TALKBACK#18: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

[lhb412]

It is this film that estalblishes the tone for the rest of the Heisei series. After the failure of Biollante at the box office the films began to harken back to the '60s films in tone (though not as good, and how could they be without the dream team they had back then?) and the committee-style approach to creative decisions meant a somewhat schizophrenic style (here's something to attract women, this is for kids, older fans will like that - but not blended together cohesively, leading to a patchwork feel).

The special effect take a step down from the wonderful realized visuals in Bio. It's nice to see King Ghidorah embark in city destruction again, but it's amazing how much better such scenes were done in Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster and Monster Zero.

...and if the story in the last film was slightly muddled than this one is extremely so! How do they remember Godzilla once he's be erased from history? Why does Ghidorah only suddenly appear? Why is the American military so darn fey? Mind you, the unese about Japan's economic power is a neat idea, and it harkens back to Atragon in a way, in terms of introspection about Japanese society.

I don't hate this movie at all, in fact I really enjoy the last 45 minutes as the story becomes much more focused when Godzilla shows up. The switch from Godzilla saving everyone to being the threat is well pulled off.

-That may be the biggest complaint from me about the post-Showa movies: they're too long and have too much going on that doesn't all tie up in the end! The Showa films were an hour and a half and tightly plotted and better for it.


Before I go I'd like to say that The Futurians' clothes remind me of Arnold Rimmer's costumes in the show Red Dwarf. I guess it's a 23rd century thing.

[Legion]

[Mac]

[zekend01]

Yeah, I'm with you guys. This film definitely hasn't aged well.

I don't mind the new origin for KG, per-say, but the overall execution was flat. Weak costume with wobbly horns, and they changed his astral cries (for GOD'S SAKE). The mecha version has lost its luster to me over time too and the props of MKG and Goji flying out to sea, with its stiffness and obvious model-looking aspects, was NOT a good bookend to that battle! Noooo sir.

Some folks might find the scene where Godzilla toasted Yasuaki Shindo to be pretty touching, but I found it... odd. Why would Godzilla even CARE about, much less notice some puny human?!? I just don't, or don't want to, get it. I dunno... takes away from the credibility of the more animalistic/force of nature version of Godzilla that I prefer. Probably why I hated the tail slam so much too. I will say that this is my favorite Godzilla suit of all time.:rockon:

The potential of the plot was kinda cool actually, just wrought with too many paradoxes that require too much thinking while viewing the film. I don't want to worry about why everyone remembers a Godzilla that had, technically, never existed or if Biollante is still floating around in orbit! In fact, WHY did the Futurians even NEED to take all the modern day folks back with them in time to move the Godzillasaurus, much less make a stop in the "present" to tell Japan's leaders of their intent to do so in the flippin FIRST PLACE?!? Silly.

I did enjoy the inept military boys and the M-1 FX coupled with the weird futuristic music (cracks me the f%$# up)!! Wilson and Grenchiko are good cheesy fun and Emmy is super fine and quite the hottie-boom-buh-lottie-karate!!

[Legion]

[Mac]

[Legion]

[zekend01]

[Legion]

[zekend01]

[Legion]

[MekaGojira3k]

[heroforhirerob]

[Legion]

[heroforhirerob]

[walshiam]

[jellydonut25]

[heroforhirerob]

[Shonokin]

I kept this article from when the film first came out.

[zekend01]

Wow! I recall all of that bad noise, though more from the pages of G Fan AFTER the fact.

Maybe the America-bashing was a little unfounded, but I kinda figure that every Godzilla movie is anti-U.S.A. at its core. Nuclear themed, but more to the point, the nuclear bomb.

But to me, if I may take it a little farther, it's less about the scar the bombings left, and more about the healing process with Japan's post-war recovery. Godzilla movies began to come across as more of an acceptance and then the moving on from it.

You take a bomb allegory and over time this cultural sore spot becomes a super hero?... that would seem to be all about healing to me.

[TerranigmaFreak]

[Tyler E. Martin]

This movie is almost as mixed a bag for me as "The Return of Godzilla."

To start off with the big criticisms, there's the whole time-travel thing, obviously. To be so central to the plot, it's just a freaking disaster. Yes, it makes sense when explained by such a dedicated fan as Keith Aiken (whose efforts did increase my respect for the film), but watching the movie on one's own, it's incredibly difficult to make heads or tails of it. Of course, there are some pretty terrible effects, though I also find a good number of them to be quite impressive. The sequence with the Godzillasaurus killing the American soldiers is wretchedly executed, though I have to admit that the acting in said sequence always manages to get a hearty laugh or two out of me.

As far as the characters are concerned, while there's really nothing to them, I find them more tolerable than the majority of the characters in the other Heisei films. In this regard especially, it really helps to see this one in Japanese with subtitles, as the dubbing destroys anything about the picture that could make me want to watch it, much less care about the human characters. It's great seeing Yoshio Tsuchiya again, even though I think the material he's given doesn't give him nearly the opportunity to flex his acting muscles as it should.

While King Ghidorah is a letdown, Mecha-King Ghidorah fares noticeably better, and Godzilla looks just about as good as he's ever looked. I love this suit. It's got a very powerful build and an expression that makes it look genuinely ferocious. The animatronic work is quite nice as well.

I know there are a lot of grievances about the score, and I'll be the first to admit being disappointed that there's very little new material, but even so, it's great to have Ifukube back. The new arrangements of his classic themes, while as always repetitive, give the movie a much grander feel than it would have had otherwise. Hearing the pieces rearranged and pumped up to such an epic level, especially Ghidorah's theme, gives the film quite a bit of weight (of which it could use every bit).

To conclude, I do find quite a few aspects of this film to be frustrating and embarrassing, but there's also a lot that draws me to it. I find myself watching this more often than most of the other movies from this period.

[MekaGojira3k]

[Benjamin Haines]

[zekend01]