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...

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