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Tuesday, October 13, 2015

GODZILLA VS GIGAN

After reviewing two really disappointing Godzilla movies, I'm hoping that this next Godzilla film will dig the series out of the ditch, which is what the series Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was intending to do with this next Godzilla film...

"GODZILLA VS GIGAN"
 Image result for godzilla vs gigan poster



A comic-book writer and illustrator gets hired to work as a concept artist for a Godzilla themed amusement park that's being developed. However, he slowly discovers that the owners of the amusement park are really an alien race that plan to take over the world with two Space monsters under their control which are King Ghidorah and Gigan. As the comic-book illustrator tries to foil the alien’s plan, along with a few other people he meets that know about the alien's evil scheme; Godzilla and Anguirus leave "Monster Island" to stop the Space monsters. So we have another Godzilla film with aliens that have monsters under their control. How many times are we going to see this plot? Ok, despite having a cliched plot is the execution just as good as the last Godzilla film that re-used this concept?

 Image result for king ghidorah destroy all monsters

Well remember how cringe worthy and lazy the constant use of stock footage was in "Godzilla's Revenge"; here, it’s just as bad. The majority of scenes with the monsters is all mostly stock footage taken from numerous Godzilla films, and the scenes that they edited into this film hardly ever blends in with the film at all due to the suits, lighting, and effects looking completely different to the ones used in this film. The use of stock footage in this film is so shameful that it not only takes up the majority of scenes that involve fighting and destruction, but is also lazy enough to show the exact same sequence of the monsters living on "Monster Island" from "Destroy All Monsters" which you may remember that sequence being re-used earlier in the film "Godzilla's Revenge". If we're not seeing stock footage from numerous Godzilla films during the film's supposedly awesome moments, than will instead see the film re-use its own clips of buildings being blown-up and the monsters walking, fighting, and destroying stuff over and over, until it becomes completely obvious! If the films constant use of stock footage (Even from its own movie) isn't lazy enough for you, the film's score composed by Akira Ifukube's literally re-uses archive sound clips from music that he's composed for numerous Sci-Fi films from Toho. Wow, and I thought "Godzilla's Revenge" was the most shameful Godzilla film to heavily rely on constant use of stock footage.

Image result for godzilla vs gigan Godzilla and anguirus


Despite the film's constant use of stock-footage how are the monsters themselves when they're not clips from previous Godzilla films. Starting with our two heroes Godzilla and Anguirus, while it sounds awesome that these two monsters that used to hate each other are now fighting side by side against two other monsters, the film sadly fails at executing this wonderful concept. The suit used for Godzilla in this film is the same Godzilla suit used in many of the previous Godzilla films, that sadly looks old and worn out, as well as looking really beat-up, which sadly makes Godzilla look awkwardly silly looking. The only times he ever looks good is when we cut to stock footage of him. The Anguirus suit that was used in the last Godzilla film that he was in looks better than Godzilla's suit, however that suit looks like its going too. The team-up between these monsters also fails at being awesome since Anguirus pretty much gets beat-up more times than Godzilla does, leaving with Godzilla to mostly fend for himself. What was the point of having them team-up if Anguirus is just going to get his ass whopped and barely do anything productive. He impales the monsters with his spikes by jumping backwards in one scene, which started out cool, but then suddenly got annoying once I kept seeing the same exact shot being used over and over. Anguirus also runs like a coward when the army starts hitting him with missiles and laser beams, instead of fighting back. To make this partnership even worse, instead of hearing their roars when they speak to each other, we hear the sound of someone playing with a record. What the hell is up with the record sounds replacing their trademark roars and why have them talk at all if we don't even know what the hell they are saying; it makes no sense! I hear they give them thought bubbles for when they talk in the Japanese cut, but I didn't see any of that at all with the Japanese cut that I rented.


Image result for Gigan and King Ghidorah

While the heroic monster duo failed miserably in this film, the evil monster duo nearly succeeds! Godzilla's famous opponent King Ghidorah teaming up with a new monster named Gigan that looks like a Dinosaur Cyborg with sharp hooks for hands and a buzz-saw on his stomach really does make for an awesome team-up between these two villains. They do pose as a serious threat towards Godzilla and Anguirus with their cool abilities. In fact, we actually see Godzilla and Anguirus gushing out more blood than any other monster or human character in any other Godzilla flick that I've seen by far (Even though its really gruesome for a kids film). This film unfortunately marks as Ghidorah's final appearance during the "Showa Era" and for those of you who are wondering how he still survived after the amount of abuse he’s gotten in "Destroy All Monsters", that film took place in the future remember? Though lets be honest, these films weren't really good at following continuity anyway. Hell, I wonder more about how Anguirus survived after being killed in “Godzilla Raids Again”, than I wonder about King Ghidorah surviving. Despite the team-up being better than Godzilla's team-up with Anguirus,  it does have its shares of major problems. The fights between them and our heroes, as well as the destruction they cause despite having a few cool moments, they are mostly dull and unexciting, mainly because these scenes are ruined by the constant use of stock footage and the same exact clips from this film being used multiple times. Also whenever we see Ghidorah fly, he's obviously a puppet on a string which looks more lifeless and stiff than any of the other times I criticized this effect in previous Godzilla films.

Image result for Space Hunter Nebula-M

The human characters in the movie thankfully are for the most part likable. You have a struggling comic-book writer and illustrator who is curious with what’s going on and draws some comical looking monster designs; his lover who is great with Karate; a woman who's being chased by the aliens that is determined to stop them and save her Brother; and a comical side-kick who does bring a good occasional laugh. The only human character I found myself bored with was the person they were rescuing. The aliens that the human characters have to face are pretty cool. I like the idea that their front is a Godzilla themed-amusement park that's being developed and that their lair is inside a Tower that looks like Godzilla that can shoot out laser beams; the sets for their lair is just as cool as all the other sets for the previous alien lairs in the series; and the idea that they disguise themselves in dead human bodies is quite creative. The actors playing them are also pretty good as well. With that said, they sadly aren't as fun, threatening, or memorable compared to the other aliens in the series. Their personalities while not boring or dull, are still forgettable; their method of controlling the Space monsters with a "Action Signal Tapes" is uninteresting; their real alien forms are stupid and silly, instead of cool and threatening (Though I thank the film "Team America" for doing a funny job at making fun of that twist); and their fate is quite goofy and dumb. The film also has a moral about Peace, but much like the morals in "Godzilla VS The Sea Monster" and "Godzilla VS Hedorah", it feels shoehorned in and isn't done at all effectively. The amount of times the aliens use the word "Peace" feels like they're only saying it, than actually meaning something deep, which as a result gets irritating.

While this film still didn't dig the series out of the ditch yet, I will say it is better compared to the last two Godzilla films that I reviewed. It's more along the lines of how I feel about "Godzilla VS The Sea Monster" that's bad but entertaining to watch with one or two good things going for it. The human characters are likable; we get some nice sets as well as occasional awesome shots and effects; and Gigan is an awesome monster. With good stuff aside, the film does have many things that really weigh the film down. The new race of aliens are forgettable (Despite having some interesting creative ideas); Godzilla and Anguirus' team-up is lame; the costumes for Godzilla and Anguirus and some of the effects are unbelievably cheap; and the film’s use of stock footage is just as lazy and shameful as the stock footage used in "Godzilla's Revenge". Still for the things that I found to be good, it is indeed worth at least one viewing.

RATING 2/5

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