TALKBACK #25: GMK

[Hybrid Gojira]

Just wondering - does anyone have concept art for this movie? I don't remember seeing much in the way of Godzilla's design.

[Gman2887]

Was an art book released for this movie? I would assume so, but I don't recall seeing a lot in the way of pre-production stuff.

[klen7]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[klen7]

that is the #1 reason i buy Godzilla art books, i could care less about stills from a movie i already own, but the behind the scenes stuff is really what i find worthwhile and interesting.

[klen7]

Here's the art book i have:


It has the typical Monster Profiles but it also includes plenty of behind the scenes shots and concepts


Alternate Eyes:



Original Guardian Monsters:



Suit Actor scenarios for KG:



Use a short actor for Baragon concept (+ Mothra cocoon and puppet):



Ghidorah with heavy touches of Varan head:



Slightly more Gruesome Post credit concept:



G's head armature



The Hakone picture i mentioned previously:

[Hybrid Gojira]

Those are some sweet pics man. I'm sad we didn't get to see GMK with Varan and Anguirus... It sounded very cool.

[Russzilla]

[jellydonut25]

Thing is, you know Anguirus wouldn't have looked that way in the film. It's just one of the drawbacks of suits, it's basically impossible to do quadripeds correctly.

One of the main reasons I'd like to see a quad at some point in Legendary's series

[kiryugoji04]

[Andrew Nguyen]

I apologize if this sounds odd but do you think that the message and issues discussed in GMK do need to resonate more now considering what is going on in Northeast Asia and Japan's actions in relations to its neighbors?

[Jorzilla]

[jellydonut25]

I agree completely. It's still a fun, enjoyable film for the most part...

...but it's not the masterpiece people claimed it was when it first hit and that some still stubbornly insist it to be. I've never really thought so, and so perhaps my reviews/opinions of it have always seemed overly negative, but I feel that's merely to balance out the overly positive people and raise those negative points that others often seem to gloss over.

End of the day, it might be the best Millenium film, but it's probably not my favorite, and it's certainly not in my top 5 or probably even top 10 Godzilla films overall. In fact, last time I watched through the series, it came in at 15 for me. SOUNDLY behind GxMG and G2K.

[MekaGojira3k]

It still ends up in my top 10. I mean, it's flawed, but I still really enjoy it. Especially when I watch it with better subtitles. It has diminished in my eyes, mostly because Kaneko's mysticism as seen in G3 and GMK comes off as way more muddled and less cool and mysterious (as it did when I was 13).

[Jorzilla]

GMK has definitely moved down my list. The only way it's dropping out of my top 10 is if I can say it's worse that Tokyo SOS. I don't think I would go that far, but maybe.

[eabaker]

[walshiam]

I still gotta go with G2K over this one due in large part because of the monster's change of character (particularly King Ghidorah) and aforementioned overuse of both King Ghidorah and Mothra in movie appearances.

[Gman2887]

I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but I do think it's a great film. The King Ghidorah/Godzilla "role reversals" never bothered me. In fact I found it to be a nice breath of fresh air. The important part is they're still enemies and there seems to be more hatred between these two during the final act than is present in other entries. At least they're not fighting alongside each other. Right? When GMK was first released someone on these forums mentioned that Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah and other monsters were now actors. They were taking on new roles and fresh takes to keep their careers alive. I felt this was an agreeable way to look at it as there's still a presence of both monsters' original characters intact.

I still find this to be one of the more engaging Godzilla movies and none of the Millennium movies can hold a candle to it. It's a shame the third act has some pacing issues, but it's still a very captivating and different Godzilla movie. I'll pop this in the player before just about any other movie, post-1970.

[jellydonut25]

[Pkmatrix]

I don't think it's a masterpiece, but it's certainly one of the best films in the franchise from the last 30 years, IMO. It's well-written, engaging, well-directed, and the FX feels a step above what immediately precedes and follows it. I still don't understand why all the films between 1999 and 2004 besides this one seemed to forget that animatronics EXIST, despite them being used so heavily (and often so effectively) in the 1980s and '90s. GMK showed what Godzilla could have been like had they continued using some of Kawakita's techniques - instead, the monster FX often felt like a step backwards and less animated/expressive than the monsters in the '90s! Despite how statuesque Battra, Destroyah, or Space Godzilla were, at least Godzilla would still have expressive animatronics. It makes no sense to me that they dumped THAT, of all things, and only Kamiya/Higuchi made any effort to use it again.

[eabaker]

[Gman2887]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[jellydonut25]

G2K is as much a snoozefest as Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. I honestly think the ONLY difference between the two for me that puts G2K a definitive notch below is MZ has such a stellar cast and G2K just has kind of an okay sorta one

[Jorzilla]

I know this is a GMK thread, but I'm going to disagree with you on G2K. This is specifically referring to the American cut of the film, because what I saw of the Japanese cut looks pretty bad (it's on my backlog).

I honestly think that G2K's final fight is one of the most compelling and interesting fights of the Millennium series. They did an excellent job of making Orga look like a formidable foe, especially after spending a good chunk of the plot talking about Godzilla's regenerative abilities only to have his main made completely out of that regenerative substance. I seriously did not know how Godzilla was going to beat Orga the first time I watched the movie. Godzilla is dragged around the city, has a building dropped on him, any damage he does to Orga is negated by the healing factor. When Orga walked out of the explosion after Godzilla blasted him with everything he got, I was seriously 'expecting' Godzilla to lose. That being said, some of the choreography is wonky, but I still had a lot of emotional investment in the fight. I would LOVE to see a remake of this fight with modern effects. I really with IDW would have spent a bit more time on Orga with ROE because he has a potential to by a very dangerous enemy.