TALKBACK #25: GMK

[Legion]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Benjamin Haines]

[walshiam]

[MrShape666]

[MouthForWar]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Benjamin Haines]

Toho's interference only bothers me when I'm thinking about it, like when I'm posting on here. When I'm watching GMK, I'm watching a good movie, one that's still good in spite of the interference directed at it.

[MrShape666]

I'd like to see Kaneko try an original Kaiju film. Something where he and his effects guys can create their own monsters from the ground up rather then using someone else's. If might be interesting to see what he comes up with.

[kiryugoji04]

[MouthForWar]

[Arrow]

Angurius and Varan were definitely better choices, but I love Mothra and King Ghidorah (despite flaws in his design here) so their inclusion never bugged me like it did to others.

GMK is honestly an enjoyable movie to me, all its issues as a film considered, and is one of my favorites. I like seeing Godzilla in a more supernatural setting, as opposed to the ridiculous sci-fi in the last movie, I love the musical score (especially the themes for Godzilla and Mothra), and the designs for Godzilla, Baragon, and Mothra. It may not be the next Gojira but at least it isn't another Megaguirus. It doesn't achieve its full potential as a movie, but for what it is, I enjoy it.

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

[walshiam]

[MekaGojira3k]

[MouthForWar]

[MrShape666]

I think Toho kind of over Mothraed us. First the trilogy, then GMK, then Tokyo SOS and GFW. I think because Mothra is one of the more popular characters, they just shoved her in wherever they could.

[kpa]

[MrShape666]

[jellydonut25]

[MrShape666]

[Pkmatrix]

Okay, so I just rewatched this for the first time in around five or six years. Now, I've seen this movie twice before (once subbed on VHS, a second time dubbed on TV) and both times I'd walked away feeling "meh", but after rewatching GxMG last week I promised myself I'd give this one a second chance.

Now? Now, I wonder why my memories were so biased against this movie.

Seriously! I remember this movie being far worse than what I just watched. I can understand why I didn't like it the first time, since I was in high school and hadn't really started to watch films critically yet, but I'm really confused as to why I didn't like it in 2006.

'Cause now I definitely like GMK.

Let's start with the story. Now, compared to GxMG (which, inevitably, I have to compare it to since I just watched that only three days ago), this is easily the better written film. The story and characters are interesting, though I'm no fan of the mystical stuff. I like the buildup to Godzilla's reappearance, which actually sorta reminds me of G84 and the mystery it built up around Goji's return. I like Yuri - who, IMO, is just as interesting a character as GxMG's Akane - and Com. Tachibana, who plays the reasonable authority figure very well. Perhaps a weakness here is that the film has so many minor characters who don't serve much purpose yet seems to want me to care about - Yuri's friend/potential love interest Takeda is a good example.

I've read elsewhere that this film was trying to make a few statements on Japanese society, and I agree. This film definitely has far more subtext than GxMG (which really has none to speak of), and does a good job driving home its point.

I also loved the visual FX (another thing that surprises me, because I remember being VERY disappointed by the SPFX before). As much as I love the G2K/GxM/GxMG/Tokyo SOS design, the GMK suit is so much more animated and lively I can't help but like it - it's basically the Heisei Godzilla, slimmed down and pupil-less. Seriously, why didn't wasn't GxMG Goji's head as expressive? The expressions alone make Godzilla more endearing here. Probably my only complaints are the pupils (I really can do without it, especially after seeing the pic that's floating around that's the same head with pupils) and how obvious it is in some shots that this suit was originally designed to stand horizontally not vertically. They cover it well, and if you didn't know you probably wouldn't notice, but having seen the couple pre-production pics that depicted GMK Goji standing horizontally...I can see now the "potbelly" complaints derive entirely from that. Had they performed it as planned (I understand they didn't 'cause it put too much stress on the actor's back) it would've worked out better. As it stands, though, it's fine.

As for the other monsters: Baragon is AWESOME andMothra has never looked better, but I'm no fan of Ghidorah Jr. Seriously, it just looks so short and stubby... and the interpretation leaves so much to be desired. How many times does he die and get resurrected in the finale? It has to be at least twice. I do love the way they portrayed Ghidorah's gravity lighting, though. VERY cool! ^_^

A downside for me, as mentioned earlier, is the mystical element. I'm more a science fiction fan than a fantasy fan, and when I think of Godzilla I think "sci-fi"...so, whenever anything mystical gets tossed in, I tend to roll my eyes a bit. In Gamera it was okay, 'cause Gamera was almost more fantastical, and Mothra was fine since that's her whole point (pitting Godzilla against Mothra creates an allegory for Science v. Religion)but... I don't know. For some reason, this doesn't work. I have no problem with the "Guardian Monster" concept, but it seems the authority figures here accept it without much difficulty.

In fact, a problem I have with the whole film is the way authority figures, the government, and the military are portrayed. On the one hand, we get a very realistic portrayal of the military's high command and how the JSDF's upper echelon would respond. Yet... the government and military come across as rather incompetent, IMO. It's at odds with the portrayal in GxMG (which, granted, exists in a world with regular monster attacks) or even the Heisei Gamera films, where they may be ultimately ineffective but its not for lack of trying. It's really weird. Why is Gamera's Japan - which never faced monsters before that movie - able to respond (despite bureaucratic red tape no less!), yet GMK's Japan - which HAS dealt with monsters before - completely befuddled? When they do respond, it's a single airstrike. Their back up plan? Let Godzilla fight Mothra and Ghidorah in downtown Yokohama and wait to see if they can kill him, then launch a missile attack! WTH?

I know it's nitpicking a bit, but it really distracted me. It felt as if the JSDF was barely trying at all.

Another more minor nitpick: I didn't care for the soundtrack, which felt a bit like it was lifted from the Gamera films. I understand that composers have particular cues they like to reuse, but...eh. I preferred GxMG's soundtrack.

So, overall, does GMK top Godzilla x Mechagodzilla for me?

Um...I don't know.

I like GMK a lot, much more than I did before, and after watching it the flaws in GxMG seem even more glaring. Yet... I don't know. Though GMK is far better written, I prefer GxMG's more sci-fi-ish story as opposed to the more mystical one in GMK. Though GMK's world tries to be more grounded in reality, I find the world in GxMG more endearing. And though she's basically a reworked version of Tsujimori, I found GxMG's Akane a more interesting hero than GMK's Yuri.

Basically, if the crew that made GMK had made GxMG, you probably would've had my favorite Godzilla movie since Biollante. ^_^() As it stands, I'm split between the two.

[metal_bryan]

[Goji 84]