Opening the top five is the tongue twister of a G movie, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, otherwise known as GMK. The first time I watched this movie I was very surprised to say the least. Coming off the weak entry of Megaguirus, GMK tried to add a new twist to the Godzilla series in a very different plot from movies before, and let me tell you, it is quite interesting. To sum it up, GMK acts as the sequel to the original Godzilla movie, cancelling out all the other movies happenings. Godzilla returns after almost fifty years, and he is a changed beast from the one we have grown to be so fond of, in that he is completely evil and the antagonist of the film. His eyes are rolled back white in rage and in a very interesting addition, The Big G has become possessed by the lost souls of the Pacific conflict during World War II and is enraged with humanity, seeking to destroy all of Japan. The Guardian Monsters must be awakened to do battle against Godzilla, and these monsters include Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, all of which have severely limited power in the face of Godzilla's. The plot has a fresh sort of feeling to it in comparison to other G movies, and the action is intense. By the end of the movie, you have that feeling of just concluding an epic film because so much goes into climaxing it. It is a different kind of Godzilla movie, and it is also one of the best.
A nuclear submarine goes missing in the Pacific and the JSDF prepares for what may be the second coming of Godzilla. A biker gang is killed in an underground tunnel collapse, caused by the burrowing of the monster Baragon, which is the first Guardian Monster to awaken and prepare for Godzilla's advance. The main character of the film is Yuri, a female reporter who is filming a documentary about crytid happenings when an earthquake caused by Baragon disrupts the shoot. Yuri witnesses an old man appear in the forest nearby before vanishing. Along with her sidekick Takeda, Yuri attempts to track down the mystery of the Guardian Monsters and the strange man that she has seen. A larval Mothra kills some partying teenagers at an inland lake. Godzilla attacks an island community and decimates it. Soon after, Yuri finds the old man has been arrested and detained for defacing a shrine and meets him in jail, where he explains to her she must free King Ghidorah, and provides some background information. Somehow the old man is prophetic in nature, and everything he has claimed is backed up in a book provided to Yuri by Takeda. Godzilla is attacking because the Japanese are forgetting what happened to their ancestors who've died in battle; all the trials and tribulations they suffered through. Godzilla is their horrible reminder. Baragon arrives and seemingly destroys the prison the old man is held in, freeing him on purpose. The old man goes to free King Ghidorah as Godzilla comes ashore and begins marching across Japan destroying everything and everyone in his path. Other darker Godzilla movies might imply Godzilla has taken someone's life, but GMK makes it evident that Godzilla is a killer, especially when he looks at a crowd of running bystanders and charges up his atomic ray. The scene cuts to a school room full of children preparing to evacuate when a white flash covers the room and a shockwave knocks them down. They slowly stand up and peer out of the window to see a mushroom cloud over the city, the teacher whispering to herself, "Atom Bomb." It is grizzly scenes such as this one that puts GMK in a different class of Godzilla movie.
Baragon finally confronts Godzilla but the first guardian monster is much smaller and much weaker. The King makes short work of Baragon, eventually toasting the beast with his Atomic ray (pictured above). Baragon's soul drifts away in a massive inferno caused by Godzilla's beam. Mothra's cocoon is found in the lake and hatches into an adult Mothra as King Ghidorah rises out of his icy confines. Takeda tries to get medical attention for Yuri, who refuses and takes off after Godzilla to document the coming battles. She captures Godzilla destroying some jets in a valley before he makes his way into the city and fights Mothra, who is soon joined by King Ghidorah. The duo of guardian monsters can do little to stop Godzilla, who makes short work of the golden dragon. Mothra sacrifices herself to deflect a killing atomic ray from Godzilla, allowing her released guardian monster soul to revive and invigorate King Ghidorah. Godzilla destroys the nearby military forces before King Ghidorah rises into the night sky and unleashes a massive energy ball at Godzilla, throwing him back into Tokyo bay and opening a small wound near his shoulder. Yuri's father Taizo, who is the leader of the JSDF, attempts a daring mission in a small personal submarine to target this new weakspot on Godzilla, who battles King Ghidorah underwater and subdues the dragon once more. However in the process, the monsters destroy a nearby bridge that Yuri and Takeda reside on trying to get a better view. Takeda holds onto Yuri, and drops a small magic rock he picked up from one of the Guardian monster shrines, which falls into the deep water and revives Ghidorah once more. Yuri and Takeda fall into the water and witness Godzilla destroy Ghidorah for good with another atomic ray. The souls of the guardian monsters are released from Ghidorah, and they dissolve themselves into Godzilla, sinking him underwater again where Taizo takes his chance. However, instead of shooting Godzilla's wound, his submarine is swallowed hole by Godzilla. Taizo plummets through Godzilla's guts as the King of the Monsters rises to the surface and bears down on Yuri and Takeda. The characters appear to be spent as Godzilla charges his atomic ray, when suddenly a drill bit missile grinds its way out of Godzilla's open wound. The Big G fires his ray and it sprays out of his shoulder, much to the surprise of Yuri and Takeda. A second attempt at releasing the beam causes Godzilla to fall back underwater in pain. Taizo's submarine escapes out of the wound, and Godzilla relentlessly tries once more to kill Taizo with his beam, causing a massive explosion. Godzilla vanishes and Taizo makes it to the surface alive and well. Everyone celebrates the victory over the King of the Monsters but before the credits role, GMK has one last card up its sleeve, and it's one of my favorites ever. The camera pans down into the black depths of Tokyo Bay, nearby the wreckage of the collapsed bridge. It slowly pans forward towards a school of fish, and a sudden massive heartbeat echoes in the deep. The Godzilla theme blares, massive horns sounding the arrival of the beast once more, and the fish scatter, revealing a massive still-beating heart. Godzilla lives.
GMK is a fantastic Godzilla film for several reasons. Godzilla is the focus of the film. He is all powerful and he is the main problem. Everything revolves around him. There are important themes throughout the film that need to be considered daily, especially the theme of remembering the dead and their sacrifices for the living. There is a somewhat controversial scene where a business man tries to hang himself in a forest, an obvious reference to the Aokigahara Forest (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara_forest ), known by many as the suicide forest. A poster shown briefly in one scene depicts the Lucky Dragon no.5, the fishing boat that was exposed to American nuclear tests and inspired the Eiko Maru vessel in the original Godzilla movie. Nuclear energy is again on the table here, since Godzilla's beam attack produced an actual mushroom cloud that was mistaken for a nuclear bomb. And Godzilla has never been depicted more ruthlessly violent towards humans. There is even a scene where Mothra flies over two identical twin teenagers, who watch without fleeing, a reference to the tiny shobjin twins that appear with Mothra in every other movie. GMK has several fantastic scenes of scale, incredible destruction, some decent use of CGI, and a very engrossing plot. Taizo, or rather the actor who portrays Taizo, is probably one of the most badass guys ever, and should easily be the Japanese version of the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man, should there ever be one. His storyline of seeking vengeance on Godzilla for the slaughtering of his parents and homeland in 1954 is also a theme to consider. My one slight on the movie is the second half is somewhat extended and monotonous, as Godzilla is nearly untouchable and the Guardian Monsters pose no threat to him. This nit-pick aside, GMK will always be one of the top five Godzilla movies in my mind, as it is so evidently awesome at portraying an entertaining storyline with meaningful messages while injecting life back into a widely regarded and appreciated franchise.
No comments:
Post a Comment