Official Godzilla Thread: Asskicking Edition

[Torgo]

I've never had "riffbacks" with either Sea Monster or Megalon. But then again, I've been watching both long before I even heard of MST.

On the othe two, I'm kind of the opposite of Justin. Hedorah suffers from tonal clash, but I enjoy the monster action. The film can get obnoxious at time though. I always found Mechagodzilla to be a chore. I just can't get into it at all.

[Mighty Jack]

There was only one time where a riff came back to me and made me chuckle. My thoughts...

Sea Monster
Not bad, but Kind of drags down the stretch. The picture looks great, primary colors are eye popping. The big boost for me is Akira Takarda. He was a strong and personable presence - if they had ever done a Bond like series in Japan he'd have been perfect as 007. Mothra didn't add a lot, I missed the Peanuts and I'm tired of monsters batting rocks back and forth.

Hedorah
I’ll say this for it, the film has a unique voice, unlike anything seen in the annals of Godzilla. And Hedorah is one of the freakier, creatures in the franchise. Unfortunately the good is frequently undone by too much talk and a chaotic mix of tone. It’s part 50s creature feature, part proto-Jaws. It’s 60s psychedelic, an odd Devo video (fish heads?) and a badly animated PSI.

Even when it’s good, it does something wrong: In a scene that has a Jaw-like vibe - a boy and his father head down to the sea to investigate the strange goings on. As kid waits on the rock, Hedorah swims up behind him, pretty creepy. But then the creature leaps it looks like a silly puppet, pretty un-creepy, and it spoils the scary. Later the thing stalks dad underwater, Close-up on pops horrified eyes, then cut to boy, standing isolated and alone, looking over the calm, vast waters. Pretty eerie… but then the camera lingers and the kid screeches on and on for his father. Which is probably what a kid would do in real life, but in “reel” life it gave me an earache and killed the eerie mood and the effectiveness of the scene.

Other good moments: I thought the bit with the dead men in the mud was chilling. I like that a unique monster allows from something new in the battles and in the way it affects humanity. I liked the way the scientist tries to unravel the mystery of the strange Hedorah (the scene with the tadpoles merging). Regardless…

Exposition plagues the film. There’s excessive, environmental preaching (I get it, you can shut up now. And a baby in sludge? Okay, the kitten in the muck was effective, but come on, now your just piling it on to silly excess). I didn’t like that I felt like I was in school, watching some simplistic informational film. Also: at certain angles, Hedorah is laughable. And that sudden teenage ‘rock-out’ in the field – it’s Kid Power! Gaaah. All this and Godzilla flies, oh for Christ sake, no!

But the movie’s great crime is that it’s boring as hell. A psychedelic freak out can be many things, but boring should not be one of them. While there are good bits and pieces, overall the movie is as much a mess as the pollution monster itself.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
The movie gets to the monsters pretty quick. Godzilla emerges in a fury, destroying buildings and stomping the hell out of Anguirus. But there’s something off about this Zilla, and when another Godzy turns up, we soon discover that a band of infernal space monkeys have created a mechanical version of Godzilla in order to do something to the Earth (why don’t these “superior” aliens just stay home and worry about their own planet?)

There is also this plot about a prophecy and a lion statue. What I remember best of this one was seeing pictures of King Seesaw in monster magazines. My friends and I wondered, “What kind of stupid ass name is Seesaw?” (And could 2 monsters ride him, back and forth?) Later we learned that the mag got it wrong and it was actually spelled “Caesar”. For all the build up and concern over Seesaw (yeah I’m still going to call him that because it amuses me) in the end he was kind of useless.

The battles are interesting here due to the inclusion of the walking Swiss army knife that is Mechagodzilla – he’s just a mass of lasers and rockets and force fields. Later, Godzilla develops a magnetic personality and with a minimal of help from Seesaw and some quick work from an Interpol agent - Mechagodzilla and the schemes of the space monkeys lie in ruins.

Overall this is fluff, Mecha was cool, but the movie was not as interesting as the sequel because the human story wasn’t as interesting. And boy, the strings were really visible throughout.


Ranking the Zillas so far

These I enjoyed
1. Gojira
2. Mothera vs. Godzilla
3. Terror of Mechagodzilla
4. Invasion of the Astro Monster (Godzilla vs. Monster Zero)

These range from okay to crap
5. Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster
6. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
7. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
8. Godzilla Raids Again
9. Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Godzilla vs. Smog Monster)
10. All Monsters Attack (Godzilla’s Revenge)

[reaperg]

"Godzilla vs. Hedorah" was my first. I don't remember seeing the creepier, more horrifying aspects of the film from when I was five or six, I just remember a fire-breathing dinosaur fighting a ball of sludge and thinking it was pretty cool. Then came the NBC broadcast of "Megalon" and I was all, "There's more?" And so I was hooked.

Nostalgia aside, I really love "Hedorah". I love the trippy vibe that makes it stand out from most of the other films, and that's something I also love about "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah -- Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" and "Godzilla: Final Wars". It's wild, radical, and not what Ishiro Honda and Jun Fukuda brought to the series.

I'll say this too: This is Haruo Nakajima's best performance as the Big G. By the end of the film, he's been blinded and burned and is really pissed off. He tears and stomps on Hedorah's remains, casts an angry look at the humans for both their ineptitude and their pollution, and when he heads home, he's exhausted rather than triumphant.

When I met director Yoshimitsu Banno, I told him this was my first G-film and thanked him for getting me into this whole fun genre.

[dph]

Have so many favorites it's hard to pick one. My faves from each series would be:
Showa:
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Hesei:
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2
Millenium:
Tokyo SOS

I got my start in fourth grade when my brother brought home King Kong vs. Godzilla on VHS. I had very faint memories of seeing Godzilla 1985 from the rental storm, so I wanted to see this. I instantly fell in love. I now own every movie with the original Japanese language and subtitles.

After my collection was completed, I started getting into the other Toho monsters like Varan and the monsters from Space Amoeba. I then started watching the other Toho movies like Latitude Zero, Atragon, Matango and Mysterians.

[Justin T]

With nothing on the TV last night I finally took the oppertunity to start going through The Godzilla Collection boxset myself and I started in the beginning.

Godzilla: I've been looking foward to watching the original Japanese cut for awhile and I was not dissapointed. Like MJ I loved how the opening credits had Godzilla's roar and march playing. It's amazing watching this dark and somber monster movie and thinking how silly and child friendly Godzilla movies became by the end of the 60's. I really felt the horror and terror that people felt as the wondered when Godzilla would strike next. Man, those scenes of Godzilla mowing down buildings and crowds of fleeing people with his atomic breath was scary stuff.

After watching many Kurosawa films, I really appreciated the presence of Takashi Shimura in this film. He was a great actor and he did a great job here as Dr. Yamane . The rest of the cast did a fine job too. I loved the anguish Dr.Serizawa felt about whether or not to use his Oxygen Destroyer to stop Godzilla and the fear goverments would take it from him and turn it into a weapon as deadly as the atomic bomb.

Even today I'm impressed with the special effects work for this film. It was a joy to watch the original version of the movie that spawed one of my favorite monsters growing up.

I'll see if I have time in between school work to watch Godzilla Raids Again in the coming week or two.

[angilasman]

Shimura really classes up any film he's in.

[Torgo]

Has anybody picked up the new Destroy All Monsters disc yet? I have! First Godzilla movie I own on Blu-Ray (skipped CM's Gojira release due to poor reviews and Tristars G98 disc because I wasn't up to upgrading just yet). The picture is crisp, but compressed. Definitely doesn't look as clean as Sony's stuff, but the details are smooth. Godzilla in hi-def is just too much fun. The commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski is terrific, just as their other ones were.

Unfortunately, Toho isn't pleased with what Media Blasters did with the disc. From what I heard, apparently MB used photos in their galleries that they weren't approved for, which means the discs have halted production and are being remade with Toho's approval. Pick all of yours up ASAP before it goes MIA.

Also as a result, Godzilla vs. Megalon was delayed, so Toho can go over everything with a fine toothed comb. Sadness. I really want to hear a commentary for that turkey.

[angilasman]

Toho's OCD in regards to minor details is legendary.

Luckily, I got my DAM Blu Ray for Christmas - so if any special features are missing in further printings I can brag about having a deluxe first edition!

[Torgo]

Good news and bad news for tgose of us waiting on pins and needles for Megalon.

GOOD NEWS: Media Blasters has finally been approved to put the film out.
BAD NEWS: They've only been approved for the movie only. This means barebones.

Media Blasters is giving hope for a release with extras in the future, but for the time being this is the best they can do. Looks like they REALLY pissed Toho off (seriously, how long does it take to review a goddamn commentary and a few photos?). Oh well. I might as well buy them. Megalon's the only Showa film missing from my collection and it feels empty without it.

[angilasman]

Considering that MB's future seems to be up in the air right now I just wanna make sure I have the movie asap.

If they do end up putting out a special edition later I'll gladly buy it.

[Torgo]

I agree. I was hoping Media Blasters' dealings with Toho would last long enough to see a deal for Godzilla 1985, but after the mess that resulted from these two releases, my dream is fading away.

Sigh. It was sweet while it lasted. Now all the other studios handling Toho properties seem uninterested in any more and my favorite sits in limbo.

[reaperg]

Will GvM at least have subtitles?

[Torgo]

Yes. Both the Japanese and English versions will be available on it. No street date yet.

[Torgo]

More rumblings from Media Blasters regarding Godzilla vs. Megalon. Looks like at the moment they intend the barebones disc to be DVD only, and when they clear the special features, they'll release them on Blu-Ray (possibly DVD too, but I'm not sure).

I'm fine with this. The barebones can go with my DVD 'Zilla collection, and the Blu will go next to my Criterion of the original and Medi a Blasters DAM.

[Torgo]

Godzilla vs. Megalon DVD announced for August 14th.

Sadly a while to wait.