Okay, here we go...there are spoilers in this review, so please be aware.
Godzilla - Mothra - King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (GMK) is an excellent Godzilla film. (Partly) written and directed by Shusuke Kaneko, the director who revamped the Gamera series in the 1990s, GMK represents the high-water mark of the so-called "Shinsei" series of films that began with Godzilla: Millennium in 1999.
The film is necessary viewing for any Godzilla fan, and is also a good film to show neophytes and non-fans. It's fun, interesting, and has some excellent special effects. It also has what is possible the best monster fight in Godzilla history (the fight with Baragon).
That said...
I've been watching a few other Godzilla movies lately -- most recently GxMG -- and I've been thinking about GMK. And I think that, for a movie intended to be a Gamera-style revamp, Kaneko missed something very important.
For me, the most important thing about Godzilla -- the thing that makes him more than just another rubber monster stomping around a set...the thing that, no matter how good the films are, will always make Gamera second to Godzilla -- is his allegorical origin. Godzilla is a product, and symbol, of nuclear war. Ishiro Honda intended Godzilla's ray to be a living representation of a nuclear bomb. The destruction it leaves in its wake is the same destruction seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To be sure, many Godzilla films -- most notably Godzilla 1984 and Godzilla vs. Destroyer -- played up Godzilla's nuclear origins. And to be fair, GMK had the "atomic bomb" scene and the little bit at the end where Tachibana tells Yuri not to get too close until he's checked for radiation.
But what troubles me more is Kaneko's revision of Godzilla's origin. While throughout the Showa and Heisei series Godzilla's origin in nuclear devastation was generally acknowledged (more in some films than others), by adding the whole "souls of the dead soldiers" element, GMK removes a certain level of culpability on the part of humanity (and the U.S. in particular) in Godzilla's creation. By providing Godzilla with a more fantasy-based origin and motivation, the warning inherent in Godzilla's rampages is lost.
Now, I admit that imbuing Godzilla with the "souls of the dead" theme is as interesting and perhaps as poignant as the nuclear allegory. But, in my opinion, it's not truly Godzilla. More significantly, there's no narrative closure to the "souls" subplot -- apparently anthropomorphized dead soldiers can be destroyed (at least temporarily). While Kaneko's script seemed to be chiding Japan for forgetting its past, no one takes responsibility for that.
What's more, the Guardian Monsters are not summoned by respectful prayers or pleas for help, but by *accidental vandalism.* Why, when these teenagers have just accidentally defiled their shrines, would Baragon, Mothra and Ghidorah turn around and protect humanity?
Now, I still like GMK. Very much so. It has great production values and direction, and the story raises a lot of interesting questions. It also has one of my favorite physical and behavorial portrayals of Godzilla in any film. Unfortunately, the script isn't quite as developed as those for the Gamera films.
Godzilla - Mothra - King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (GMK) is an excellent Godzilla film. (Partly) written and directed by Shusuke Kaneko, the director who revamped the Gamera series in the 1990s, GMK represents the high-water mark of the so-called "Shinsei" series of films that began with Godzilla: Millennium in 1999.
The film is necessary viewing for any Godzilla fan, and is also a good film to show neophytes and non-fans. It's fun, interesting, and has some excellent special effects. It also has what is possible the best monster fight in Godzilla history (the fight with Baragon).
That said...
I've been watching a few other Godzilla movies lately -- most recently GxMG -- and I've been thinking about GMK. And I think that, for a movie intended to be a Gamera-style revamp, Kaneko missed something very important.
For me, the most important thing about Godzilla -- the thing that makes him more than just another rubber monster stomping around a set...the thing that, no matter how good the films are, will always make Gamera second to Godzilla -- is his allegorical origin. Godzilla is a product, and symbol, of nuclear war. Ishiro Honda intended Godzilla's ray to be a living representation of a nuclear bomb. The destruction it leaves in its wake is the same destruction seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To be sure, many Godzilla films -- most notably Godzilla 1984 and Godzilla vs. Destroyer -- played up Godzilla's nuclear origins. And to be fair, GMK had the "atomic bomb" scene and the little bit at the end where Tachibana tells Yuri not to get too close until he's checked for radiation.
But what troubles me more is Kaneko's revision of Godzilla's origin. While throughout the Showa and Heisei series Godzilla's origin in nuclear devastation was generally acknowledged (more in some films than others), by adding the whole "souls of the dead soldiers" element, GMK removes a certain level of culpability on the part of humanity (and the U.S. in particular) in Godzilla's creation. By providing Godzilla with a more fantasy-based origin and motivation, the warning inherent in Godzilla's rampages is lost.
Now, I admit that imbuing Godzilla with the "souls of the dead" theme is as interesting and perhaps as poignant as the nuclear allegory. But, in my opinion, it's not truly Godzilla. More significantly, there's no narrative closure to the "souls" subplot -- apparently anthropomorphized dead soldiers can be destroyed (at least temporarily). While Kaneko's script seemed to be chiding Japan for forgetting its past, no one takes responsibility for that.
What's more, the Guardian Monsters are not summoned by respectful prayers or pleas for help, but by *accidental vandalism.* Why, when these teenagers have just accidentally defiled their shrines, would Baragon, Mothra and Ghidorah turn around and protect humanity?
Now, I still like GMK. Very much so. It has great production values and direction, and the story raises a lot of interesting questions. It also has one of my favorite physical and behavorial portrayals of Godzilla in any film. Unfortunately, the script isn't quite as developed as those for the Gamera films.