Wanted to do this for a while, so here it is: I REVIEW: GMK! Oh, boy, where do I begin? This movie is fantastic! Undoubtedly my favorite Godzilla film to date! Despite having a ridiculously long and an absurdly silly title, this entry in the series delivers on almost all fronts: a compelling and original plot(however, depending on who you are, itll either seem really interesting or really goofy, and I obviously view it as the latter), likable human characters, a brilliant if repetitive score by Koh Otani, excellent use of cinematography, great special effects, detailed monster suits and awesome Kaiju brawls. This entry was directed by Gamera Trilogy director Shusuke Kaneko and it really shows here; as a matter-of-fact, several elements reminded me of his Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris from 1999. Kanekos take on the franchise combines fantasy with sci-fi, but is stronger on the latter, allowing some interesting scenarios to take place. For example, this time around, Godzilla who was once a metaphor for nuclear destruction, is no longer a force of nature but now a force of vengeance since his new origin is that he was still the beast from 1954, but is depicted as being possessed by the many thousands of angry lost souls who perished in the Pacific during WWII; this new origin has also allowed Kaneko to have the King of the Monsters redesigned to look like a much more terrifying cross-between of the 1954 and Heisei Godzillas, complete with fangs, a gum-exposing snarl, pupiless blank white eyes and a return to the charcoal-black skin tone. Baragon(who was left out of the title) and Mothra have received a decent update as well; King Ghidorah, while not my favorite design, does fit for him since this is actually the first and so far only time he is given a heroic portrayal, however the only two problems I have with the suits of Baragon and KG is that the latter looks a tad too rubbery and the former looks somewhat cartoonish in the face, but other than that theyre still very cool suit designs. The cinematography is excellent as Ive stated earlier above, as almost every scene featuring one of the Kaiju gives the sense that they are truly colossal and immense in scale. Moving on to the story, which as I also stated above earlier, is a fantasy-sci-fi hybrid which leans more towards fantasy, starts off with us learning that Japan, following the defeat of Godzilla in 1954, has been living in prosperity until the events of this movie; apparently giant monster sighting have been reported throughout the globe(one such being the events of Zilla 98) and also that Japan has also been suffering from a few unexplained and possibly supernatural occurrences. We are also introduced to our main protagonist, news reporter Yuri Tachibana, played by the beautiful Chiharu Niiyama, whos also the daughter to General Taizo Tachibana. Yuri and her crew from BS(BridgeStone, which specializes in reporting fictional stories such as aliens and ESP, a clear reference to Showa and Heisei series respectively) Digital come across a mysterious old man, Professor Isayama, played by Hideyo Amamoto, who warns them of the return of Godzilla who wishes to destroy Japan for forgetting the sacrifices of all those who died within the conflict. Isayama also prophesies the awakening of the three holy guardian beasts of Yamato: Baragon, Mothra and King Ghidorah. Godzilla makes his first appearance about 40 mins in accompanied by an intimidating soundtrack, and soon after the Guardian monsters appear to do battle with the Big G to protect the nation from the sadistic demon. One thing I should add that could potentially sway viewers away is the character portrayals of Mothra and Ghidorah, as they seem too underpowered and dont exactly fit with their character. King Ghidorah, the King of Terror and series regular villain, is given the good-guy role, making it feel awkward and out of character, but to me I like this because its interesting and different. These two Kaiju are the ways they are because the roles were originally meant for Anguirus and Varan, but were replaced by Toho because of the marketing value with Mothra and KG. Overall, if you can look past the character portrayals of Mothra and Ghidorah, then not only are you in for a treat, but also a privilege. 5/5
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 20:08:23 +0000
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