Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidora (2001)

Ed, Ego and Superego · August 04, 2011, 01:00:01 PM

My wife is gone and so I'm catching up on some bad film I had built up on the DVR. This was last night's offering. Frankly, its rather flabby and uninteresting. I'm 3/4 of the way done, and this is really not doing it for me.
Now, I'm a HUGE kaiju fan, and usually love amything with Ghidora in it. So this is a disappointment.
Anyone seen it? Am I missing something? Is it really not so fun?
-Ed

Criswell · August 04, 2011, 01:09:13 PM

Actually many Godzilla fans consider it too be one of the best Godzilla movies.

Honestly it grew on me more the second time I watch it. It gets better every time for me actually.

Ed, Ego and Superego · August 04, 2011, 01:28:01 PM

Interesting, maybe its a mood thing. I watched Godzilla vs Mothra, and that was good fun, and most of this generation of the films I really like. Just this one not so much. I'll finish it off tonight and see...
-Ed

Criswell · August 04, 2011, 01:32:06 PM

I'd also like to add that the TV version of the movie has some scenes missing. And not useless ones, some of them are good scenes. Like when Godzilla first uses his Atomic Breath in the movie. Thats one of my favorite scenes in the movie and the TV versions cut it out!

But yeah GMK is a tad bit more serious then some Godzilla movies, so you might have been expecting it to be more fun also.

akiratubo · August 04, 2011, 03:42:25 PM

I think GMK is the worst of all the Godzilla movies. Even worse than the 98 Devlin/Emmerich abomination. Godzilla is a fatass and his all-white eyes are stupid, Mothra without the fairies is just another giant bug, Baragon looked like a puppy dog, Ghidora barely even registered, the human characters were unlikable and way too much time was wasted on them, the combination of sci-fi and mythology was very poorly handled, the moral was about a subtle as a 12-gauge to the face, etc., etc. Basically, every aspect of the movie was poor-to-wretched. Why so many people champion it is beyond me.

Umaril The Unfeathered · August 04, 2011, 03:51:23 PM

I'm on the fence about GMK, but I like the blank emotionless eyes of Godzilla, he looks absolutely demonic!

However, Godzilla is not w\o his political leanings, it would seem.

According to a source years back, the blank eyes was due to Godzilla being "possessed" by Japan's war dead, allegedly to punish modern day Japan for their alliance with Western powers. Interesting thought.

Much in the same way, it's also been said that Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) was held from American release due to the scene where, as a dinosaur on Lagos Island during WW2, Godzilla kills an entire American garrison while leaving the Japanese garrison unharmed.

No big deal for me either way as I have seen both films uncut, as Godzilla is an equal oppurtunity destroyer and noone is safe.

Ed, Ego and Superego · August 04, 2011, 03:54:23 PM

I'm not thrilled with "Hero" Ghidora. Mothra, fine. Baragon has never been a favorite of mine. I'll polish it off and add final thoughts later.
-Ed

Umaril The Unfeathered · August 04, 2011, 04:01:46 PM

Quote from: Ed on August 04, 2011, 03:54:23 PM
I'm not thrilled with "Hero" Ghidora. Mothra, fine. Baragon has never been a favorite of mine. I'll polish it off and add final thoughts later.
-Ed

Baragon has that "cuteness" for a monster that dosen't do him very well. Even back in 1965 when he appeared in Frankenstein Conquers The World he looked like a big puppy dog.

As for GMK, Fangoria hailed his cuteness with a quote: "If he were any cuter (and the right size, he'd make a great pet" (more or less the whole quote).

As for the Baragon suit, it was beaten to death as it created many memorable monsters for Ultraman, chief among them Neronga from episode 4, "Sally Forth, Science Patrol!" One of my fave episodes.

Criswell · August 04, 2011, 04:16:14 PM

I like hero Ghidorah. It was something unique and I think it was pulled off quite well.

WingedSerpent · August 04, 2011, 04:21:24 PM

To me, it had it's strengths and weaknesses. First off, I do like the look of the more evil Godzilla. Early concept art had him standing in a more dinosaurian leaning positon, but suitmation limitations had him walking up right. I'm left wondering what could have been. I also like that they tried to be somewhat darker with this movie-but at times it was almost nihlistic with the way it approached the devastation. Dark and violent for the sake of dark and violent.

King Ghidorah was an absolute waste in this movie. With such a build up to ultimately fall so easily to Godzilla.

Baragon was kind of fun, even though I was never a big fan to begin with, only seeing Frankensttein Conqurers the World once so I never really understood why the monster seemed to have such a following amoung kaiju fans. Oh, and trivia for your. Baragon in this movie was portrayed by a woman suitimation actor. Thank you G-Fan Magazine.

Umaril The Unfeathered · August 05, 2011, 02:27:18 PM

Quote from: WingedSerpent on August 04, 2011, 04:21:24 PM
Baragon was kind of fun, even though I was never a big fan to begin with, only seeing Frankensttein Conqurers the World once so I never really understood why the monster seemed to have such a following amoung kaiju fans. Oh, and trivia for your. Baragon in this movie was portrayed by a woman suitimation actor. Thank you G-Fan Magazine.

I know! I just looked that up after seeing your reply; how cool is that?
The same way, in the inaugural 90's Gammera film, Gammera, Guardian Of The Universe, a woman also played Gammera. Ironically, the woman's last name was Kameyama, which means "turtle mountain' in Japanese.

In Frankenstein Conquers The World Mr. Godzilla himself, Haruo Nakajima, played Baragon, and one-time monster actor Koji Furuhata was Frankenstein.

And to be honest, I tip my hat to Mr. Furuhata for what was a very physical role with little or no padding to soften his falls. He was a very good Frankenstein, and he was baptized by Mr. Nakajima himself, and did very well in doing so!

Criswell · August 05, 2011, 02:48:25 PM

Actually Gamera was played by a man in guardian of the universe. I've seen behind the scenes footage to confirm it

Gyaos in Guardian of the Universe was played by a women.

Ed, Ego and Superego · August 05, 2011, 09:06:39 PM

Polished it off, and the ending was really good... after Ghidora did the resurrection bit. I might give the first half another shot. Thanks guys!
-Ed

daveblackeye15 · August 06, 2011, 05:46:27 PM

I love this one. I didn't mind that they messed with the mythology at all.

This Godzilla is ugly, vicious, and quite sadistic.

Also really liked that Ghidorah got to be a hero. I mean it different for him and besides ever movie he seems to get weaker and weaker, least until we got Monster X.

Liked having the humans play a larger role than usual and the Admiral is a total bad ass.

Ed, Ego and Superego · August 06, 2011, 06:45:47 PM

Quote from: daveblackeye15 on August 06, 2011, 05:46:27 PM

Liked having the humans play a larger role than usual and the Admiral is a total bad ass.

The admiral really saved it for me at the end, he played what could be a silly role very very well. I'll give this a higher grade than I thought I would. Not my favorite of them, but it certainly was not a waste of my time.

Now the Birth of Mothra series... bring on the tiny women!
-Ed