Wow. What a wonderful experience, to see them update Godzilla yet stay true to form!
The first thing I noticed, and I noticed this right away, was that this was not the Godzilla of my childhood. Thankfully, this also was not Roland Emmerick's "Jurassiczilla," either. I was stunned and (at first) in denial. This was so much better than the Godzilla of my childhood! It starts out pretty much like any of the older ones. (The DVD, however, comes with two choices. You can get English-speaking voices with English subtitles, or you can choose Japanese-speaking voices with English subtitles. Personally, I prefer to understand what I'm hearing, but it's cool the other way too.) But it quickly becomes something more substantial and much better written, produced, directed, and executed.
All that having been said, what actually impressed me so with this movie is the effects quality and their treatment of the monsters. Considering they only spent 1,200,000,000 Yen (approximately $10,955,902.92 US), the effects were extremely well executed. I was enthralled with the treatment they gave King Ghidorah. What a spectacular sight! Not at first, but ... later on in the movie.
The story was easily followed, though not so much so as to put you to sleep.
The action sequences were not the kung fu styled cheese of the 60's and 70's. They were strategically orchestrated and executed with that certain Godzilla-like panache.
Some Big G purists, however, will tout this as the one we've all been dreading. OH, the movie's great, but this is the TOHO installment which validates Emmerich's Jurassiczilla by including a New York sighting of past Godzilla sightings in the opening, and then later on in the movie a commanding military officer asks, "Why Japan, again?! Couldn't he have picked on some other country?" to much laughter all around the table. The cabinet members ask repeatedly, "Why here?" as if they have forgotten that Japan is home to the Kaiju, and further cannot seem to recall that Godzilla was their protector for decades. He wasn't always the bad guy.
Also, Godzilla is now said to hold the souls of the thousands killed in Japan in WWII, which drags this off the Creature Feature shelf of my DVD collection, and slips it into the Supernatural/Monsters section with the 1930's Universal Mummy and other such collections; a movie about which I am somewhat conflicted.
The set models are as bad (or as good) as ever, the field reporters sound like ring-side boxing commentators, and the Big G looks mahvellous in his new makeover. This is obviously due to Emmerick's Western Dragon/Jurassiczilla interpretation, but don't worry Big G fans; he's bigger, he's better, but most importantly, he's still our Big G, although Emmerich's influence is seen throughout this work in everything from a more complex story, through plot execution, monster concepts, to the superior effects. I previously thought allowing Emmerich to influence this line would be a bad move, but oddly enough, this is the only Godzilla movie in the franchise to receive the same 7.2/10 rating as the original here at IMDb!
This venture is as implausible as the rest, but that's one of the things that makes this line so darned fun. The bad dubbing, the cheesy dialog, the obvious models all add to the campy monster fun, but this time, there were some GREAT effects! They were much better than any previous installment, in my opinion, although the score was enough to drive you buggy!
This time the Big G relies heavily on his laser breath, to devastating affect! and with the appearance of some of our other Kaiju favorites, this installment is one of the absolute best! In my opinion, this is by far the best Godzilla movie made (and I love them ALL)! I highly recommend it!
At a Fiendish rating of 9.8/10 (on the B scale).
That's a solid 7.3/10 (on the A scale) from...
the Fiend :.
The first thing I noticed, and I noticed this right away, was that this was not the Godzilla of my childhood. Thankfully, this also was not Roland Emmerick's "Jurassiczilla," either. I was stunned and (at first) in denial. This was so much better than the Godzilla of my childhood! It starts out pretty much like any of the older ones. (The DVD, however, comes with two choices. You can get English-speaking voices with English subtitles, or you can choose Japanese-speaking voices with English subtitles. Personally, I prefer to understand what I'm hearing, but it's cool the other way too.) But it quickly becomes something more substantial and much better written, produced, directed, and executed.
All that having been said, what actually impressed me so with this movie is the effects quality and their treatment of the monsters. Considering they only spent 1,200,000,000 Yen (approximately $10,955,902.92 US), the effects were extremely well executed. I was enthralled with the treatment they gave King Ghidorah. What a spectacular sight! Not at first, but ... later on in the movie.
The story was easily followed, though not so much so as to put you to sleep.
The action sequences were not the kung fu styled cheese of the 60's and 70's. They were strategically orchestrated and executed with that certain Godzilla-like panache.
Some Big G purists, however, will tout this as the one we've all been dreading. OH, the movie's great, but this is the TOHO installment which validates Emmerich's Jurassiczilla by including a New York sighting of past Godzilla sightings in the opening, and then later on in the movie a commanding military officer asks, "Why Japan, again?! Couldn't he have picked on some other country?" to much laughter all around the table. The cabinet members ask repeatedly, "Why here?" as if they have forgotten that Japan is home to the Kaiju, and further cannot seem to recall that Godzilla was their protector for decades. He wasn't always the bad guy.
Also, Godzilla is now said to hold the souls of the thousands killed in Japan in WWII, which drags this off the Creature Feature shelf of my DVD collection, and slips it into the Supernatural/Monsters section with the 1930's Universal Mummy and other such collections; a movie about which I am somewhat conflicted.
The set models are as bad (or as good) as ever, the field reporters sound like ring-side boxing commentators, and the Big G looks mahvellous in his new makeover. This is obviously due to Emmerick's Western Dragon/Jurassiczilla interpretation, but don't worry Big G fans; he's bigger, he's better, but most importantly, he's still our Big G, although Emmerich's influence is seen throughout this work in everything from a more complex story, through plot execution, monster concepts, to the superior effects. I previously thought allowing Emmerich to influence this line would be a bad move, but oddly enough, this is the only Godzilla movie in the franchise to receive the same 7.2/10 rating as the original here at IMDb!
This venture is as implausible as the rest, but that's one of the things that makes this line so darned fun. The bad dubbing, the cheesy dialog, the obvious models all add to the campy monster fun, but this time, there were some GREAT effects! They were much better than any previous installment, in my opinion, although the score was enough to drive you buggy!
This time the Big G relies heavily on his laser breath, to devastating affect! and with the appearance of some of our other Kaiju favorites, this installment is one of the absolute best! In my opinion, this is by far the best Godzilla movie made (and I love them ALL)! I highly recommend it!
At a Fiendish rating of 9.8/10 (on the B scale).
That's a solid 7.3/10 (on the A scale) from...
the Fiend :.