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

[Godzilla 2000]

I love GMK, and I honestly think its one of the better movies in any era. I can understand some of the things people might take issue with, and the whole message of the movie is sort of lost on alot of viewers. But seriously, some of these haters seem to go out of their way to make tiny flaws seem like huge detriments that destroy the movie (i.e. Godzilla's "beer belly," the english dub, Ghidorah being a good guy, etc). C'mon people, just enjoy the movie and be glad Toho didnt spew out another "winner" like GxM. =/

[Tomzilla]

It's easily my favorite movie of the Millennium Era. It's so easy to get into as well. It's entertaining to both fans and non-fans alike. Some of my friends found the fantasy elements intriguing and the monster portrayals refreshing. This Godzilla film has legs and it'll continue to be the center of attention for many years to come. (Unless the 2012 American film is so much better, which it very well could be.)

[HedorahLives]

After a few extra viewings of GMK, here's some things that definitely bug me:

--Yuri and her dad. Sorry, I wasn't feeling it, at least not in the end. The entire "daddy, why do YOU have to be the one to do this dangerous thing" bit was straight from Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler in Armageddon and I didn't like it then either.

--Somewhat related to the previous gripe, I also hated Yuri's cheesy television speech while Godzilla and Ghidorah were clashing underwater. Seriously, there's a clash of the titans going on and Kaneko is wasting time with trite speeches.

--The mysticism. I know a lot of people like it and I can certainly appreciate a new angle, but the whole thing was kind of muddled. Actually, it was essentially simple (Baragon, Mothra, and Ghidorah are basically King Seezar split into three), but it lead to many scenes of the main characters offering convulted explanations to the film's happenings. "Maybe there's different souls in Godzilla's body!" "Maybe the monsters only want to protect the rocks and trees!". Sorry, that stuff is cheeseball mysticism at best and incoherent mumbo jumbo at worst. Simplicity helps.

--People constantly dying. I'm actually half and half on this. On one hand, it's a more realistic step to see people get crushed in a kaiju flick. On the other hand, all the deaths were pretty much meaningless and more used for comic effect. I prefer it when there's an actual storyline reasoning behind an onscreen death, like the two businessmen in Mothra '64 or Shindo from Ghidorah '91. Used in the right places, it's great, but I feel like Kaneko overdid it. By the time all those soliders were dumbly getting blown away in the final battle, I just didn't care anymore.

--Yuri's dad should've died. C'mon, he was INSIDE HIS BODY while he used Godzilla used his atomic breath twice.

--Baragon was great and I also dig the demonic incarnation of Godzilla, but Mothra and especially Ghidorah seemed stripped of their personalities. This is understandable, since Toho demanded their presence, but these are still easily my least favorite versions of each monster yet.

Anyway, a pretty enjoyable movie, but not a favorite of mine.

[JVM]

Man, is it just me, or have alot of assholes been coming out of the woodworks lately?

This is a message board, not to mention one for Godzilla. Pretty much nine out of ten people in or on either are assholes, lol

@HedorahLives: I'd dissect your post and explain to you why you're probably wrong but I haven't watched GMK in ages and will leave it to someone better than I am at debating.

[TokyoVigilante]

--Somewhat related to the previous gripe, I also hated Yuri's cheesy television speech while Godzilla and Ghidorah were clashing underwater. Seriously, there's a clash of the titans going on and Kaneko is wasting time with trite speeches.

while most of your points are just a matter of personal taste, I do have to contest this one. Yuri's speech is one of the things that kept the drama of the scene moving forward. KG and Godzillas underwater fight is probably one of the worse Godzilla fights put to film. It consisted of KG sitting on Godzillas back pretty much the entire time and wouldve stopped the movie dead if it became the focus.

[HedorahLives]

--Somewhat related to the previous gripe, I also hated Yuri's cheesy television speech while Godzilla and Ghidorah were clashing underwater. Seriously, there's a clash of the titans going on and Kaneko is wasting time with trite speeches.

while most of your points are just a matter of personal taste, I do have to contest this one. Yuri's speech is one of the things that kept the drama of the scene moving forward. KG and Godzillas underwater fight is probably one of the worse Godzilla fights put to film. It consisted of KG sitting on Godzillas back pretty much the entire time and wouldve stopped the movie dead if it became the focus.

..except Yuri's speech was horribly trite and it slowed the entire climax to a near halt anyway. Maybe it's because the guardian monster storyline as a whole fell flat for me in general. The movie did regain some momentum once it got back to the Godzilla/Ghidorah underwater struggle, which eventually led to Godzilla's self-destruction. I just found myself groaning whenever Yuri opened her mouth for the last half hour of the film. A character with such potential in the beginning just wound up being a flat action movie stereotype.

[KaneLocke]

he movie did regain some momentum once it got back to the Godzilla/Ghidorah underwater struggle, which eventually led to Godzilla's self-destruction. I just found myself groaning whenever Yuri opened her mouth for the last half hour of the film. A character with such potential in the beginning just wound up being a flat action movie stereotype.

How the Hell does the single most boring fight of the movie "regain momentum?" I get the whole dislike of Yuri thing, but the movie would've felt flat and incomplete without that speech. I just can't see how the speech grinded the movie to a halt. It was certainly not the best speech of the film, but even that was far more engaging than that so-called "battle" underwater.

[HedorahLives]

he movie did regain some momentum once it got back to the Godzilla/Ghidorah underwater struggle, which eventually led to Godzilla's self-destruction. I just found myself groaning whenever Yuri opened her mouth for the last half hour of the film. A character with such potential in the beginning just wound up being a flat action movie stereotype.

How the Hell does the single most boring fight of the movie "regain momentum?" .

Ghidorah gets blown to pieces and we get that "fantastic journey inside Godzilla" sequence that Toho has been wanting to do since at least the 1970s. I'd call that regaining momentum. I was talking about the film in general, not the fight per se.

[SuperSaiyan4Godzilla]

Ernest films are more engaging than the climax of this film.

[Mini-Godzilla]

Yeah, I've found that no matter how much tolerance I build for the rest of this movie, I still cannot stay awake for that dull final fight. Then again, how many good Godzilla fights have we seen in the last 3 decades? Few if any.

[KaijuMaster]

he movie did regain some momentum once it got back to the Godzilla/Ghidorah underwater struggle, which eventually led to Godzilla's self-destruction. I just found myself groaning whenever Yuri opened her mouth for the last half hour of the film. A character with such potential in the beginning just wound up being a flat action movie stereotype.

How the Hell does the single most boring fight of the movie "regain momentum?" .

Ghidorah gets blown to pieces and we get that "fantastic journey inside Godzilla" sequence that Toho has been wanting to do since at least the 1970s. I'd call that regaining momentum. I was talking about the film in general, not the fight per se.

I think that idea was an original idea for Godzilla vs Destoroyah. I defenitly heard it being talked about during the Heisei series.

[HedorahLives]

Yeah, I've found that no matter how much tolerance I build for the rest of this movie, I still cannot stay awake for that dull final fight. Then again, how many good Godzilla fights have we seen in the last 3 decades? Few if any.

I guess we just have different tastes because I think fight scenes improved post-Showa when Godzilla became more animal and less humanistic. That said, some of the best moments of the last twenty years has been when Toho screwed the rules and indulged in some silliness. Thus I submit to you:

--vs Biollante, tooth vs toothy vines
--vs Ghidorah in '91, their best clash, imo
--vs Mechagodzilla in '93 and Destroyah '95. Technically limited compared to today, but imo, dramatic as kaiju battles have ever been
--vs Megagurious. The undisputed highlight of that movie. We get the fastest opponent that Godzilla has ever fought and a flying leap that ranks with Showa moments of grand absurdity.
--vs Baragon. A total kaiju ass kicking.
--vs Kiryu and Mothra in '03. I watched this yesterday and I might rank this as the best monster brawl in the last ten years. Flawless execution and the return of the classic Mothra. Easily the best Mothra/Godzilla clash since the original.
--vs Rodan, King Seezar, and Angurius at Mt. Fuji. Again, this goes for Showa-esque absurdity and suceeds. The "pile up" ending may be cheeky, but I'll be damned if this whole sequence wasn't a major mark out moment for me. It was brief, sure, but pretty much perfect.

[JVM]

Yeah, I've found that no matter how much tolerance I build for the rest of this movie, I still cannot stay awake for that dull final fight. Then again, how many good Godzilla fights have we seen in the last 3 decades? Few if any.

Who gives a skreeonk about the fights? The movies have sucked in the past three decades, and anyone who comes on the board claiming they only watch for monsters is burned at the stake anyway, lol

[Gigan X3]

Yeah, I've found that no matter how much tolerance I build for the rest of this movie, I still cannot stay awake for that dull final fight. Then again, how many good Godzilla fights have we seen in the last 3 decades? Few if any.

Who gives a skreeonk about the fights? The movies have sucked in the past three decades, and anyone who comes on the board claiming they only watch for monsters is burned at the stake anyway, lol

It seems like they make movies only for the fights since Heisei with such laughable acting and such crappy story lines.

With very few exceptions, You don't really care for the characters unless it's Showa.

[KaneLocke]

Yeah, I've found that no matter how much tolerance I build for the rest of this movie, I still cannot stay awake for that dull final fight. Then again, how many good Godzilla fights have we seen in the last 3 decades? Few if any.

Who gives a skreeonk about the fights? The movies have sucked in the past three decades, and anyone who comes on the board claiming they only watch for monsters is burned at the stake anyway, lol

Oh, I don't watch them for the story. I don't skip it, but it's all about the monsters and the music. The story is a nice backdrop and gives a reason or two for the fights, but story went out a long time ago in the franchise.

[Mini-Godzilla]

It seems like they make movies only for the fights since Heisei with such laughable acting and such crappy story lines.

Why do you think that I generally avoid the 90's films? The 00's films at least tried to fix the characterization problem.

[SuperSaiyan4Godzilla]

I think anyone who tries to avoid any Godzilla film, and claims to be a fan, is in denial and pretensious.

[Arrow]

Meh, I don't really watch the '90s films either (or '80s films for that matter). GMK and Godzilla 2000 are the only post-Showa movies I bother with. I'm a fan of some Godzilla films and not others.

[JVM]

I love all Godzilla films except GFW, lol

[GodzillaDude]

I love all Godzilla films except GFW, lol

Oh yeah no one knew that lol