"GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH"
This is a Godzilla film that apparently a lot of Godzilla fans love. Some Godzilla fans even place this film as their second favorite Godzilla film of all time. And after seeing "Godzilla VS Biollante", I was actually pretty excited going into this film to see all of these improvements being carried out in a film involving Godzilla fighting against one of my all time favorite monsters from the franchise once again! Did it meet up with my expectations; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
In the year 1992; a UFO lands on Mount Fuji as startled Japanese soldiers discover that the ship is being piloted by humans and a human android from the future who call themselves Futurians. They come to present day Japan to warn them that in the future, Godzilla will destroy their whole entire country permanently, unless if Japan will help them prevent Godzilla’s future rampage by allowing them to recruit three people for their mission of going back in time during World War 2 when Godzilla was just a Dinosaur who lived on a tropical Island, and prevent Godzilla from being affected by the nuclear bomb that made him what he is now. With Japan giving them their blessings, they recruit a Professor (Katsuhiko Sasaki), a science fiction writer (Kosuke Toyohara) who in the future writes a book about Godzilla, and the physic woman from the last film Miki (Megumi Odaka) and their mission of preventing Godzilla from destroying Japan has become a success. But unfortunately when they all return to the present, they discover that the giant three headed dragon monster King Ghidorah is suddenly attacking present day Japan. Why, you may ask? Well, it turns out that in the future Japan actually becomes the most powerful and successful country in the world, and that the Futurians actual intentions were to prevent the success of Japan from happening by removing Godzilla off the Island and put three little Dragon creatures from the future called Dorats in Godzilla's place where the nuclear blast will merge them into King Ghidorah. With the Dorats now becoming King Ghidorah, the Futurians use the monster to persuade Japan to give into their demands of ruling the country, or else they will use Ghidorah to destroy it. Luckily, the Godzilla creature is still alive, and has already been mutated by a Russian Submarine in the 1970s. In an act of desperation, Japan decides to use Godzilla to destroy Ghidorah, but if Godzilla successfully kills Ghidorah, Godzilla will then terrorize Japan.
Now before I talk about Godzilla, King Ghidorah, the characters, the effects, and the action; I have to give my thoughts on the overall plot and time travel element of the movie. When the last Godzilla film was released, one of the many things that made it a box-office bomb was because it was released around the same time that "Back To The Future Part 2" was released in theaters, which attracted audiences (especially children) to see the film for its fun and family friendly time travel plot. Due to the competition that Toho had with the movie, they decided to create a Godzilla film that involves time travel, while also taking away a good chunk of the darkness and grim tone that the previous two Godzilla films had, so it can appeal towards kids. And I have to sadly admit that the final result of adding Godzilla and King Ghidorah with time travel is very clumsy. Now I do like the ideas and moral that the film does with the time travel element. Such as their attempt of erasing Godzilla from history, only to discover that they can't erase Godzilla from their history because until humanity decides to stop using their destructive methods, the time stream will find away to keep Godzilla from non-existing; which is a perfect lesson of using time travel for a Godzilla film. But with that said, since it's clear that Toho is just trying to cash-in on the time travel craze to attract audiences (which the film was released a few months after the release of another time travel classic "Terminator 2:Judgment Day"), there's hardly any thought put into the plot and time travel logic, which leads to a massive amount of plot holes! The characters prevent Godzilla from existing, but yet everybody in alternate modern day Japan still remembers him! Did they only teleport the first Godzilla that attacked Japan in 1954? That would make some sort of sense since there is a second Godzilla as evidenced in the first film of the Heisei Era, but apparently the Godzilla that's been teleported is the same Godzilla that attacked in the previous films, since there's no mention of Godzilla coming out of a volcano. So does that mean that the first Godzilla still attacked Japan in 1954, and that the Futurians forgot all about thee first Godzilla attack in history; or are these two different Godzilla's now suddenly the same one because the writers said so? The plan of the Futurians taking over Japan also makes no sense. Why teleport Godzilla as a Dinosaur somewhere else? Why not just simply kill him with their lasers since he isn't powerful yet? Why invite people from modern day Japan on their journey if they're not going to do anything to help them (seriously, they just sit there and watch the Futurian’s carry out their plan)? Why go through the trouble of leaving the Darots back in time where they will become King Ghidorah from the blast; they have futuristic weapons up their sleeve that can easily conquer Japan. And I’m pretty sure that they can create an army of human androids! There was no need for them to create another monster. And speaking of the monster, what was King Ghidorah doing all these years before he finally attacked Japan? Did he REALLY just stay on that Island for all this time?
OK look, I know that no film is perfect and will have flaws, especially in terms of plot. Even the great time travel franchises that this film tries to be like, have their plot holes too. You can even argue that without some of these dumb and illogical choices, we wouldn't have a film. Fair enough; I can understand that side of the argument perfectly fine. But what made time travel films like "Back To The Future" and "The Terminator" more than good enough to make you overlook the plot holes, wasn't just the characters, the action, the effects, and so on and so fourth. But it was also because there was a lot of thought and effort put into the story for these films, which is what made them so engaging. This film on the other hand, you can tell that the writers weren't thinking too hard about the plot and the time travel concept for this film, since they only wanted to use it as bate to attract viewers to see some giant monster action. And on top of it, when it comes to action, effects, characters, and monsters, I sadly found them all to be a mixed bag, which as a result hardly ever helps me overlook the amount of plot holes and head scratching logic that this film throws at me, where I can't help but find these flaws to be distracting on many occasions.
I suppose the best monster to start talking about has to be Godzilla when he was a Dinosaur known as the Godzillasaurus. When I heard that this film was going to show Godzilla before he became mutated, I was interested but at the same time, I felt like that this is something I didn't want to see. I just find the overall mystery of what Godzilla was before his mutation to be more fascinating, rather than actually seeing what he once looked like. And I guess I'd be more on board with this idea if this was a complete reboot of the franchise, but since this film does in fact connect with the first one, I couldn't help but find this idea a tad bit insulting. Not just because it ruins the mystery element to this monster that I admired so much about it, but mostly because it doesn't follow continuity of Dr. Yamane (from the first film's) theory of Godzilla being a creature who lived deep in the ocean for centuries feeding on animals, and was removed from his environment by nuclear testing as he was affected by the radioactivity from the bombs. And no, this isn't just a theory; he actually had evidence supporting it by having a trilobite that he found in one of Godzilla's footprints that had sand inside the shell that was from the Jurassic Period, which definitely proves that Godzilla was living in the ocean all this time! It can't get any more obvious than that.
Sigh, but I'll admit, as much as this idea goes against the continuity and mystery of the Godzilla from the first film, the flashback sequence of Godzilla as a Dinosaur is for the most part pretty cool. When I heard the music and saw very little of the Dinosaur that the scene was building-up to his first on-screen appearance, I was excited! And when I finally did see the Godzillasaurus appear and taking part in an awesome and brutal battle against the American army, I was completely hooked and invested in the action taking place in front of me. I also admire how this whole sequence captures the Pacific War with its dark and gritty Jungle environment full of nothing but explosions and gun fire. But with that said, (with the continuity from the first film aside) there are still tons of flaws that I found in this sequence in terms of effects and acting. The fighting against the Americans and Japanese look as convincing as the opening shoot-out between the American extremist and Japanese soldiers in "Godzilla VS Biollante". Half of the green-screen effects and foot props for Godzilla look pretty crude at times. And the American actors can't act for crap, nor can they deliver a clever joke based around Steve Spielberg's father seeing a UFO, without making the joke sound forced. On top of it, I wasn't really too fond of the Godzillasaurus design. Now to be fair, I don't think that they were trying to make the Godzillasaurus appear to be intimidating. I think the goal was to make him out to be an innocent sentimental monster, rather than being a ferocious beast. And in that sense, I think they did a pretty fine job with it. But the suit looks very rubbery, giving him Gamera's roar (another famous monster from Toho) is very lazy and distracting, and apart of me still wishes that they would at least give him a bit of a threatening design. I mean cooome on, it's not like Toho can't find a way to make a monster appear to be intimidating, but at the same time give him a sentimental personality. They've done it many times before; why not here?
When Godzilla finally does appear outside of his Dinosaur form, he's just as threatening and kickass as he was in the last movie. The minute when I saw him underwater in the shadows, already I was finding myself intimidated by his eerie presence. And when I finally saw him appear on-screen, I was still freaked out by his design, especially in the scene of Godzilla destroying Japan as the army tries to stop him with their laser guns, which is both creepy and spectacular at the same time. I was also very pleased that the effects team still managed to give Godzilla's face the same amount of expressions as he did in the last film, and the best moment where Godzilla's face acts very expressive is when he encounters one of the characters that he's known from when he was a Dinosaur. The only major issue I had with the Godzilla suit and design are two things. Unlike the last Godzilla suit, where the suit actually looked like flesh; the rubber from the suit is sadly beginning to show a little. Also, it turns out that the nuclear submarine that one of the characters sent to revive Godzilla, without actually knowing that Godzilla is still alive has suddenly made Godzilla more powerful. And while that sounds like a cool idea, the way the film executes it is pretty pointless, because Godzilla still looks and acts like his old Godzilla self. Could they in the very least alter his design, especially since we never see him in his traditional design in earlier scenes of the film? Plus, since when does a Nuclear Submarine make Godzilla more powerful than he was before? We saw him eat a Russian Nuclear Submarine in "The Return Of Godzilla" as his mutated Godzilla self, and he didn't become powerful, or look and act different from the first Godzilla that attacked Toho.
If there's one thing that doesn't disappoint me about this film, it has to be King Ghidorah. Yes, the flying effect for him looks as stiff and lifeless as he was in "Godzilla VS Gigan" despite that we can't see the strings operating him (for god sake; King Ghidorah looks more alive and active in his debut film then he does here, even if the strings attached to him were visible on many occasions), but with that aside, he still kicks ass in this movie! I first off love the back-story that Ghidorah was originally three cute little dragons (that’s obviously playing out as a way to attract kids to see this movie) from the future that was left back in time to be mutated by the nuclear blast that made them what they are today. And don't get me wrong! I do like that King Ghidorah in the "Showa Era" was just a space monster who just roams around destroying planets. It’s undoubtedly an awesome concept. But as awesome as the original concept to King Ghidorah was, I just can't help but find myself more interested in this series' take on King Ghidorah since his character doesn't feel out of the blue, and that his origin does tie into the franchises' theme of ridding nuclear destruction. And I'm not saying that all monsters in this series should be created by nuclear bombings because that would get old pretty fast. It’s just that I find the concept of seeing these three cute and innocent little dragons that are created to make people happy, suddenly lose everything that made them so sweet and charming, and become one of the most horrifying and deadly giant monsters to have ever been created by a nuclear bomb, to be pretty sad and tragic. And as I'm being blown away by the scenes of King Ghidorah doing what he does best; I can't help but feel sorry for him after thinking about what he once was, to only now see it be under the control of the villains to destroy Japan where the only way to stop this monster is by killing him, instead of finding a way to transform it back to it's old cute self. I know there are plenty of people out there who hate this new concept, and prefer King Ghidorah the way he usually was, which I can understand why. But for me personally, I like this tragic edge that they give to this monster.
When it comes to action involving this monster, this film doesn't fail to deliver. Every scene involving Ghidorah either destroying Japan, or fighting against Godzilla are some of the best action scenes to have ever been created for a Godzilla film. The level of thrill and excitement that those scenes have just never let up, especially in the scenes where both monsters have to take each other down as they each use their own special and iconic abilities. And if you think Godzilla and King Ghidorah destroying each other is cool enough as it is. How about having King Ghidorah become a Cyborg for a rematch against Godzilla in the film's climax? Alright, well technically Ghidorah isn't really alive in those scenes since one of our main characters pretty much turned his dead body into a "Super X" type of weapon that she has to pilot inside the now robotic creature. But even though King Ghidorah no longer has a will of his own in his cyborg form, the final battle between Godzilla and Mecha-King Ghidorah aren't just as awesome as the previous scenes action scenes of the movie, but I was literally at the edge of my seat of this fight from beginning to end since Mecha-King Ghidorah is being controlled by a character that I do give a damn about, where I find myself constantly worried if she will survive this battle, or if she'll sacrifice herself to rid Godzilla once and for all. It was indeed a very intense final battle that felt like an emotional coaster, which is exactly how felt that Godzilla's battle with the "Super X" in "The Return Of Godzilla" should have been like! Though as awesome as that battle is, it does break its own rule involving of travel time, which is that the same person can't exist twice at one time, and yet they bring out a Mecha-King Ghidorah, as the original King Ghidorah is at the bottom of the ocean. As for the effects involving these action scenes, they're for the most part good. They're not as great as the effects were in "Godzilla VS Biollante", but they still look cool. The models are well detailed. The optical effects used for the beams coming out of the monsters mouths are visually stunning. And the choreography for the monsters fighting, and how the scenes are shot and edited together are pretty spectacular. What also really gives the film (especially these scenes) its eerie and energizing feel is the music composed by Akira Ifukube whose composed many Godzilla films in the past (including the first one) and was brought out of retirement to compose the music for this film. And without hearing his music played during these awesome scenes of action and destruction, they would at least have half of what makes these scenes so awesome! I'm also really glad that Ifukube finally decided to update the theme music for both Godzilla and King Ghidorah. It just feels very refreshing to hear an updated version of these two iconic scores for this new series of Godzilla films, rather than hearing the same exact original score over and over again!
Finally there are the human characters, and much like everything else in the film, they too are a mixed bag. I'll start out with the ones I do like. The character Emmy (Anna Nakagawa) who's a Futurian is a very interesting character, who first starts out as a villain, but then decides to change sides to try to set things right since she's from the country that the Futurians plan to rule, and will probably destroy if they don't get their way. But as much as I root for her to fight against the Futurians, her reason of changing sides is really confusing. She agrees with the idea of controlling Japan so that the world can maintain their peace and equality in the future, but she leaves the Dorats behind so that they can become King Ghidorah, which causes her to change sides when she’s shocked to see King Ghidorah destroy Japan. What exactly was she expecting to happen after when she left the Dorats behind and become King Ghidorah? Did she think that the Futurians weren't going to do anything destructive with their powerful monster? Her change of heart is just as confusing as the logic in this movie. Next we have the character Shindo (Yoshio Tsuchiya), a powerful businessman that was with the Japanese troops on the Island that Godzilla as a Dinosaur once roamed during World War 2; who is forever thankful for Godzilla saving him and his armies' life when he attacked the American soldiers. For an idea that sounds pretty cheesy, it's actually executed quite effectively from the acting of Tsuchiya as we see this character throughout the film talk about how grateful he is to Godzilla for saving him as he tries to defend the creature, to only in the end discover that Godzilla is not the Dinosaur that he used to be as he watches him destroy Japan. The final confrontation that he and Godzilla have together is one of the saddest moments that I've ever seen in the entire franchise, where there's not even a word of dialogue spoken. It's all done through the expressions of the characters, and the visuals. If I only had one fault with the casting of Tsuchiya as Shindo, why did they cast him as the character's young self in World War 2 as well? Why didn't they get a different actor? His performance is great, but seeing that the character looks exactly the same as he does in the future is pretty distracting. The last character who I find myself liking is the former Sci-Fi writer Terasawa. I'm not saying that his character is as interesting as the last two characters that I mentioned because he really isn't. He's really just an author that's trying to write non-fiction stories who somehow gets in the middle of this situation involving Godzilla and the Futurians, and that’s about it. He has a relationship with the Futurian women Emmy which is pretty engaging, but it does at times get very corny, especially during the twist involving Emmy, that felt very cheesy and thrown in at the last minute. Still while not being that interesting of a character, he's still likable enough to keep you from being bored by him. And seeing him take part in some of the action against the Futurians is actually pretty fun to watch. Though when he says "Make my day" in English, that was pretty geeky, instead of sounding badass. It just felt as forced and unnatural as the two American soldiers making a reference to Steven Spielberg's father and future career.
As for the rest of the human characters, it to me seems like their only purpose is to talk about the situation and try to figure out what they are going to do. They're acting isn't bad, and their discussions do keep my interest fine, but as character's they're all very forgettable. I think the most forgettable character in the whole film has to be the Professor that joins the characters in their travel across time. I can't remember a single thing about this character, except that he was a scientist. I always felt like that Shindo should have joined the characters in their journey across time, since he was there and has more of an understanding of Godzilla (at least in that time period) than the others do. And given the emotional performance that this actor gives, it would actually be cool and probably sentimental to see this guy going back in time to see Godzilla save his past self and troops once again. I know that the film establishes why he can't go back in time with the Futurians, but come on; the people behind this film certainly didn’t mind breaking that rule during the climax with Mecha-King Ghindorah! I mean if the film isn't going to even follow its own time travel logic, why bother substituting an interesting character with a character that leaves little to no impression at all. But the biggest disappointment that I had with the human characters is how the film made the psychic character Miki from the previous Godzilla film, to be boring and useless in this movie. I was really excited to see her in this movie to hopefully learn more about her psychic powers and see her use them more. But after seeing her nice introduction in the movie, she pretty much just stands around watching and talking about the events that are happening in front of her, rather than doing something with her powers. She barely uses her powers at all. She uses them like maybe twice in the film, and I don't even find myself remembering why she used them or what she did with them. It just really pains me to see the best character in the last Godzilla film, be one of the most forgettable characters in the film for how downplayed she is, which makes her overall presence in the movie seem pointless!
For Toho to play on the familiarity of the franchise to attract a wider audience, it appeares that bringing back in an original monster like King Ghidorah, and making the film less dark and gritty wasn't enough for them to gain audiences attention. So to help make this film really appeal to fans of the franchise, they've of course decided to give this film a group of villains from the future that are in control of Ghidorah, who are much like the villains in the "Showa Era" who were usually from space that had futuristic equipment as they plan to take over the world with the monsters that they control. And half of the time, these set of villains from the previous Era of Godzilla films would usually have Ghidorah working for them. So the idea of bringing back a set of Sci-Fi themed villains did seem fitting for this movie. And what I like about these villains are that they aren't played out as cold hearted evildoers, but more as anti-heroes that are trying to do good at the cost of innocent lives (kind of like Ra's Al Gaul in "Batman Begins" for example) since their motivation is more about keeping equalized peace in the future, than it is flat out destroying Japan for no reason except that they're the villains. That's actually a very different motivation compared to most Sci-Fi themed Godzilla villains, since all that they want to do is simply rule or destroy the world/Japan! They don't even look or act like an obvious set of villains that you would normally get in the franchise, which makes sense why they act that way since they believe in that what their doing is for the best, despite knowing that Japan might possibly be destroyed in the process of keeping an equalized peace in the future. And speaking of the future, while we hardly see the future where they came from; the talks about it and things that we do see from it (the Dorats, the equipment, the human android, and the Spaceships) look and sound like a cool and interesting future. However, as good as all that stuff that I mentioned about these villains is, in terms of personality, they're very forgettable. The acting from these set of villains isn't bad, but there's nothing about their personality that stands-out about them. They're pretty boring, if not dull. And since the actors playing them are not that interesting or fun to watch, it makes it pretty hard for you to overlook how heavily flawed their plan of alternating the future is, when with villains like the Xilliens in "Invasion Of The Astro-Monster" for example, you enjoyed spending time with them so much for how entertaining and unique they were as you got to explore the cool planet that they live on, that you hardly cared about if their plan of tricking the human's was obvious and made no sense. With exception of Emmy, the only character working for these villains that stands-out is their human-android M-11 since the actor looks like he's having fun playing a badass robot that looks like a human on the outside. And before you can say that he sounds like "The Terminator", that's because he pretty much is, who comes complete with burned flesh to reveal that he's a robot underneath the false skin, as he runs as fast as the T-1000 (which the running effect for him by the way, is easily the cheapest and most laughable effect in the whole entire movie). I know that the first Terminator film ripped-off an episode or two from the TV Show "The Outer Limits", but at least it was more than good enough for it to remain as its own thing. When in this film, this character is clearly a cardboard cut-out of the famous Cyborg assassin, especially when knowing that Toho only added time travel to the story because of their competition with other Sci-Fi movies that involved time travel from that period.
I hate to disappoint many of you Godzilla fans out there, but I think this film is very overrated. The story and logic makes no sense. The effects feel like a step backwards when comparing them to the last film. Half of the characters (including the villains) are forgettable. And you get the overall impression that a good half of the film felt very half-assed (especially in terms of writing). BUT with that said, that doesn't mean that I don't think it's good, or in the very least enjoyably entertaining! As confusing and heavily flawed as the story and time travel element are, the narrative is still easy to follow, while the story itself does offer some cool and interesting ideas. As mediocre and at times laughably cheesy the effects look compared to the last film, they still are for the most part decent effects. As boring and forgettable that some of the characters are, the ones who do stand-out are more than good enough to get you through the film and keep you invested. And as half-assed as a good chunk of the film feels, you can tell that they were at least trying to give us some of the best monster action in the history of Godzilla films, despite the effects looking cheap at times. Every scene that involve Godzilla and King Ghidorah either destroying stuff or fighting against each other in whatever form they take as Ifukube's score plays in the background are so awesome and kickass, that in that regard I can see why many people enjoy this film so much. Plus it's not like this is the only Godzilla film that goes against its logic and continuity, because many of the previous films have already done that. While I still don't think the film is as great as everyone else makes it out to be, I do think it's just as fun and entertaining as many of the previous Godzilla films that I reviewed in the past.
RATING 3/5
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