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Film: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidorâ: Daikaijû sôkôgeki)
Year: 2001
Director: Shûsuke Kaneko
Writer: Keiichi Hasegawa, Shûsuke Kaneko and Masahiro Yokotani
Starring: Chiharu Niiyama, Ryûdô Uzaki and Masahiro Kobayashi
Review:
This film starts with military and government officials talking about Godzilla. I believe this is supposed to be a direct sequel to the previous one and Godzilla is back. It is thought to have attacked New York City, mocking the American 1998 version. The Japanese are not so sure it is Godzilla. There also was an American nuclear submarine that has gone missing. The Japanese are sending one of their own to find it. It catches a glimpse of a giant monster that looks like Godzilla, but it gets away.
We then meet film crew working on an island. The reporter is Chiharu Niiyama and she wants to do real news, but the station she works for isn’t one of the top ones and she does puff pieces. She tries to spice it up and with a little finesse; she is allowed to film it her way. There is also a strange man who appears, played by Hideyo Amamoto.
There are earthquakes that hit Japan and sightings of giant monsters. There is one that is burrowing into a tunnel and kills a motorcycle gang that is terrorizing the countryside. An old man in the truck sees it and thinks that it is Godzilla. It is really Baragon.
Another incident happens with hooligans robbing a store and going out into the water to kill a dog. Their boat capsizes and then a giant larva attacks them. This giant monster is Mothra.
Niiyama goes out drinking with a co-worker, played by Takashi Nishina. They are joined by a science writer, played by Masahiro Kobayashi. He comes with a book about the guardian monsters and gives it to Niiyama who is investigating the strange phenomena. She believes these monsters are awake to stop Godzilla.
Kobayashi takes her home and meets her father, who is very stern with him. Her father is played by Ryûdô Uzaki. In the morning we do see that he loves her very much and wants her to be safe. They have a good relationship.
A giant cocoon is found days after the attack on the beach and Godzilla strikes on land. He does battle with a smaller Baragon and uses his heat ray to destroy him. The military mobilizes to find a way to stop Godzilla. Amamoto gets brought in to custody and he is a prophet, talking about the guardian monsters that need to defeat Godzilla.
From the cocoon emerges Mothra. She makes her way to fight Godzilla. Amamoto also finds a cave where a man fell in. He knew there was something there and Amamoto puts a statue down next to an underground lake. It causes it to freeze over and from it emerges King Ghidorah.
Can the combine forces of the military, Mothra and King Ghidorah stop Godzilla or will he defeat them all and continue to reign supreme in the destruction of Japan?
This film is quite interesting to me. If this one is a direct sequel to the previous one, then it leaves a lot of large plot holes, with the first being, if the black hole weapon worked in the previous one, how did Godzilla get back to this time/dimension. This film also violates some of the previous mythology for Godzilla and King Ghidorah as well. If it is just a film that is following the original movie timeline, then a lot of this is moot then. I do like that this film keeps Godzilla as the evil monster he was in the original one. It does make it weird having King Ghidorah as a good monster. I believe this is the first film ever to do that. I think the battle scenes are good. It is fun watching Godzilla take everyone on and pretty much show how powerful he is. The acting surrounding it isn’t bad, but they don’t need to do much aside from fill in the back-story. I also thought the ending was pretty good.
My biggest issue has already been laid out for this film. If this one is not a direct sequel to the previous, then it is a non-factor. If it is, then there are a lot of plot holes and this film doesn’t make sense. It is also weird to see King Ghidorah as a good monster as well. It is odd, because so many of them have him being a monster from outer space that destroys planets. I also have issues that this film uses CGI. The film itself looks great, but the use of CGI makes some things look fake to me and I’m not a big fan.
Now with this said, I really liked this film. This one was one of the better giant monster films, due mostly in part to it having four do battle. I read that there were talks in bringing in two more, which would have been great to see. The battle scenes were good. The story surrounding the film is interesting, even though it does change the mythology around Godzilla and King Ghidorah. This one is definitely worth a viewing if you are interested in these types of films.
My Rating: 7 out of 10