TALKBACK #25: GMK

[Gojilove]

The only time I really noticed the wobbly head as being odd or distracting is in the shot from behind with Ghidorah unloading beams on him. Its a long shot and Godzilla's head is smack in the center of the frame, so its hard to miss.

[MekaGojira3k]

So this had, in recent years moved down a few notches, but I watched it the other night, with proper subtitles and it's kind of back more or less where it started. That's not entirely true, I think when I first watched this it was tops. It was the best G-film in my eyes, that changed and it shifted to top 5, before settling in the 6-10 bracket...but it's back on top. I mean, there are flaws, and for whatever reason, the mysticism here that I complained about doesn't bother me. It seems exceptionally clear, so maybe it's just been the awful subs/dub I've been watching that has colored my opinion.

[davezilla]

Rewatched GMK tonight after quite a while. I don't know what it is about GMK but it was such a disappointment to me the first time I watched it and now still just doesn't do it for me. The second half of the film is a complete let down compared to the first have leading to the conclusion of the battle of Godzilla vs Baragon. I don't know what was wrong with Toho in this era. This is the same director who made the Gamera trilogy which I love and yet they insist he use characters that have been so overused crushing his original design. I can't stand the Mothra and King Ghidorah in this film. Boring battle, boring characterization. Mothra appears as a larva to overturn a boat then suddenly has already spun a cocoon to be the adult version. Ugh ugh ugh.

I will say Baragon was amazing. Am I the only one who roots for the little guy. He's an adorable update and design which conveys a perfect characterization for a kaiju. I always feel terrible when he gets killed. That's a tribute to the direction there. I really wish Varan (a woefully underused character who's design I love) and Anguirus were used.

While I can watch GMK, overall I find it boring. Even with the excellent score I just find it not working for me. I'm not sure why it appears to be on a lot of must watch lists. I prefer Tokyo SOS.

[Mac]

[jellydonut25]

Nick Cage IS the man...but I have to disagree with him.

[GFan]

[Gentleman]

Funnily enough, I also rewatched GMK recently. Getting ready for the Big Day, you know.

Since its release GMK has been one of my favorites despite its many flaws. Chiefly, I love its original take on the formula - casting Godzilla in a supernatural light was a great idea. I feel that it never lived up to its potential, however, due to many of the same reasons everyone else stated. As a thought, I'd have been happy if Ghidorah had been replaced with Titanosaurus. This would have reinvigorated a classic monster, preserved the air/land/sea theme the Guardians were implied to have, plus given Godzilla someone to brawl with.

[Hybrid Gojira]

I really need to rewatch this.

GMK is probably the best made millennium film and I do enjoy it, but I've always felt it fell short of being able to stack up against Kaneko's Gamera films. There are some very interesting ideas and overall the SPFX work and matte shots are incredible. Godzilla's fight with Baragon is the highlight of the movie, but that creates an issue since the last half of the film doesn't match that same level of enjoyment. King Ghidorah is...terrible. The design and neutering of his character is just awful. Mothra is better realized, and one of the better moments on the film happens when Mothra is eventually defeated.

But KG is just weak.

Not all of this is on Kaenko. His original idea to include Varan and Anguirus was supplanted so that KG and Mothra could be used. To that end, he wanted to have those monsters play second fiddle to Godzilla in screen presence and this is certainly the case with all 3 guardian kaiju.

But that doesn't mean it's perfect.

Overall, I like this movie but wish Toho would have allowed Kaneko more freedom to do what he wanted.

[Giganfan]

So overall, the general concensus (not to mention, the truth) regarding GMK is "even though Toho/Tomiyama completely 'effed it up like they always do, Kaneko still managed to make one of the best Godzilla movies in 60 years"...works for me haha!! I mean, seriously, that "one-movie-every-winter-season tradition" Toho stuck to for, what fifteen years, never really benefited any of the movies, did it? And let's face it, after a certain point, it's as if the corporate brass just said "'Eff this, we're just gonna build condos!" In truth, Kaneko needed to spend a little more time in post-production, to allow for all of the hinderances that had to have been there for him to circumvent. Still, Kaneko and his crew are a talented bunch, and even at his most middling, Godzilla was still in good hands. I adamently feel that Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is one of the five best movies in the series, along with King of the Monsters!, Godzilla vs. The Thing, Godzilla Versus The Sea Monster, and ahead of Godzilla vs. Biollante. And that is all in spite of the films short-comings. I know that King Ghidorah is puny, and un-impressive, but at least they got the silhouette right LOL!!! The color, too. Personally, I think Mothra looks like sh*t, but that doesn't bother me too much. This film really is all about Godzilla, the bad-ass, "NOW I'm become Death, The Destroyer of Worlds", million-dollar, monster movie star that he is. I mean, Godzilla whoops EVERYONE'S ass in this movie! What's not to love?!!

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

(._. ) There was a Nanking Massacre/Comfort Women denier at this multi view forum on Asia today at university, and all I could think in the back of my head was GMK.

It's a movie I stylistically don't like all that much. But one who's message I really like.

[H-Man]

[goji4ever]

So why did Toho never go back to Kaneko again?

[Andrew Nguyen]

[Jared]

This is easily the most well-made modern Godzilla film, especially in terms of direction and thematic content. Still, it feels like a first draft, especially the second half of the film which has some clunky pacing, fake tension and less-than-exciting monster action.

[Hybrid Gojira]

I watched this tonight.

The first half of the movie is great. The build up to Godzilla's appearance, his subsequent rampage until he fights Baragon, and everything through the plane attack scene works very well.

Everything after sucks. I mean, flat out, in your face sucks. The characters sans Taizo Tanchibana are boring. Yuri is passable. Everyone else is sleep inducing.

This film also features the worst incarnation of Ghidorah ever. Mothra...is meh. She never felt like Mothra. Godzilla is very menacing and looks great from some angles, but overall I hate his design. It's far too bulky and when he walks it looks like a fat guy running to the bathroom as of he's holding back a turd - his back is arched and it just looks stupid. For some reason, Godzilla is usually in that awkward pose and it just looks weird.

Baragon, on the other hand, is great. The fight between he and Goji is the high point of the movie.

I admit I like the score and some of the cinematography is very well done. The camera angles used demonstrate a great sense of scale for the monsters and the matte shots are mostly good.

But the final battle is lame and boring.

Meh.

It's odd, I used to have a very high opinion of GMK but now it's kinda lackluster despite having some really solid moments.

[lhb412]

[jellydonut25]

[william newell]

^^Uh, for what it's worth, the rocks did not contain the souls of the WWII dead, they contained the spirits of the Guardian Monsters. The only thing containing the spirits of the WWII dead was Godzilla himself...just say'in.

[jellydonut25]

[DannyBeane]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[DannyBeane]

[Psycho Soldier]

That part's even worse than the Dreamcast in Gamera 3. They would have been better off not trying to explain it beyond, "These stones hold the souls of the monsters." But there is something to that line about granite holding/conducting electricity. After some Googling, I found from 9 years ago. And some people (not me; I don't believe in ghosts) between ghosts and electricity. Putting rocks and electrical ghosts together is still pretty silly, but I can see what GMK is trying to do. It still comes out of nowhere and isn't wholly necessary.

[lhb412]

[Benjamin Haines]