Thiel-a-Vision Review: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

The absurdly awkward title (commonly abbreviated GMK for sanity's sake) is by far the worst thing about this, the 25th film in the Japanese Godzilla series. While giant monster movies are not high art, they're not easy to do well, and that's what makes this entry a cut above most rubber suit fests.

Toho Studios passed the reins of their franchise over to director Shusuke Kaneko, who had created a well-regarded trilogy of films with Godzilla's chief cinematic rival: the giant turtle Gamera. As with those earlier efforts, GMK brings much of the monster action down to street level; when 200-foot-tall beasts battle in the midst of a city, many innocent humans are caught up in the catastrophic carnage in ways not typically seen in previous Godzilla films.

The special effects are much improved, with judicious use of CGI augmenting--not replacing--the use of rubber monster suits. This allows for more dynamic camerawork, as well as more believable movement on the parts of flying creatures such as Mothra. The city destruction sequences are on par with those of the American Godzilla, at a fraction of the budget.

Story is never the strong part of a Godzilla film, but this one is better than most. As with other recent entries in the series, GMK ignores most of the previous sequels. In this revised history, Godzilla attacked Japan in 1954, and hasn't been seen since. The public was told that he was repulsed by Japanese defense forces, for if the populace knew that he was apparently killed by a rogue scientist (a nod to the original film), the military would lose face, not to mention funding. 

Godzilla, once a metaphor for the atomic bombs dropped during World War II, here becomes something else: an avatar of the many souls killed during the Pacific War, out for revenge against the Japanese people. (Kaneko abandoned the design of the modern Godzilla suit, opting for a sinister-looking one which more closely resembled the original.) Meanwhile, familiar Toho beasts Baragon, Mothra and King Ghidorah are recast as guardians of the Japanese islands--though not necessarily their inhabitants. The spiritual overtones work for the most part, giving purpose to what could have simply been brainless mayhem.

While the main human characters in a Godzilla film aren't very interesting, I found myself liking the heroine of this one: a plucky host of a cheesy "In Search Of" style pseudo-documentary TV series who rises to the occasion and transforms herself into an investigative reporter. Perhaps not coincidentally, there was a similar--though not as well-realized--character in the American Godzilla. (The opening scenes of GMK briefly refer to an attack on New York by a giant lizard: "The Americans said it was Godzilla, but all the Japanese scientists denied it.")

The picture is peppered with similar references for wary fans: for instance, when Mothra first flies over the city, among the witnesses are twin Japanese women who evoke the tiny princesses typically associated with the giant moth. In addition, Godzilla's appearance over a hilltop is a swipe from his very first on-screen arrival in 1954.

While GMK never quite achieves the gravity of the original Godzilla, or the monsteriffic lunacy of Destroy All Monsters, it's one of the very best of the series.

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