GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. | Movie Review

 

GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S.

(Original Title: "Gojira x Mosura x Mekagojira: Tokyo Esu O Esu"

- Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.)

December 13, 2003

While Kiryu is under repair after it's previous battle, Mothra's twin fairies plead for Godzilla's bones used to build it to be returned to the sea so that the soul of the original Godzilla can rest in peace. As Godzilla returns to terrorize Tokyo, Mothra herself steps in to stop him but even she may not be a match for him as the city eventually erupts into a three-way monster brawl.

Masaaki Tezuka was given several drafts by Toho for the next Godzilla film but Tezuka rejected them all opting to write his own treatment, with much of the same crew from the last film returning. While Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla ends on a cliffhanger, I'm not sure whether it was the original intent to continue the story since up to that point, every entry in the Millennium series stood on it's own with only the 1954 film as a starting point. Nevertheless, the fact that these films (dubbed the 'Kiryu Saga' by the fans) also include connections to other Toho films is a unique approach for the time. I may love the Marvel Cinematic Universe with all my heart, but I'm always quick to point out that Toho was creating universes before them. 

Godzilla (Tsutomu Kitagawa) retains his previous look but with a gnarly chest scar from the previous battle. Kiryu (Motokuni Nakagawa) looks mostly the same as well with a few new tricks up its sleeve. 

For her second role in a Millennium era film, Mothra gets a fantastic update to her Showa look. To me, her design looks more aged than usual which would fit given her role in the story as a descendant of the 1961 Mothra. 

Another classic monster makes a cameo in Tokyo S.O.S., Kamoebas. Kamoebas is basically a giant turtle monster (based on the Mata mata turtle) who made his first appearance in Toho's 1970 Kaiju film 'Space Ameoba' and gets to play one of Godzilla's unfortunate victims washed ashore after an off screen battle in this movie.
At first, a Liopleurodon was supposed to be used for this scene, instead Toho wanted to use a familiar monster. The first candidate was going to be Anguirus and director Tezuka even suggested using Gamera, however Anguirus was axed in favor of saving him for a future appearance and Gamera's exclusion should be obvious. So Kamoebas got the role, this also adds the events of Space Amoeba to the canon of the Kiryu Saga.
Continuity, it's what's for dinner!

Tokyo S.O.S excels at monster action, but unlike the previous film it's human characters mostly fall short.
The main cast isn't bad by any means, however they aren't quite as compelling.  
Our lead this time is Yoshito Chujo (Noboru Kaneko), a very passionate mechanic working to repair Kiryu. 

Now if the name Chujo sounds familiar, it should as it's the same name as a character in 1961's Mothra who makes an appearance here played by his original actor, Hiroshi Koizumi. And to keep up with the trend of Millennium era Godzilla movies having decent child actors, we have his Grandson, Shun (Tatsuki Omori)

New to the Kiryu Squad are pilots Azusa and Akiba.
Akiba (Mitsuki Koga) is the new hot shot Kiryu pilot. The best way I can describe him is basically imagine a Japanese Chuck Hansen, he's an a-hole, but he's not 100% a dick. 
Azusa (Miho Yshioka) is probably the least compelling character in the film. The only things I could really tell you about her is that she's always wanted to be a pilot and obviously has the hots for Chujo.

No story with Mothra would be complete without her twin fairies, the Shobijin now played by Masami Nagasawa and Chihiro Otsuka. The Shobijin have come to plead with the people of Japan to return Godzilla's bones to Japan, a sentiment that is not easily met given that Kiryu is the only protection Japan has against Godzilla. They say that if they don't then Mothra will declare war against humanity for their crimes of playing God but she is more than willing to fight Godzilla in Kiryu's place. It's a good plot point that echoes the theme of Godzilla in the first place about mankind meddling with forces beyond comprehension. 

Akane (Yumiko Shaku) does have a brief cameo where she says goodbye to Kiryu before heading off to the US to train pilots. Koh Takasugi also reprises his role as good guy, Lt. Togashi.

Around the 33 minute mark, the action starts to pick up making the 2nd and 3rd act of the film one large battle and it is undeniably spectacular.  
Unfortunately, Godzilla has to Godzilla so the Godzilla's bones debate gets pushed to the back burner during the final battle in which I can only assume the Shobijin reluctantly allow Kiryu to fight.

Recently whenever Mothra is brought up in Godzilla media, its always expected that she sacrifices herself during a battle with Godzilla and that trope has mostly the Millennium series to thank for that. But Mothra isn't out of the game for long as twin Larva appear to continue the fight just like in 1964.

The usual puppets used for her have never looked better, both her Imago and Larva stages are portrayed rather nicely. Some scenes of Mothra flying are CGI and they look great.

In fact, I will say that Tokyo S.O.S. just has some of the best effects in the entire Millennium series. The suits, models and subtle digital enhancements to the monsters are all amazingly on point. 

If you look at the poster for Tokyo S.O.S. you'll probably notice the Japanese Diet Building and you know you can't have giant monsters fighting against a national landmark without it coming down, which it does in spectacular fashion. 

Even though the human element isn't as strong, I still love Tokyo S.O.S. The Kiryu Saga overall is just a solid part of the series as a whole and will always rank among my favorite films of it. I just wish it did better when it first came out. 
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla had a noticeable drop in ticket sales and attendance when compared to GMK and Tokyo S.O.S.'s numbers were worse. Even when paired with the Hamtaro films popular with children, the Godzilla films of the Millennium series simply couldn't match the success of any of the earlier Heisei films and so with the writing on the wall, Toho was once again ready to put an end to Godzilla.
But not before celebrating his 50th Birthday...

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/

GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA | Movie Review

GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA

(Gojira X Mekagojira)

December 14, 2002

After decades of being attacked by various monsters, Japan looks to build a new super weapon to counter the return of Godzilla. After recovering the skeleton of the original 1954 Godzilla, scientist use it to build a new bio-mechanical monster to battle it's counterpart. 

Toho figured if familiar monsters brought in the attendance and results at the box office, surely doing it again would work. Masaaki Tezuka returned to direct the film and Michiru Oshima returns to provide the score for the film with the help of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra to provide a bigger and bolder score than in Megaguirus. 

The continuity of this movie is interesting. It implies that along with the original Godzilla, the events of the original Mothra film and War of the Gargauntuas are canon. The only thing that kinda fudges it is that during an exposition scene, its said that the JSDF killed those monsters...except if you saw those films, they didn't. 
In the first Godzilla movie, after Godzilla was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer his entire body was dissolved, skeleton and all. In this movie however, the skeleton remains intact.
With that, we have the creation of Mechagodzilla (Hirofumi Ishigaki) built right over it. What could possibly go wrong?

This is the most unique interpretation of Mechagodzilla on film. Besides the origin, it also has it's own nickname: Kiryu. If I had no idea of what a Mechagodzilla would even look like, Kiryu is more or less what I would picture in my head, that design won me over instantly. Plus, it actually has an actual tail as opposed to the pathetic stumpy tails previous versions possessed. 
In addition to the usual beams and missiles you come to expect, Kiryu comes equipped with one unique/devastating weapon, the Absolute Zero Cannon which fires a powerful freezing beam. However there is one major drawback for this mecha, the skeleton serving as the framework contains the restless soul of the first Godzilla giving us a literal ghost in the machine, one that can reawaken and take control of Kiryu. 
The idea of the first Godzilla coming back to life to fight the current Godzilla was actually proposed back in the mid 90's.

Godzilla himself returns to a more slimmed down version of the original Millennium design with his traditional color scheme and I don't know if it's just me, but his face looks very wolf-like. Tsutomu Kitagawa also returns to fill the suit of both the present and the 1954 Godzilla in a flashback (it may look like CGI, but it ain't)

In many ways Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is very similar to Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, not only because Masaaki Tezuka is the director but ya know, the main character is a woman who lost her colleagues to Godzilla and gets put in charge of the new super weapon that's constantly having issues to combat him. As much as I really enjoy Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, I have to say that Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is the superior film. 
Akane (Yumiko Shaku), the main character of our story is a more sympathetic character. Upon Godzilla's return to Japan, Akane is driving one of the Maser Tanks sent to try and repel him. When it doesn't work, Akane panics and accidentally crashes the tank into another vehicle knocking it off a hill where it was later crushed by Godzilla. 
While she may have revenge on the mind, survivors guilt is the bigger issue. She has her moments of self doubt but that doesn't stop her from doing her duty which is also helped by the fact that most of the members of the Kiryu Squad have her back, including its commander, Lt. Togashi (Koh Takasugi). In terms of looks alone, Togashi looks like he could be one of the meanest men on the planet who'd snap at the drop of a hat (it's the eyebrows). But no, he's actually a pretty chill, level headed dude but at the same time, he's still a commander who doesn't take any bs. No, a-hole duty for this squad goes to Hayama (Yusuke Tomoi), who constantly gives Akane crap because his brother was one of the people killed by Godzilla in the beginning of the film.
Filling the scientist role is Dr. Yuhara (Shin Takuma), his work includes bringing prehistoric organisms back to life through robotic exoskeletons which he demonstrates with a live Trilobite specimen, so naturally his talents are put to good use providing the main operating systems for Kiryu. He also tries and hilariously fails to put the moves on Akane, but she ends up bonding more with his daughter Sara (Kana Onodera), who also experienced trauma after her mother died while pregnant with another child. Needless to say, the subject of life and death, Akane's self doubt, Kiryu's creation essentially resurrecting the first Godzilla and the laundry pile of implications that comes with, there are so many layers to this cast and story and I love it for that. 

Veteran cast members include Kumi Mizuno and Akira Nakao. Mizuno was the leading lady in several of Toho's Showa era science fiction films, most notably as Namikawa in 'Invasion of Astro-Monster' while Nakao played G-Force Commander Aso in the last 3 Heisei Godzilla films. Mizuno plays the Prime Minister while Nakao would become her successor toward the middle of the story. 

One more great thing about Kiryu is that it doesn't just rely on rockets and beam attacks, Kiryu can also throw hands with Godzilla more than any past versions, which makes the final fight especially refreshing and entertaining. But Kiryu isn't all heroics. After Godzilla lets out a roar, it triggers the soul of the original Godzilla which takes over and briefly goes on a rampage through Tokyo. One of my favorite special effects moments takes place during Kiryu's rampage, it's when Kiryu walks right through one of the model buildings. I'm not sure if this was a subtle reference to the 98 film or not, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. 

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is a great entry in the franchise overall, it takes familiar characters in fascinating new directions, the human cast and special effects are all solid. 
Despite a somewhat low attendance, it was a success at the box office so another film was on the table, but instead of another reboot, the next entry would be the Millennium series' only direct sequel, which will be covered next time.
Also, there's an after credits scene, so keep watching till the end.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/

GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK | Movie Review

GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK

(Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Daikaiju Sokogeki)

December 15, 2001

50 years after his first rampage, Godzilla returns to terrorize Japan. This time, resurrected by the restless spirits of all who died in WWII. The military scrambles to fight him off but their only hope may lie with 3 guardian monsters who awaken from their slumber to do battle with him.  

The first few films of the Millennium series were not doing well box office wise. Needing a surefire hit, Shogo Tomiyama would reach out to Shusuke Kaneko, who helmed the critically acclaimed Gamera trilogy to direct the next installment. 
Kaneko had previously campaigned to direct a Godzilla film in the early 90's, so this was a dream come true for him. There would be a catch however...

One of Kaneko's original ideas for this movie was for Godzilla to go up against Anguirus, Baragon and Varan, reimagined as a trio of guardian monsters. This would have been an amazing concept, given the symmetry of the three monsters being reptilian in nature as well as the fact that the three haven't been seen since the Showa era films. Unfortunately, while Toho liked Kaneko's concept, they requested that the more popular monsters Mothra and King Ghidorah be worked into the film, believing their names on the marquee would increase ticket sales, much like they did for the Heisei films. He relented, so instead of 'Godzilla X Varan, Baragon and Anguirus: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack' we would get 'Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack'

-deep breath-

Most people just refer to it as 'GMK' for simplicity's sake. 

Also returning from the Gamera trilogy was composer Kow Otani, who continues to deliver epic, memorable music with a flair of mystical elements. 

Despite Anguirus and Varan getting cut, Baragon remained in the film. They just forgot to add him to the title.

It's great to see one of the more obscure monsters from Toho's roster get put in the spotlight and this appearance has only helped to increase Baragon's popularity.
What also helped was Baragon's suit actor Rie Ota, being the first woman to play a monster in the Godzilla series. Not only did the smaller stature performer work her butt off to portray a 4-legged monster, a notoriously difficult task, but she also took it upon herself to do her own roars inside the suit. If you want to see one of the most wholesome Kaiju moments recorded on film, I highly recommend you look it up on YouTube.

Mothra got herself a pretty decent update, her body has a more insectiod appearance and the new color scheme fits her well. And despite years of having what appears to be a stinger on the end of her abdomen, she has never used it. Here she's able to fire multiple stingers from her abdomen. 

Ghidorah (Akira Ohashi) is the most surprising addition to the cast, one of Godzilla's greatest villains is now the hero of this story. Regardless he fits this new role rather well. Suit designer Fuyuki Shinada was very disappointed that his favorite monster Varan didn't make the final cut of this film, so he went ahead and added some of Varan's facial features to Ghidorah's heads.

Now we have the G man himself. Godzilla has long represented the horrors of war and the consequences of weapons of mass destruction, this Godzilla however is a whole different beast. Instead of being an ancient creature reawakened and mutated by H-bomb tests, he's now the manifestation of the souls of ALL who were killed by the Japanese in World War II taking their revenge on modern day Japan because the majority of its citizens want to forget their sacrifices. This is a new original take on Godzilla's character that fits very well given his original origins and especially Japan's history during and after World War II.
This Godzilla is quite the force to be reckoned with in this movie. His new look is bulky but powerful and fierce, he returns to his usual colors and just to emphasize his new supernatural origins, he sports lifeless white eyes. This Godzilla is also one of the more evil incarnations, directly going out his way to destroy and kill humans. We really haven't seen him act like this since the 1954 film and The Return of Godzilla. He's also quite a powerhouse fighter, the fights in this movie will make you feel sympathy for the other monsters, especially Baragon.

The suit for this movie was made to be much larger than usual, too large for the previous suit actor Tsutomu Kitagawa to wear. Instead, Mizuho Yoshida would take the reigns.

Also, each of the suit actors make small cameos in the movie. 

Overall the monsters are portrayed well and CGI is used only when absolutely necessary, the quality of the CG as the films go on would continue to improve. At first, I wasn't too big on one particular shot of Ghidorah taking flight after receiving a power boost where he was all digital, but it has grown on me quite a bit. 

Director Shusuke Kaneko with Chiharu Niyama and Ryudo Uzaki

Aside from GMK's mon-stars, most of our humans make a strong impression as well. Our main character Yuri Tachibana (Chiharu Niyama) works at a TV station that primarily makes fake documentaries but has ambitions of being a reporter.

Yuri's father (Ryudo Uzaki) is an Admiral for the JSDF, who helps to lead the attack on Godzilla. 

Shiro Sano who plays Yuri's boss is notable for an off camera moment that happened between him and Chiharu Niyama. They were watching King Kong vs. Godzilla and Niyama started laughing at the effects, Sano was less than pleased at her laughter informing her of the blood, sweat and tears that went into creating those effects.

Hideyo Amamoto, who made frequent appearances in Toho's science fiction films since the 60's, plays an old man helping to wake the guardian monsters and warn anyone who will listen about Godzilla's enevitable return. 

There are many side characters who's only purpose is to get killed by the monsters as punishment for their misdeeds, in one of GMK's many moments of dark humor one of them who initially survived an attack by Godzilla just to be killed while in the hospital. This echoes the eventual death of Masaji's family from the first Godzilla. 

Shusuke Kaneko once again delivers a masterclass of a Kaiju film. I will proudly say that this is not only the best of the Millennium series, but one of the best Godzilla films to date. It gave us a new version of Godzilla with a new deeper meaning and context that has oddly divided the fans. Some love this version of Godzilla while others don't like it, though they mostly complain about the suit, Ghidorah's role and other sort of purist nonsense. 
Personally, I feel this is one of the essential films you show to your friends who want to get into Godzilla. 
GMK ended up being a financial and critical success in Japan. Not only did the inclusion of familiar monsters help GMK succeed, but it and the next few Godzilla films were paired with the animated Hamtaro films which of course drew a large child audience in. The future of Godzilla seemed to look pretty bright. 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/

GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS | Movie Review

GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS
(Original Title: "Gojira X Megagirasu Ji Shometsu Sakusen" - Godzilla X Megaguirus: The G Extermination Strategy)
December 16, 2000

With Godzilla ravaging Japan since 1954 and attacking their power plants, the newly established G-Graspers unit come up with a daring plan to eliminate him once and for all. But a test run of their new weapon inadvertently unleashes a new terror to contend with, a swarm of prehistoric dragonflies seeking sources of energy to feed their queen. 

While Godzilla 2000: Millennium didn't do outstanding numbers at the box office, Toho still decided to move forward with another movie. Originally they wanted to do a follow up, but instead decided on the separate continuity approach the Millennium series would be known for. This is also the first entry to do a bit of retconning. 
We see flashbacks to the events of the first Godzilla using the suit from the previous film cleverly inserted into the scenes. However, Godzilla (Tsutomu Kitagawa) was never killed by the Oxygen Destroyer and continued to menace Japan over the years, attacking their power plants and forcing Japan to switch to different sources of energy. Unfortunately, these also attract Godzilla so now Japan has to get rid of Godzilla more than ever. Their solution is honestly pretty out there.

In a series filled with Oxygen Destroyers, Maser Cannons and Mechagodzillas, you'd think it couldn't get any crazier. Well this movie sees that and raises you a Dimension Tide, a cannon capable of firing a miniature sized black hole at its target. As ridiculous as it is as a concept, it is admittedly creative and original. 

Misato Tanaka, Yuriko Hoshi and Shosuke Tanihara.

Our lead character, Major Tsujimori (Misato Tanaka), is determined to kill Godzilla after losing her commanding officer to a previous attack. Kudo (Shosuke Tanihara), is a self taught inventor recruited to the G-Graspers to help with the Dimension tide project. His characteristics are he really likes Tsujimori and likes to invent things. Speaking of G-Graspers, the movie makes a point to introduce the other members of the unit along with Tsujimori and then does nothing else with them.

Playing the lead scientist Yoshizawa is Yuriko Hoshi, who you may remember as Junko from Mothra vs. Godzilla and Naoko from Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. It's always nice seeing actors from previous movies come back for the new films, symbolically passing the torch.
The human cast isn't as compelling as past entries, but the lead actors do a fine enough job with what they are given.
Also there's a kid. He's here. He's not annoying, he just doesn't have much of a personality. I can't even be mad at him for finding the Meganulon egg, ditching it into the sewers where it hatches causing a massive flood in Shibuya. 

Before I talk about the second billed monster I need to make it clear how to pronounce the name: "MEGA-GEAR-US", I don't understand how people can look at that name and mispronounce it any other way (Lookin' at you, James Rolfe...)

We've actually seen our opposing monster once before, it's the Meganulon, originally seen back in 1956's Rodan and here we get to see their evolved stage, the Meganula and they present a problem for the G-Graspers and Godzilla.

But the real problem stems from their queen, Megaguirus. First, her design is incredible, a cross between a dragonfly and a scorpion. She's capable of producing high frequency waves by flapping her wings, she is a dragonfly after all, and absorbing energy through her stinger. 

The Meganulon/Meganula are brought to life through a combination of puppets and CGI that's mostly well done. Megaguirus was a large puppet with a suit of her upper half used for close up shots (Minoru Watanabe, another Super Sentai alum acted in the upper half). But as with most flying monsters, the performance can be rather awkward. During the scenes where Megaguirus is flying, her wings appear digitally sped up and it looks great but it's not used throughout the whole movie. Most of the time her wings are stiff and she just sort of hovers in the air. I just feel like this was a missed opportunity. 

That being said, I really love the fight between Godzilla and Megaguirus solely for how funny it is. I love that they show how much of a troll Megaguirus can be and how increasingly annoyed Godzilla gets throughout it. Even though Godzilla is supposed to be the villain of this picture, ya just can't help but feel bad for the guy.

With the return of the Godzilla series, the practical miniature effects never failed to impress. One of the best effects is when Tsujimori hitches a ride on Godzilla's back while he's swimming, a full size piece of Godzilla's back was built for the actor to climb and preform on.  
The implementation of CGI in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus does show some improvement, even if you could tell the majority of Meganula swarming Godzilla are digital effects, it kind of works for them. Especially when combined with the puppets.
If you have even basic knowledge of the Godzilla franchise, you'll know that a common joke regarding the effects of the films are the visible wires holding the monsters. During Megaguirus' first appearance, many of the shots clearly show the wires supporting her and it can be quite jarring. It was very apparent in the first DVD release from Sony, but in the 2014 Blu-ray, the wires appear to have been edited out.
Another improvement made by this movie was the music by Michiru Oshima, the first and so far only woman to score a Godzilla movie. Her new Godzilla theme is instantly memorable and I find myself humming it from time to time. 

Aside from Godzilla 2000, none of the Millennium films saw a wide release in US theaters. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus would however have a special theater showing held at 2002's G-Fest convention. On August 31st, 2003, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus got a special television premiere on the Sci-Fi Channel along with a marathon of other classic Godzilla movies. It was such a big deal to me that I begged my parents to let me go over to my Grammie's house so I could watch and record it on VHS.
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus wasn't the only movie to have its television premiere that day, we'll talk about that movie in the next review. 

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus isn't looked back on very fondly by the fans, some calling it stale, dumb and generally unremarkable. To be honest, I have a soft spot for this one. I will lament that it is the weakest entry of the series, but it's creativity and entertaining monster action more than make up for any shortcomings it may have. 
Also, there's an after credits scene, so keep watching till the end.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/