Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Year: 2001
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Daikaijū Sōkōgeki
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
After a US nuclear submarine disappears off the coast of Japan, the self-defense forces send a crew to find it. A reporter hears about the myth of the Guardian Monsters hibernating in Japan, which coincides with a series of monster sightings throughout the country. When Godzilla surfaces and heads for Japan, one of the monsters, Baragon, rises to defend the country but is quickly put down. Using the myths about the other Guardian Monsters as a starting point, she races to raise Mothra and King Ghidorah from their sleeping sites. With the military having no luck, the monsters battle Godzilla before he tramples all of Japan.
Review:
This is one of the better additions to the series. One of the things that makes this all the better is the way it takes the traditional storyline and changes it around for the new millennium. The main idea of Godzilla’s origins is the main emphasis here, taking a radical redirect away from the traditional radiation origins into a more fantasy-based setup of being the embodiment of fallen soldiers forgotten and discarded by the war. It’s an immensely original and radical idea that brings in a fresh perspective to things that might be somewhat different from what’s expected here but still manages to give this one a new approach by tying in fantasy elements that the series hasn’t really explored much as it's opted for straight science fiction before. Utilizing this new origin brings a new take to explain the sense of anger and ferocity he displays with the perceived anger of the spirits giving him the motivation to strike back at the country that tried to dishonor their past and move forward by not acknowledging their past. Moreover, that extends nicely to the other Guardian Monsters in the film who are also given a fantasy-based origin story that gives them a similar tone to fit this particular storyline. Employing the creatures as spirit guardians who can be aroused and wakened when the creatures are needed to repel threats to the country is a rather solid take here, making the group of creatures on humanity’s side to protect them from outside threats that Godzilla represents. By having the storyline take such a radical departure from what was before, yet there are still enough ties to it that allow for recognition among the older generation. The change is also done with real thought behind it, and it comes off convincingly rather than just being full of contrivance.
The story is pretty much one of its best angles, and the monster angle provides the rest of the fun. The monster action is all of the best around, featuring enough of all the moments that make the film excitable. Each creature is granted an amazing entrance scene, with Baragon appearing in brief spurts right after the intro to crawl through the side of a tunnel a group of rambunctious teenage bikers are riding through burying them under piles of rubble as it goes. Mothra has a spectacular scene where the larval form crawls out of a small lake to torment another group of teens partying on the lake. King Ghidora emerges from under an ice slab it was buried inside that was hidden away inside a local mountain it brushes the cracking ice aside and escapes. Godzilla himself features in a spectacular sequence of the creature emerging from the sea and setting ashore striking a local community to send them fleeing from his presence as the build-up of his footstepos coming closer and the falling objects failing to register with everything thinking it’s an advancing earthquake that’s revealed soon enough. That gives each creature a rather special feel that makes their presence felt in the rest of the storyline.
The rest of the monster action here, whether it involves the military attacking the monsters to stop their advancement endangering the rest of the citizens or the interactions with the monsters. There's a really nice SDF jet battle in a forest is quite exciting and is filled with a large number of good ideas and a nice flow to it with a great display of Godzilla’s power taking them out, and the city attack features some really impressive machinery to come into play against the monsters with tanks, missile launchers, ground rockets and even battleships are thrown into the mix, including a rather new and smartly used rockets give it a little extra something to the battle. The several fights aren't that badly executed, resulting in a couple of really spectacular scenes. The fight at the quarry holds some very nice moves and makes for a thrilling fight as the locale is different enough to offer some really explosive scenes, the damage done is acceptable and is mostly used on the buildings, but the sight of the mountain being brought down holds a lot of really spectacular imagery behind it as well. The ending battle, though brief, is a fantasy tour-de-force with enough building damage and explosions to satisfy long-term fans. The sets aren't that bad, and with the two fight locations being the only ones to be done, they look really decent. Couple this with a really fast and never-boring pace, and this becomes a really great entry.
There aren't a lot of things wrong with this one. The biggest one is the change to the monsters not just in the origin story but also their physical appearance from how they used to look. Baragon suffers the worst, as the really distinctive look from before is changed into a really weird design that doesn't really look that great. The face is what makes the change so drastic as the rest of the body looks the same with it now having more of a puppy-dog look and no return of his distinctive roar as it’s switched out in favor of a whining wheeze that has no power behind it. While Godzilla himself looks really great here in the face with a marvelous new look that really lends well to his classic design due to a dinosaurian head size, a longer and more elegant neck, and noticeable fangs coupled together with the best new feature, the eyes now being completely pupil-less and have an eerie glow to them the rest of the body is a disaster. Featuring a squatting design that wants us to feel like he’s massive but it doesn’t work due to the odd proportions he has, and the lack of detail on the skin makes him look far more like a rubber-ized being than any time else in his history. The Golden Dragon idea of King Ghidora ties into his backstory more than anything and removes his space origins and villainy into being a virtuous side character as part of a team trying to stop Godzilla that goes against everything he has in the past. Mothra itself is a bit of a wildcard in that she doesn’t have anything wrong with her in general as the CGI look is fine but it doesn’t add much beyond the name value of the creature not being much value to the fights. Otherwise, these are so minor fractions they can be easily overlooked.
Overview: ****/5
With only several very small problems lingering with this one, there's not a long wrong with it due to the more involved and prominent positives that are featured here. This is highly recommended and full of great moments in here, this is probably one that fans of the old-school series will have a blast with it.
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