Edwards brought us Godzilla (2014). It's a proper remake, essentially creating a completely new timeline for the character, without even any real reference to the original Gojira. Origin stories can be tough, often because they can feel so unnecessary, so this will be a fun exploration of whether Godzilla even needs origin stories at this point.

We're dealing with CGI kaiju these days, so the stars of this show are primarily Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ford and Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa. There's not a whole lot of background info to explore about this one except that it apparently took nearly 10 years to make and began as a short film. The producers, directors, and other creative minds on the film also apparently intended to replicate (but not copy) the look and feel of original Toho-created Godzilla. Rather than go for a "unique and new" American version of Godzilla (see Zilla), they intentionally built a Godzilla designed to resemble and blend into the Toho universe. I respect that. Last note: this MonsterVerse series, like Pacific Rim before it, is produced by Legendary Pictures.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- It's 1999, in the Phillipines, and main character Dr. Serizawa is investigating a collapsed cavern. Inside, they find the skeleton of some giant creature. Two parasitic spores are attached, one of which has already hatched.

- In Janjira, Japan, a nuclear reactor begins to meltdown. The family of dad Joe, mom Sandra, and child Ford are affected by this, primarily by Joe having to seal his wife inside the exploding reactor and watching her die (on his birthday!).

- 15 years later, Ford is a soldier who is called back to his former hometown of Janjira when his father is arrested after violating the permanent quarantine set up in Janjira.

- Ford and Joe are caught inside Janjira and arrested by Monarch, the organization Dr. Serizawa works for and apparently in charge of the quarantined area. Joe is ultimately proved correct when the cause of the nuclear reactor meltdown turns out to be the hatched spore from the first scene that has been feeding on the reactor for 15 years and now transforms into a giant monster they dub MUTO.

- As the MUTO destroys the facility in its escape, Joe is injured in the whole mess and dies. Ford is now left alone in Japan with his family in San Francisco. 

- The plot is explained to Ford: giant monsters including Godzilla exist in the world and the MUTO is just one such example. The MUTO was talking to something, which Monarch wants to find out and stop. If all goes particularly poorly, Godzilla will return to "restore order to nature."

- Spoilers: Godzilla comes back. After the MUTO makes a scene in Honolulu, Godzilla rises from the ocean and causes a tsunami. The two beasts argue very briefly before both leaving the area.

- Monarch tracks the monsters, Godzilla chasing after the MUTO after hearing its mating call. It turns out it is headed to Nevada after the other spore that was found in the original cavern. Despite being vivisected, analysed, and experimented on it appears that the other spore also survived and there is a second MUTO.

- Monarch is too late to do anything about it, and the second (larger, female) MUTO also hatches from her chrysalis and destroys Las Vegas as it heads toward its mate.

- After a plan by the military to destroy the 3 monsters off the western coast of the US fails (and only makes the MUTOs stronger), the 3 kaiju converge in San Francisco.

- With the warhead that was intended to kill the monsters being activated and now in San Francisco, Ford is sent in to help deactivate it before it destroys the entirety of the city his family is in.

- Ford attempts to get to and deactivate the warhead while Godzilla and the 2 MUTOs have a battle of the century. This is when the movie really gets online because we're here for motherfucking kaiju fights boi.

- While Godzilla is fighting both MUTOs and having a hard time of it, they are distracted when Ford and his team destroy the MUTO nest (and all of their eggs). This gives Godzilla an opening to finally unleash his Atomic Breath which briefly turns the tide before they unite against him again. 

- Godzilla smashes the male MUTO into a skyscraper, which kills the MUTO but also drops the entire building on top of himself, taking Godilla out alongside the smaller MUTO.

- With Godzilla downed, the female MUTO shifts her attention to the military, which she may or may not realize destroyed their nest. Ford and his team futilely attempt to fight back but almost everyone is killed when Ford finds himself face to face with the MUTO with nothing but a sidearm to defend himself.

- Fortunately for Ford, Godzilla rallies and sneak attacks, biting the MUTO on the neck before Atomic Breathing down its throat until its head detaches from its body. It's a badass move that is unique to this New American Godzilla.

- The next morning, Ford is rescued and Godzilla appears to have returned to land and died. As cleanup happens around him, Godzilla wakes up as Ford is reunited with his family. People are shocked Godzilla lives, but celebrate as he is given credit for saving the city.

- Godzilla roars in triumph as he heads back to the sea.

Kaiju Notes 

- Legendary Godzilla is a chunky little monkey and I love it. His feet are beautifully tender but thick as tree trunks, and he just looks somehow pissed off all the time but huggable. Most Godzillas in the past have had vaguely human proportions but this guy is built like a brick shithouse, all muscle and volume with no mind given to mobility. Lastly: Godzilla's roar is... awesome. It's not mimicry of anything Toho has used while also being something that seems respectful to it but unique to this version of the Big G. I am a very big fan of this Godzilla roar.

- The MUTO(s) is insect-like. It's not a particularly terrible design, but a bit uninteresting. With its sleek design, muted colors, and red visor-like eyes, it could also just be a robot and would look pretty much the same and give the same vibes. On the other hand, it is always nice to see a creature with an "unusual" number of appendages, whether that's Ghidorah's 3 heads or the MUTO's 8 limbs.

- The male MUTO is also much smaller than the female, being sleeker, smaller, and using the smaller size to have the ability to fly. He also has a very useful weapon in his EMP blast which he seems to have developed after absorbing nuclear radiation for 15 years. The female MUTO has a similar weapon, but more of a shield than a blast. It also appears to weaken Godzilla's Atomic Breath, somewhat crippling the Big G's greatest weapon.

- The female MUTO is big as hell, being nearly Godzilla's chunky size. She tremendous, like twice the size of the male, but lacks the wings (and therefore mobility) of her male counterpart. She also has an egg sac with dozens of prominent glowing eggs, so there's also the idea that far more than 2 MUTOs can be in the world if they're allowed to continue.

Godzilla is a somewhat complicated case. First things first: it's actually a solid movie. Downsides, however: it's pretty boring for the first 30-40 minutes. Until the first MUTO appears and especially once Godzilla appears, this is a movie weighed down by all of the exposition that has to be done to get it moving. I think this ultimately pays off, but mileage is definitely going to vary. Once the various kaiju appear things do pick up quite a bit and their scenes are all very cool, but before we see a big monster a part of me was thinking "can we do this already"?

But once the movie picks up? I think it's quite good. It's an excellent mesh of the human and monster stories, a balance which is always difficult to successfully navigate. Ford's journey to get home paralleled by Godzilla and the MUTOs battles is an effective storytelling choice that actually makes the human element a part of the story without being a complete distraction that pulls us away from what we actually care about. The last 40-50 minutes is fairly spectacular... spectacle, now focusing on the Godzilla vs MUTO action now that all the pieces are in place. There's no arbitrary wins or random coincidences that turn the tide of battle, and both Godzilla and the MUTOs appear dangerous to each other without having to make the other look weak. If kaiju battle is professional wrestling (and it is), this is a 4 star match easy. According to the director this is an intentional slow burn, and I believe it because it absolutely works for me, a true connoisseur of film.

One thing I appreciate about this movie is that the various monsters are forces of nature. No trying to understand the mind or humanity of Godzilla the Giant Lizard, or the MUTOs being remotely concerned about the impact their nest might have on San Francisco. MUTOs want to mate and possibly take over the world, Godzilla wants to stop and kill them. Easy to explain, easy to understand, easy to convey. When Godzilla first appears on land he literally floods an entire city, but this is entirely an accident or natural consequence of this big mofo coming out of the ocean. Even when the female MUTO wakes up and destroys all of Las Vegas, she doesn't actually target anything that's not immediately in her way. The wake of destruction behind her is a straight line: the monsters don't care about causing wanton destruction in either direction. This makes the monsters more like volcanoes than "characters," which is a characterization that I have always enjoyed and is typically lost more and more as the various kaiju series continue. Gojira Godzilla was this, but by Son of Godzilla he was somehow a loving father who just wanted to get along with humanity before shifting between his heroic and villainous personas as needed for the script. I love a giant monster that's just a giant monster.

I also enjoy that by the end of this movie the humans seem to understand the same thing as above. When Godzilla wakes up in the middle of a destroyed San Francisco he is actually cheered on by the people whose homes and businesses he helped destroy. It's not that they wanted him alive, most people would probably prefer that Godzilla died alongside the MUTOs he killed - it's better for property values at least. But he wasn't being malicious and he stopped the creatures that were more of an obvious threat: a tsunami that washed away the raging inferno. Both events are dreaded and horrible, but one is at least "helping" a situation it didn't cause. When Godzilla next appears on land people will flee, as they should, but at least they seem to realize that Godzilla is on their side, as much as a creature which doesn't run by the morality of humankind can be.

Godzilla is good. Which is good news, because this film is the beginning of the American MonsterVerse, with several connected films and sequels to come. If for some reason you can't bring yourself to watch foreign monster films, this would be an great place to begin a kaiju movie journey.

Next: Attack on Titan!

D-War

The same man who made the Yonggary film from 1999 is back for another shot at a kaiju movie: Shim Hyung-rae returns! While Yonggary did not go over well on this blog, we believe in 2nd (or 3rd or 4th or 75th) chances in this house! Like Yonggary, D-War is based in the US and stars mostly American (or at least English-speaking) actors. The most recognizable of these actors are Jason Behr and Robert Forster, but there's some other familiar faces in here too.

The monsters/kaiju in this one are almost entirely CGI, so there's no suit credit to be given. But it is notable that this film pulls from Korean mythology, with the premise being a dragon-like serpent called an Imugi transforming through mystical means into a proper Dragon. The movie spells this Imoogi, so that's what we're going with here. Another significant note for this film is that at the time it was released it was the most expensive Korean film ever made. So, hopefully that investment pays off when it comes to quality!

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Every 500 years, a woman is born who contains a mighty spirit. Pursued by both good and evil serpents/Imoogi because of her power to turn them into powerful dragons, our main character Ethan is sworn to protect this woman.

- We get the story of the last woman born with this power, and see a tragic love story from 500 years ago where the woman and her protector/lover die after escaping from the evil serpent/Imoogi Baraki.

- Ethan, the reincarnation of the warrior who died with the previous Spirit lady, finds her reincarnation, a woman named Sarah.

- Tasked to bring Sarah to the Grand Cave on her 20th birthday, bad things begin to happen as the evil Baraki arrives in Los Angeles, and some mysterious and clearly evil human figure confronts Ethan (seems like a wizard or something).

- Escaping with Sarah and his friend, they are pursued by wizard guy but hit him with a car. He manifests armor and beats them up, but another car manages to knock him over and allow them to escape.

- Baraki's army rises to give chase, and now LA is under attack by the army in pursuit of Sarah (and Ethan).

- Not managing to make it out of LA before Baraki's army descends upon everyone, Baraki appears to be winning. Just in the nick of time, the military counter attacks and manages to fend Baraki off for a moment.

- We now get to watch Baraki's reptilian army battle the US military, and... it's kind of fun?

- Eventually, Baraki captures Ethan and Sarah and takes them to a ritual site. Once there, the good Imoogi emerges and tries to protect them, but is quickly felled by the powerful Baraki.

- Sarah realizes what she must do, and feeds her spiritual orb to the good Imoogi. She collapses and it transforms into a powerful dragon (even grows arms)!

- After another extremely quick battle, the good Dragon shoots a fireball down the throat of Baraki, who is reduced first to a skeleton and then to ash.

- Sarah is dead, but her spirit lingers long enough to tell Ethan she will love him for eternity.

Kaiju Notes 

- The Imoogi are giant snakes. They look like snakes and they act like snakes. Buraki is darker, so he looks more evil.

- The Atrox army also contains giant artillery bearing Dawdlers, the agile flying Bulco, and velociraptor/utahraptor like Shaconnes.

- Lastly, the Celestial Dragon is a very classic asian dragon creature.

- None of these kaiju designs are particularly creative, if you can't tell.

So, this is a very strange case. D-War is... horrible. And I love it. It starts out cheesy and weird and just doubles down over and over and over until a giant reptilian army is fighting with the US military. This movie has a distinct sense of humor but ultimately plays it straight, and I think its better for it. Despite how nonsensical every event is, the commitment to the bit makes it work despite never being anything resembling a quality film. It's a hard case, and it won't work for everyone. I waffle on whether I enjoy it myself. But at the end of the day for me it lands on the "so bad it's kinda good" side of things in that indiscernible way only movies of this kind.

Beyond that, there's very little that can be said about D-War. It sucks, but in a way that somehow makes it work? I could never possibly recommend it as an even "okay" movie, but find it entertaining. Whether it's giant dinosaurs launching artillery or dragons whipping US military helicopters out of the sky, this movie is just strange, terrible, and entertaining all at the same time. The acting isn't particularly good and the jokes are generally pretty bad but this shit makes me laugh every time. I have no way to explain it, so I'm not going to try. If you're into awful movies that somehow make it work, this is an example (unlike Death Kappa, which just sucks).

Next: Gamera the Brave!

Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

We're making history here, fellas. With the longest title in the Godzilla series, there is also another distinction in this film, but we'll get there. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (or GMK from here on out) is another in the Millennium series but is also distinguished in that it's also one of the few Godzilla movies that fully embraces the supernatural. If you want to know exactly how, you'll have to read the synopsis! But let's talk about one other interesting facet of the movie: the titular monsters are all in a melee, but it is not the three-way fight one might expect. King Ghidorah is actually a heroic kaiju in this one, for the first time ever ole KG is one of the good guys. It's honestly a bit strange to consider, but here it is in all its glory. Mothra does remain on the side of the good guys, so she teams up with King Ghidorah (and one other monster) to try to bring down Godzilla in GMK.

Shusuke Kaneko directs, returning to kaiju movies after making the excellent Gamera trilogy in the mid 90's. Mizuho Yoshida retains his position as Millennium Godzilla, and Akira Ohashi is King Ghidorah. But the best credit goes to Rie Ota as Baragon, in the greatest performance of all time. Period. We love Rie Ota on this blog and in this life, end of. Let's talk about GMK.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- An American nuclear submarine has gone missing. While searching for it, the fun of a giant creature which resembles Godzilla is caught on camera. In this continuity, Godzilla has not been seen (officially) since 1954. While some sightings have been suspected, there's been no major attacks.

- A while later, Baragon appears on land and attacks. Many people assume this to be Godzilla's return, but we will discover this is not the case.

- A filmmaker/documentarian named Yuri Tachibana is our main human character, and she is given a book about the Guardian Monsters. These are Mothra, Baragon, and King Ghidorah.

- Elsewhere, a Mothra larva is woken up and kills several people when it capsizes their boat.

- Given a clue while investigating Mothra's awakening, Tachibana and her crew head to the supposed location of King Ghidorah. They find a mysterious stone and told that Godzilla is on its way to destroy Japan as punishment: Godzilla being either the manifestation of or fuelled by people who died during World War II, including soldiers, civilians, and .

- A man who was preparing to hang himself falls into King Ghidorah's cave, bringing all of our kaiju players into the story.

- As the human characters debate exactly what's happening and whether they believe the fairy tale of Godzilla being the manifestation of casualties of WWII and the Guardian Monsters awakening to fight him off, Baragon destroys the building they are in.

- While Baragon is initially mistaken for Godzilla, the true Godzilla appears on the nearby coast. The two monsters must now do battle.

- Baragon clamps down on Godzilla's arm and is simply tossed around due to his small size in comparison. After throwing Baragon to the ground, Godzilla simply stomps Baragon out and continues throwing him around the area before ending the fight with an Atomic Breath attack. This was not even close.

- With one of the Guardian Monsters dead and Godzilla destroying the country and the JSDF, Ghidorah and (Imago) Mothra return to the scene, finally fully emerging from their hiding places.

- Tachibana, always been closest to the developing story, warns the JSDF (and father, an admiral in the JSDF) to not attack Mothra or Ghidorah as they are actually allies of humanity.

- Mothra arrives, and attacks, first. Her speed proves to be a decisive factor and Godzilla can't make full contact.

- As Mothra gains an advantage by attacking Godzilla's neck and head, Ghidorah joins the fray and uses his three heads to bite at Godzilla and deliver Gravity Beams to his body. Unfortunately for him, having three necks means he has triple the targets and Godzilla clamps down on him.

- Ghidorah is defeated relatively quickly, Godzilla biting his neck and weakening him before aiming Atomic Breath at him for the finish. Fortunately, or unfortunately since she's been way more effective thus far, Mothra intercepts the beam and takes the hit for Ghidorah.

- While the Guardian Monsters recover, Godzilla is attacked by the JSDF and wipes them out too. Mothra attempts to sneak up on Godzilla and deliver some devastating attack but receives a point blank atomic blast for her troubles. She explodes into a golden mist which rains down on Ghidorah.

- Ghidorah, empowered by Mothra's sacrifice, rises from the ground and becomes 1000-Year Old Dragon Ghidorah, a powered up version of regular Ghidorah (with extra golden color!). He overpowers Godzilla in a Battle of the Blasts.

- Taking the battle into the water, Ghidorah seems to be winning. To take advantage of this opportunity, Tachibana's father plans to pilot a submarine to destroy Godzilla, expecting to die in the process despite his promise to Tachibana to return home.

- Reporting on the events as they happen, Tachibana falls off a bridge after it's destroyed as collateral damage of the kaiju battle.

- The submarine nearly manages to hit Godzilla with their special missile, but the Big G is clever and instead turns so Ghidorah take the impact. When it flinches, he Atomic Breaths Ghidorah and knocks him out.

- Tachibana, close to the battle and falling from a bridge, drops the stone she found earlier into the sea where Ghidorah is and Ghidorah is revived once more. Now on his 3rd chance, he takes flight while Godzilla stays in the water.

- This doesn't work, and Ghidorah is once again hit with Atomic Breath, this time full exploding so there's no more question about whether he's going to come back.

- The spirits of the Guardian Monsters linger in the air and seem to make one last (spiritual) attack against Godzilla which sends him underwater. Admiral Tachibana seizes the chance to pilot his submarine into the throat of Godzilla.

- Seeing a vision of his daughter encouraging him not to let Godzilla win, the Admiral launches the special missile into Godzilla's open wound. It slows him down but doesn't prevent him from gathering his Atomic Breath to laser the nearby (younger) Tachibana to death.

- Fortunately for both Tachibana's the gaping wound means that Godzilla's atomic power instead rips through him and destroys his body. Godzilla is finally dead, and Admiral Tachibana pilots his submarine back to the surface.

- Everyone celebrates, but as a final shot we see foreboding image of the still beating heart of Godzilla at the bottom of the sea.

Kaiju Notes

- Baragon is the cutest, bestest boy. While he's in this movie only very briefly, he's got beautiful floppy ears, a cool horn, and coloring we don't often get to say (reddish). He has no real powers worth mentioning considering how quickly he got his ass whipped, but we stan Baragon on this blog. His roar is a bit shrill but distinct. It's got nothing on what will always be his true roar: Rie Ota.

- Godzilla's appearance has changed somewhat from the previous Millennium films, and he is more menacing this time. His teeth are less jagged, his dorsal fins seem less pronounced and more orderly, and his eyes are all white at all times which gives him an aura of being possessed. While every element is actually less "wild" than his previous incarnation, this actually makes it seem like Godzilla is more designed for maximum efficiency rather than a wild animal. His Atomic Breath also causes mushroom clouds to longer where he uses it, really driving home the World War II connection.

- Mothra has been given longer legs and purple eyes, but otherwise looks very similar to every other Mothra design we've ever seen. She also looks more realistic than she ever has, the previous Mothra puppets having a certain "stuffed animal" feel to them.

- Ghidorah's necks have been shortened, which probably makes the suit much easier to manipulate. The golden color is muted because his only scenes are at night, but when the light catches it just right it looks quite good. 1000 Year Old Dragon Ghidorah gains fangs and some extra golden glow, but otherwise looks about the same as always.

Early on after the monsters begin to appear, there is a moment where, after Godzilla uses his Atomic Breath, a Japanese school teacher sees a mushroom cloud in the sky after a brief flash of light. Especially given Godzilla's origin story being directly tied to World War II, it's a genuinely affecting moment. The movie does not linger or dwell on this instance, but that is perhaps what makes it worse (and more effective). In perhaps a meta-commentary on it, whether intentional or not, the Japanese don't have the luxury of dwelling on the situation.

In one hilarious moment the military is watching the battle from a skyscraper which Mothra has used as a base from which to launch attacks. When she returns to the building at one point, Godzilla is trying to Atomic Breath her and we watch the soldiers inside realize they're about to explode as Mothra flies straight toward them before shooting up to the top of the building. If we didn't know better, we'd have to assume she did it on purpose because she hates soldiers. She might!

On the previous point, while I found that one example somewhat amusing, this film does a better job than many in the series of establishing the consequences of Godzilla's various battles. Rubble falls onto people, occupied buildings are destroyed, and people get caught in the crossfire while the kaiju battle it out. It's a small but underused element, in my opinion, in kaiju movies in general. Dwelling on the deaths of humans isn't really the goal, but making sure the audience can feel that these events are truly significant for more than just property damage makes the movies seem more relatable to me. It's the same effect as "kaiju destroys tanks and ships" versus "actually watching people react to their impending doom". It hits very different.

Godzilla is the literal manifestation of the casualties of World War II, apparently attacking Japan particularly because of their refusal to account for their own crimes during the war. It's an oddly pointed metaphor for Godzilla to embody when kaiju movies which bother with metaphors at all often go with the environmental or anti-nuclear message, but now we have the physical embodiment of the sins of war (both committed on and by the Japanese). It's not really clear whether that means Godzilla is supposed to be a consequence of mankind's fondness for violence or a simple monstrous representation of it, but the undying heart of Godzilla at the end somewhat implies the latter. It's also the first example of Godzilla's origin story being explicitly supernatural, and one of the relatively few Godzilla films to embrace supernatural elements entirely. It's what make me think that while this Godzilla is the casualties of WWII, the idea behind this one is that there will always be a Godzilla, even if it's the physical form of some different aspect of the horrors of humanity.

GMK is a mixed bag. The story and all of the elements truly do work. Even King Ghidorah, somehow, make a decent hero. Godzilla comes off as a truly unstoppable force, killing all of his kaiju enemies off either easily or multiple times. While Baragon is adorable and deserves better, crushing the cutie so ruthlessly makes Godzilla meaner and harsher. And anyone with experience in Godzilla movies knows that King Ghidorah is typically quite threatening, so watching his get killed by Godzilla on multiple occasions is like seeing the Undertaker lose at Wrestlemania. The story of the two Tachibana's is effective and blends nicely into the rest of the film, never overtaking or undermining the kaiju story. The only true downside is that the Guardian Monsters looks incompetent throughout and it becomes much harder to believe they have any chance at all as the movie continues. In fact, they really don't succeed at all, Godzilla ultimately being killed by the combination of a human weapon and his own immense power. And, as an aside, in a 50 year old series of movies about a cool and often heroic Godzilla, it's a little bit difficult to root against him. Seeing him beat the brakes off of King Ghidorah is oddly and viscerally satisfying even though we know we're supposed to be on the other side. It doesn't damage the movie in any significant way and remains quite fun throughout, but the behind the scenes decisions behind this one make it just a little harder to get behind than it could have or should have been. Definitely worth a watch, though!

Next: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla!

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

The Millennium era of Godzilla continues, this time in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, directed by newcomer to the series Masaaki Tezuka. Readers of this blog may remember that I was strongly disappointed by the creature Meganulon which was introduced in the original Rodan. So, I was pleased to discover that all I had to do was wait 40 years to receive a much-needed followup on that giant insect. Enter Megaguirus, portrayed in this film by Minoru Watanabe, an evolution of Meganulon into the truly fearsome form we should've seen fight with Rodan. Perhaps predictably, Tsutomu Kitagawa returns as Godzilla. 

Besides providing some redemption to my boy Meganulon, there's not much else to mention as lead up to this film. Let's get it on.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In the continuity of this film, Godzilla attacked (only) in 1954, 1968, and 1998, always focusing on power plants. Clearly attracted to nuclear and plasma energy, the government bans these forms of power to deter attacks from Big G.

- Now, in the year 2001, a black hole weapon has been invented by the G-Graspers, a section of the JSDF dedicated to destroying Godzilla. One of the G-Graspers is Major Tsujimori, who lost her commanding officer and friend in the 1998 attack and seeks revenge on Godzilla.

- The idea is that they can suck Godzilla into the black hole, either killing him or trapping him inside for all eternity. Shortly after the first test, a young boy finds a giant egg inside the test field and eventually disposes of it down the sewer.

- The creature, a giant dragonfly called Meganulon, eventually emerges from the sewer and kills two people in brutal fashion. It takes up residence on a nearby skyscraper and appears to multiply.

- Meganula, being inside the sewers, cause the entire city to become flooded. An underwater drone captures images of the innumerable eggs underneath the water.

- While the G-Graspers move to destroy Godzilla with the black hold weapon, the swarm of Meganula surround Godzilla and also prevent the satellite based weapon from being able to target him.

- The Meganula feed on Godzilla while he tries to fight them off. He eventually kills enough of them that the satellite targets and fires its black hole at him.

- Predictably, Godzilla survives. The surviving Meganula swim to their base and feed the energy they collected from Godzilla to their Queen, which grows to enormous size and flies into Shibuya's airspace.

- Megaguirus, the Dragonfly Queen, raids Shibuya using razor sharp wings and some sort of sonic pulse which can destroy buildings.

- The two beasts now face off, Megaguirus being an entity of wanton destruction while Godzilla mostly focuses on defending himself.

- Eventually, Megaguirus flies in for an attack but Godzilla ducks underneath her and she slices her own arm off using his giant dorsal fin. Unfortunately the timing on this is really bad and it doesn't look like an intentional tactic.

- Adapting, Megaguirus pieces Godzilla with her tail and absorbs his energy, using it to fire a version of his Atomic Breath back at him. Knocking him down, she comes in for the killing blow, attempting to stab him in the face.

- In slow motion, Godzilla catches the pincer in his mouth and bites it off. This hurts Megaguirus and gives him to the chance to finish her off using a double blast of Atomic Breath. She falls from the sky in a plume of (atomic) fire.

- Tsujimori discovers that Godzilla is attacking the city only because the head of the G-Graspers has developed another plasma energy, which is luring the big lizard in just as it did last time he attacked. She punches her boss in the face since his actions have caused so many people to die.

- Fortunately, with Megaguirus gone, the black hole weapon is functional once more and falling into the atmosphere. Tsujimori jumps into her ship to help it target Godzilla before it's too late.

- Barely making it in time, she manages to lock on to Godzilla before ejecting at the last possible second. Godzilla sees the black hole coming and fires his Atomic Breath at it in return, the two projectiles colliding into a giant explosion that causes Godzilla to disappear and a giant chasm in the city. The humans have finally won.

- Some time later, in an epilogue, Tsujimori seeks to investigate some unusual activity. In a post-credits scene Godzilla's roar is heard outside a school, implying he is not truly gone for good.

Kaiju Notes

- Meganulon is a relatively standard "giant insect" design, but gets bonus points for being a brutal creature. Its first two kills are fucked up, including spitting some sort of grossness and squeezing a man's head until he spits up blood.

- Megaguirus isn't the most creative of monster designs herself, being a pissed off demonic dragonfly, but we don't always need to reinvent the wheel. Dragonflies are kind of creepy anyway, so enlarging it and giving it sonic weaponry is pretty much kaiju design 101.

- Godzilla's Atomic Breath has improved somewhat in this film. While the 2000 version was fine, this movie upgrades him to a breath that looks more like plasma in consistency and color, which makes a lot of sense for his motivations in the story.

I only have a few things to say about this one, and the first is a positive: the human story is well-balanced, feeding into the kaiju story in a way that makes the human elements actually compelling enough to pay attention to while not feeling like they're detracting from what we're here for: Megaguirus vs. Godzilla. Tsujimori is a relatively interesting main human character, being a true hater of Godzilla but not letting that be her only personality trait or cause her to do incredibly stupid things. That last point shouldn't be so rare but it's incredibly uncommon in kaiju films for the human who hates the main kaiju to not be foolish as a result. As a for instance, Tsujimori does not at any point help Megaguirus because it also wants to kill Godzilla, only to realize that Megaguirus might be worse. Tsujimori: good.

On the negative side, some elements of the film are clunky. These are mostly technical errors, but can take away from the sweet kaiju action. The timing of the dorsal fin chop makes the (cool) idea seems accidental at best, and Megaguirus itself is a very physically focused attacker for a creatures with razor sharp wings and a sonic weapon. It has little claws, but they look pretty goofy trying to tussle with the much physically stronger looking Godzilla, whose teeth are roughly as large as Megaguirus' claws. Megaguirus at one point appears to try to strangle Godzilla, which works about as well as that sounds.

The Megaguirus vs. Godzilla element is quite good. As mentioned above, Megaguirus itself is pretty vicious and interesting even in larval form. When the creatures fight, there's even an element of strategy to the endeavor. While we don't fully realize this until the fight is over, Megaguirus is not the hardiest of blokes so spends much of the battle using hit and run tactics so that he can never be hit cleanly (because he'd die). Godzilla does genuinely have trouble against the mobile Mega, so ends up having to outsmart his enemy rather than rely on his sheer power and endurance as he normally can. Megaguirus itself also lack a particularly powerful weapon to use against the Big G, but he still does pretty well with what he's got. Overall, this is one of the better kaiju battles overall, not being one note or too short.

In the end, however, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus is relatively forgettable. Having seen it very recently (that's what the whole blog is about), all I can really remember is "black hole... Megaguirus...Tsujimori... Godzilla." There's not a whole lot to remember, even if all of it works. It's strange. But some things can't always be explained, so we're stuck with this fairly middling flick despite all of it being pretty solid on paper (or digital text, whatever).

Next: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!