Okey, gang. Heres the thought. What makes a Giant Monster become a Kaiju? There is, i believe, a disernable differance. For example........Resistance to lethal mesures : A true Kaiju can take point blank cannon fire, and only get dispepsia! (Ya hear me, Deanzilla,Huh, do ya?) Did Beauty kill the beast? No! It was a few hundred rounds of 30.06 and a dang long drop to the pavment that did in 'ol Kong.....the chick was just the McGuffin that led to his down fall.....something any guy can understand......but, hey, there it is. Try machine guns on Godzilla, you'll be (Un)luckey to get his attention! So, either Artillary resistant armor, or a mutant healing factor, and you have a Kaiju. Secondly, does the beast in question have a ranged wepon of great power? Godzilla has Atomic Fire Breath, Gamera has Plasma Fireball breath. Baragon has Zero Cold Tongue, Ect. So, While Angilus has no fire breath, his Armor and (Maby) regeneritive powers, keep him in the Kaiju class. So.....thats two definers of what makes a Kaiju better then a "Mere" giant monster. After all, the Reign of Fire Dragons are terrfying to humans, but to Gamera....they ain't nothin but a convient not lunch. Thats my thoughts on this important subject...yours?
Pretty interesting thought on giant movie monsters you've got there,Flangepart. It pretty much sums it up for myself,as well as leaves me out of words ,regarding this subject.
Just hoping that the dragons in "Reign Of Fire" are as cool as,rank right up there with,the non CGI-effects,realistic looking dragon of 1981's "Dragonslayer"(itself a pretty cool,pretty gory PG-rated period piece monster outing).
Ok, I'm no expert on Kaiju, in fact I'd never even heard the term until coming to this site, but it seems to me that several of the classic monsters didn't have a ranged weapon; Rodan, Mothra (moth form), Gigan, Hedra (unless I'm forgetting something) etc.
To me a kaiju has to look different from the rest and have defining features that makes it it's own character. Angilus, while he has no weapons but his claws and spikes, is definitely unique. The later angilus I like more then the earlier one in the fire monster. You have to feel sorry for the guy because he always seems to get beaten one way or another.
True enough. I Like Angilus as he has this "I'm #2 but i try harder" spirit. BTW, Joh, i just saw Reign of Fire. Not bad! True, not all Kaiju have ranged attack wepons, but the ability to take a beating and resist defeating makes them special.