DailySkew

Review: Godzilla GMK 2001 (Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack)

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is as close to perfect as a Godzilla movie can get. If not for some character changes, history revisions, and having spiritual explanations instead of strict sci-fi, this may have been better than 1954’s Gojira.

Plot:
On this alternate 2002 earth, Godzilla was defeated and killed by an unknown weapon as seen in 1954. However, in 1998 a monster attacked New York (an in-joke to the U.S. version). After a submarine disappears, with a giant animal attacking it, it looks like the past is coming back to haunt Japan. Admiral Taizo Tachibana (who lost his parents in the 1954 attack) is in charge of operations. His daughter Yuri Tachibana is filming a paranormal (X-Files-ish) documentary near Mt. Myoko, where a tremor struck. She spotted an old man in robes, who disappeares.

With a tunnel collapsing and rowdy teenagers getting killed, it seems as if monsters are here. Yuri chats with the old man-Professor Isayama- at a police station, who claims to be a prophet. He explains Godzilla’s return, and his TRUE ORGIN: although Godzilla was the product of nuclear weapons, he was also the collection of tormented souls from World War II. He also said that Japan has three guardian beasts, who have been resting after being defeated ages ago.

Eventually, Baragon, one of the guardians, and Godzilla fight fiercely. Godzilla kills him with his atomic breath, and rampages Japan.

To make a long story short and going from memory (sorry), Godzilla kills the newly awakened King Ghidorah and Mothra. Mothra’s spirit goes into Ghidorah, and creates a super version of each other. Godzilla defeats it, and then all three spirits (Baragon, Mothra, and Ghidorah) go into Godzilla. Weakened by this attack, Admiral Taizo Tachibana takes advantage and flies his D-03 down Godzilla’s throat. Boom! But Taizo lives and celebrates with his daughter at the end.

The last scene is ominous: Godzilla’ heart is still beating (no body) at the bottom of the sea.

The Good

• Technically, the best special effects and graphics of any Godzilla film.
• The admiral is a great character, and so is his daughter.
• Director Shūsuke Kaneko imprinted this movie with his creative vision.
• Godzilla is vicious, not silly, and this is a dead serious movie. Godzilla has no mercy- he took down a hospital after it appeared he would spare an injured woman who was in a bed.
• Godzilla is in his most powerful form.
• The movie seems fresh and new because this is only Godzilla’s 2nd appearance on this earth.
• The movie has deep parts- Japan’s youth of today has tried to forget or never know about the 1954 Godzilla attack (a symbol of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). Godzilla is forgotten and not talked about by civilians. So, through analogy, some social problems of modern day Japan are expressed.
• The fight scenes are well-choreographed and not cheesy.
• Mothra really looks great, and she sacrificed herself twice!
• Ko Otani’s musical score.
• Pre-Cloverfield, we see the affects of monster’s rampages on the civilian populace. Very Astro City like.

The Bad

• King Ghidorah being a good guy and earth’s defender is offensive and insulting to me, even though this was an alternative earth. I can’t root for that dragon against Godzilla!
• Baragon looks like a giant dog. All of the other monsters look intimidating, but he looks like Clifford stomping around Tokyo.
• There was never a sequel to this (the other movies were set on different earths), and it seems unlikely Kaneko will try to fully bring Godzilla to its full potential in the future.

Fun Facts

• The spiritualism. In my opinion it has no place in a sci-fi movie like Godzilla. I realize this movie is an Elseworlds tale (out-of-continuity, giving the director freedom, and a new take on the character) but having Mothra’s spirit used for resurrection, power-ups, and as an attack was outside the bounds. I mean, here is Godzilla destroying the military and killing his 3 greatest enemies with relative ease, but they use magic allow the Admiral to blow him up.
• I still don’t get the “WWII souls” fueling Godzilla aspect. It felt like Akira or Legend of the Overmind- my Western mind doesn’t get it logically. I mean, my first reaction was they went the innocent civilians who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were powering and fueling Gozilla’s rage, but they didn’t quite say that in the movie. They said it was about anyone who died due to Japanese aggression during the war (both sides, I guess). So shouldn’t I be sympathizing with Godzilla if he’s a spirit of vengeance? Godzilla’s eyes are white, and he’s pretty mindless, and a killer. He breathes his atomic breath everywhere, just like 1954. So we weren’t supposed to root for him, and we pretty much wanted him to die…but I couldn’t.
• Although an in-joke claims that the 1998 U.S. Godzilla is in continuity with the 1954 movie, they are, in fact, incompatible. You’d think Mathew Broderick in 1998 would have mentioned that Godzilla brought Tokyo down previously, right? Perhaps when I review the 1998 TriStar movie, I can see if it can fit with the 1954 movie, but I don’t think so based on my memory.
• The director didn’t want to use those monsters as the guardians, but Toho insisted on using them for the box office names.

Conclusion

If not for the changed premises, which make this Godzilla too different than the original, this could be the perfect Godzilla movie. I highly recommend this movie to anyone, because I know many people aren’t interested in seeing the original 1954 black and white movie. This makes a great sequel to it, and for not having an outrageous budget, Toho and Kaneko make a smooth and technically great movie. Many people online peg this to be the best Godzilla movie ever, and I can see why.

A fan-produced trailer (starts at 0:20):

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