During the late 90s, Daiei had director Shusuke Kaneko bring their giant monster Gamera back to the big screen. His movies were very story driven with some truly incredible updates and effects used throughout the trilogy. As such, Toho approaching him to do a Godzilla movie was an obvious choice. Unfortunately, not all went by for the man as he originally wanted the movie to include Anguirus, Baragon, and Varan, but Toho was not keen on the idea as they felt the movie needed the big names in order to be successful. They allowed Kaneko to keep Baragon, but both Anguirus and Varan were replaced with Mothra and King Ghidorah. What we got was a truly epic Godzilla movie, one of the best in the series, and one with some of the best effects seen in the series in years.
The movie’s plot is quite simplistic. Godzilla has returned after 50 years and it is up to three guardian beasts to protect Japan from his threat. Being able to sum it all up in one sentence might sound like the movie is too simple, but in reality, there is so much more behind this movie. First, the movie begins with an SDF admiral discussing monster attacks that have occurred over the world since the original Godzilla’s attack, which does an excellent job of setting up this world’s history without having to dig deep into it. Add on top a nice little burn towards the US version of Godzilla along with a gripping soundtrack that fits the mood the moment the movie starts and you have a really interesting universe within the first two minutes of the movie. Another piece is that the idea of Godzilla being back is truly something the Japanese fear as is displayed through the characters’ emotions and expressions. Just seeing people’s faces as they think about Godzilla’s return really shows the true terror this monster brought forth to Japan in 1954. It also helps to show how horrific he is when he first uses his atomic breath and it leaves a mushroom cloud for all to see in the distance. Then there is the mythology being built around the world with its guardian beasts and Godzilla being a force of natural powered through nuclear armaments and the spirits of the dead. Kaneko has done an amazing job with everything he brought in here as he took the best elements of Godzilla and combined it with the best ideas from his Gamera trilogy. Finally, the characters are quite an interesting combination as we get an admiral who experienced Godzilla’s rampage in 1954 and his daughter, who works for a TV studio that usually makes cheap monster documentaries.
It is not usual that we get a heavy focus on characters who are part of the military and who are (sort of) a journalist at the same time. These movies tend to focus on one group for one movie and then another group later. Sure, similar casts have been done before, but it is rare and the main characters are not usually related to one another. The dynamic between Yuri and Taizo is brought out with Yuri wanting to make her TV station more than they are and to fully report Godzilla’s actions while Taizo is worried that Godzilla’s rampage will be a repeat of what it was in 54. Now to be honest, I thought it was a little odd Taizo having been a child in 54 as he does not even look close enough to be that old. However, his actor, Ryudo Uzaki, was born in 1946. Oh those Japanese and their inability to age after a certain point.
The monster designs in this movie are nothing short of spectacular, and yet, there are some downsides to them. Godzilla just looks down right monstrous. He is big, mean, his eyes use a negative effect to make them look evil, and that is exactly what he is in this movie, pure evil. Other movies have made Godzilla look like a threat, but none of them have made him look as grim as he is here. It also helps that the movie does an excellent job of building up his return and when he does show up, he is on one unstoppable rampage. Everything he does truly represents that he is a walking atomic weapon. He also has some of the best animatronics in his face done since “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah” as he snarls, the brow above his eyes move, etc. There is nothing to complain at all about him. The first guardian beast to battle Godzilla is Baragon. Baragon has not been seen since “Destroy All Monsters,” so it was nice to see him get an update and one with an excellent costume. Like Godzilla, Baragon moves around realistically whether he is crawling or jumping at Godzilla. It is a shame the monster was too small to put up any sort of fight against Godzilla, but it just goes to show Godzilla is not to be played around with.
Now where the movie does somewhat fail is with its designs for Mothra and King Ghidorah. There is nothing wrong with either of these two, it is more about their scale where they falter. Mothra has a really great update to her, my favorite design next to the original. She has a stringer that brings about a brand new way to attack Godzilla instead of just using the same ones we have seen during both the Showa and Heisei eras. Her eyes are a greatly lit purple, but where the costume disappoints is in her wings. They are just too small. Of course, it does benefit as the wings are always flapping when they are supposed to. It really gives her the ability to look like she is actually using them instead of them just being there for the sake of her being a moth. Regardless, she just looks puny without giant wings to compensate for her small body. Ghidorah’s downside is that he too is too small for his own good. In all of the previous movies, Ghidorah towered over Godzilla, making him seem like the threat he was. Here, it is reversed, but it also makes the fan favorite three headed dragon appear weaker. The heads themselves are nice, as is the tail, but again, his wings and body leave a lot to be desired. His motions are done with precision as he heads do not just tumble around, so like Mothra’s wings, the motivations behind it are justified even if it feels like the character has been downgraded.
Like the rest of the movie, the effects are some of the best the series has to offer. The ground shakes when it should. Godzilla’s tail crashes into buildings instead of just conveniently missing them. Wind and dust fly around as Godzilla is charging up his atomic blast. Debris from destroyed planes fly into houses. Glass shatters when Godzilla roars. Monster bits rain down when Ghidorah is blown up in the sky. There is so much praise to be had here. Kaneko took everything that made his effects phenomenal in “Gamera III: The Revenge of Irys” and brought them here to this movie.
Overall, “GMK” is one of the finest Godzilla movies to ever hit the big screen and it feels more like it would have been a better 50th anniversary piece than “Godzilla Final Wars.” Kaneko brought his A game to the production of this movie and it shows. Nevertheless, it would have been a unique experience to have seen what Kaneko had originally planned for the movie, but he did not let Toho’s dictatorship decision making effect his talent at all. It is a shame we were never given a sequel to this movie as the ending definitely showed Godzilla was not done yet. Who knows, maybe Toho will call Kaneko back to the fold during their next era of Godzilla movies and will let him use whatever monsters he desires in the process of giving us another terrifying Godzilla. I give this movie a vast 9/10 and it is my absolute favorite Godzilla movie to date.