Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Though I've yet to see it, I've heard Sinking of Japan is a stupendous film. And we are all aware of Higuchi's fantastic special effects work in both the Godzilla and Gamera series.

Why not have Higuchi helm the next entry in the series (as well as sequels if the first film proves successful enough for Toho)?

Sinking of Japan was one of the worst movies I saw in 06. Complete homogenized Michael Bay wannabe crap that takes a big dump all over the original film. It sacrifices the intelligent social commentary and thought provoking questions presented in the original for big SPFX scenes and goofy, half cooked romance between characters you don't care about and a cop-out ending... Its basically a Japanese equivalent to Bay's Armageddon. There's even a makeout scene that plays over a sappy J-Pop song... and they play the whole song! UGH!

Sorry, I really hate that movie.

Now he's remaking the Hidden Fortress which is a terrible idea to begin with (you don't mess with Kurosawa), but he's also basically destroying the Kurosawa film with idiotic changes that take away the whole point (much like he did with Sinking of Japan), and hiring a cast full of teen idols and tweeny pop stars. Higuchi needs to shut his pretentious mouth and go back to effects work.

He's a terrible director and if he did a Godzilla movie, he'd just take the guts out of it and neuter it and miss the point just like he did SoJ and Hidden Fortress. I don't want him touching a Godzilla movie unless its for art direction/SPFX.

Seriously, screw this guy.

Sorry, didn't mean to crap all over your thread

And this is why Eiji Tsuburaya stuck to producing his own work, hiring a talented team of artists, writers, SPFX directors and the whole kit & caboodle.

It's hard to be talented in many different fields. Some people do it well, others, well, not so much.

I, for one, couldn't disagree more about the opinions voiced so far...I found Higuchi's Submersion of Japan to be the BEST disaster movie I've seen, bar none. The characters(and story) were believable and likeable. I found myself really caring about their fates as they unfolded, the pacing was excellent(imo), the effects were top rate, I just found the movie to be phenomenal overall. Apparently, many in Japan agreed as the movie did great box office. I don't have the numbers handy, but I believe the film broke records. One thing I will agree with is that the "J-Pop" scene could have been shortened, but this is a minor quibble with what I found to be an excellent film. In fact, the many friends I've shown it to agree, one friend in particular, who doesn't care for Japanese films and hates subtitles, loved the film and keeps pestering me to get him a copy. Of course, the opinions expressed are my own, but before listening to anyone else and condemming the movie, I heartily recommend hunting down a copy and checking it out for yourself. As for the topic itself, I would have no qualms whatsoever with Higuchi directing a Godzilla film(no suprise )and feel that he would be best qualified to bring the "Big G" back to the silver screen. Unfortunately though, I think the giant monster craze(at least as far as Godzilla goes) is as dead as it can get, but if anyone could bring it back, Higuchi's the man to do it!

Sinking of Japan sucks ass. Boring movie and subpar disaster effects. However I think the Guch-man needs to revisit his man in suit routes as a SFX director.

As a SFX director on a G film...I'm all for it. As for the *THE* director...not so sure about that...

Didn't Higuchi do a scene in GMK, namely the Godzilla vs. the fighter planes sequence?

Because I found that to be the best effects scene in the movie (minus the kind of cartoony beam at the end). The planes crashing into the houses looked fantastic.