Question about the Absolute Latitude Zero DVD from MB.

[Dr Kain]

Sorry, I couldn't find a topic already on this.

The DVD I got has two discs, why is the US version longer than the Japanese one? Is that a typo on the back or legit?

[Benjamin Haines]

That's just the way the movie was made. It was shot with the entire cast speaking English and the version released in the U.S. is 105 minutes long. The Japanese version is dubbed in Japanese and trimmed down to 89 minutes, a more typical runtime for one of Ishiro Honda's tokusatsu movies.

Media Blasters gave each version its own disc.

[Dr Kain]

So which version is the original language? Which version should I watch?

[jellydonut25]

[Benjamin Haines]

[klen7]

[jellydonut25]

[klen7]

[jellydonut25]

[DannyBeane]

[klen7]

[Dr Kain]

Yeah, the no is the Japanese version for of. So Kaiju no Kami means God of Monsters or The Monster God. Yami no Ou would be either King of Darkness or The Dark King.

BTW, yes, for some reason I keep calling this movie Absolute Latitude Zero instead of Latitude Zero. I have no idea why.

As for my reviews, I just released Final Wars. It ended up being a whopping 28 minutes long even with me editing it down a bit. There was a lot of movie to cover and a lot to talk about.

[tbeasley]

I didn't see a thread for the movie by its own, so I hope it's alright to throw this here -

Next to King Kong Escapes, this is easily Honda's most outlandish genre film. I'd have quite a hard time trying to explain it to anyone who wasn't already familiar with Toho's output in this corner of cinema. It's such a bizarre movie... I wouldn't say it's for beginners in any way. Again, I think you have to be familiar with Godzilla and co. to really appreciate the weirdness of it all.

Just two things I'd like to point out -
1) From what I've read in Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, a US producer pulled out at the last second, which shrunk the budget to a certain degree. What I mean by that is Tsuburaya really excelled at prehistoric reptilian kaiju, but when it came to mammals he never quite nailed it. All the creatures in Latitude Zero are really odd and ratty (the Bat People are still kind of freaky though). And then those Kong suits..

2) What's up with that ending? I still can't wrap my head around it. I know the movie's a fantasy, but it always feels like I'm missing something that isn't there. Even when I re-watch the movie with that in mind it's always so jarring with the rest of the story.

[Legion]

I've always felt that Latitude Zero is one of those films where you'd have to be a HUGE fan of Toho's entire classic-era sci-fi/fantasy output to really enjoy. If you've seen everything else there was to see and enjoyed them, then Latitude Zero would be a blast. But if your only interest in this genre is Godzilla films, or movies featuring rubber suit on rubber suit action, you'd probably hate it.

[H-Man]

The "U.S. version" on Media Blasters' DVD would be more accurately described as the "international version." The actual U.S. version, released by National General Pictures in 1970, is an edited version of the 105 minute English cut (the "international version").