Talkback: GMK - Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah (2001)

[LegendZilla]

I wonder... How would you incorporate Rodan into this movie's universe? I'd make him be tied with Native American Thunderbird myths.

[godzillalives88]

I wonder... How would you incorporate Rodan into this movie's universe? I'd make him be tied with Native American Thunderbird myths.

Similarly, I've always wondered how Varan (who I assume Ghidorah subbed in for) was supposed to be incorporated into the final battle and power up as it went along. Ghidorah's first power up lets him fly, and his second power up lets him fire electricity. Varan's first power up could've done the same, but what would his second power up have done? Would he have been given a beam weapon? Or did the originally scripted battle just play out a completely different way?

[GalacticPetey]

It's also possible the story would be told differently. I doubt it was as simple as take the script and replace every instance of Varan with King Ghidorah. I imagine more was changed than just swapping monsters.

[Godzillian]

It's also possible the story would be told differently. I doubt it was as simple as take the script and replace every instance of Varan with King Ghidorah. I imagine more was changed than just swapping monsters.

One of the changes that was made from GVA was dropping the maser cannon. Originally maser cannons were going to be used but dropped for more realistic military hardware

[godzillalives88]

It's also possible the story would be told differently. I doubt it was as simple as take the script and replace every instance of Varan with King Ghidorah. I imagine more was changed than just swapping monsters.

Most likely. It probably wasn't a find and replace job like Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster.

[KaijuDuke]

I wonder... How would you incorporate Rodan into this movie's universe? I'd make him be tied with Native American Thunderbird myths.

Given how the film tried to incorporate the Guardian Monsters into Japanese mythology, I suspect Rodan would have been reinterpreted as a phoenix, or Hou-ou, instead.

[LegendZilla]

I wonder... How would you incorporate Rodan into this movie's universe? I'd make him be tied with Native American Thunderbird myths.

Given how the film tried to incorporate the Guardian Monsters into Japanese mythology, I suspect Rodan would have been reinterpreted as a phoenix, or Hou-ou, instead.

And as Living Corpse said, he deserves to be treated as Godzilla's equal.

[Space Hunter M]

I've gotten a little fond of Godzilla's legit evil demeanor in this movie. He's not just malevolent, but he's also a complete dick about it. Some moments remind me of good old jerkass KinGoji, actually.

[Fishheads88]

King Ghidora is good. Even though in all the other movies he is bad.

[edgaguirus]

Godzilla was bad, so Ghidorah became good. These two must always be at odds in some way.

[Mechagigan]

Besides, a little bit of a different characterization never hurts. Ghidorah may usually be the axe-crazy villainous monster, but it's unique to see him more regal and heroic.

Besides, we got Kaizer just a few years later; and that was a pretty evil Ghidorah.

[GalacticPetey]

Besides, we got Kaizer just a few years later; and that was a pretty evil Ghidorah.

You mean a pretty dumb Ghidorah.

[Mechagigan]

Besides, we got Kaizer just a few years later; and that was a pretty evil Ghidorah.

You mean a pretty dumb Ghidorah.

Eh, opinions. I liked the design and how strong he was, as a final enemy, but I can see how he might be disappointing.

[KaijuDuke]

I wonder... How would you incorporate Rodan into this movie's universe? I'd make him be tied with Native American Thunderbird myths.

Given how the film tried to incorporate the Guardian Monsters into Japanese mythology, I suspect Rodan would have been reinterpreted as a phoenix, or Hou-ou, instead.

And as Living Corpse said, he deserves to be treated as Godzilla's equal.

Agreed, as a member of the Famous Four, Rodan deserves more respect than the Millennium era ultimately showed him (despite a pretty cool suit design for Final Wars). Besides, to me anyway, Rodan makes for a much more convincing and compelling rival for Godzilla than Mothra (who's been done to death by now).

P.S. I did like Mothra's stinger attack in GMK as well as her design, just to show I'm not totally harsh on her lol.

[Mechagigan]

I think Mothra's grown to be more of an 'equal' to Godzilla than Rodan. She's simply been against him in more films at this point than Rodan, even though it was once the other way around.

Besides, Mothra's 'peace' and Godzilla's 'destruction'; it plays better to have enemies stand for clearly different ideals than evil vs. evil, sometimes.

[edgaguirus]

I don't know. Syfy and Asylum have played off of evil vs evil in films with some success.

Just my opinion, but Mothra has seemed to weaken as an enemy for Godzilla recently. M vs G showed an octagenarian Mothra dominating the fight until her wing was injured. G vs M;BfTE had a Mothra with beams. This seems stronger on first thought, but Mothra would have lost without Battra's aid. In GMK and TSoS, Mothra fought well, but was no match for Godzilla. Rodan still seems the stronger of the two, despite the loss in GFW.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Mothra has never truly been a match for Godzilla. She's always been the underdog in those fights. She's died almost every single time they've fought. Not knocking Mothra either. Being the underdog is one of her defining traits and IMHO partially why fans gravitate towards her.

[Handsome Jack]

Recently seeing this film for the first time in a few years, I was rather let down. To me it had an Asylum/Syfy feel to it I did not like. I cant shake the feeling that the effects were the worst of the millenium series

[BooLugosi]

I LOVE this movie. Easily one of my favorites. I thought the movie had good dialogue and I enjoyed most of the human characters. While the script isn't Shakespeare, I actually cared for the main characters because they were fleshed out fairly well. The acting is pretty good from the main cast. They are pretty emotive and seem like they put their best effort. As for the secondary characters and random civilians acting?... Eeeeeh... Not one of its qualities but most Gojira movies don't have the best secondary characters. The special effects are easily some of the best of the series to me. They have a few hiccups but the movie's special effects are mostly pretty lifelike and realistic.(More so than the 2014 entry imho.) The CGI is pretty cringe-worthy on some parts but the practical effects more than make up for it. The cinematography is very good at giving everything a sense of scale and making dramatic scenes. The soundtrack, I have mixed emotions on. Part of me enjoys it for what it is but it does somewhat give me tonal whiplash at certain parts. I don't mind the electronic influence but I feel it could of been a tad bit darker. The movie reshapes the mythos a little bit more than I would of liked but I still really enjoy it for what it is. I prefer the kaiju(s) they used for the guardian monsters original origins but I feel the new origins work because they are incorporated fairly well. There is one thing that really bugs me though. The constant reviving of Ghidorah is so pointless. It should of just had him be revived once in the movie. I did greatly enjoy the new supernatural spin on Goji. It was used to explore new themes about the suffering that the Japanese government caused to civilians in WW2.

Overall, while flawed, it is one of the best in terms of quality in the entire series. 4/5

[Rodan]

Recently seeing this film for the first time in a few years, I was rather let down. To me it had an Asylum/Syfy feel to it I did not like. I cant shake the feeling that the effects were the worst of the millenium series

They're sadly not, though I don't think the movie's aesthetics do it any favor. There are lots of shots in both the human and monster scenes where the lighting just makes it look cheap. It's hard to pinpoint. The acting in certain scenes (anything involving the village mayor, the driver who sees Baragon, the biker gang, the TV station cast) is also unbelievably bad for a major release. I don't know if Kaneko told them to intentionally ham it up, but it does not mesh with the more realistic main characters or the self-serious plot.

It's a radical, radical step down from what Kaneko was doing in his Gamera films, so I can only lay the blame on some difference in Toho's production process. Or maybe just an artistic misstep.