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

[Goji]

Probably because Ghidorah has always been bigger than Godzilla in the past. Rodan, was always roughly the same size in the Showa era, not smaller.

[Rody]

I don't think Rodan suffered from being small; he still gave an impressive fight. Ghidorah, on the other hand, should be superior to Godzilla in almost every way, so seeing him smaller & weaker than Goji was almost an insult to the character.

My apologies about the Higuchi mistake. I think my point about lack of time still stands, though.

[Goji]

I don't think Rodan suffered from being small; he still gave an impressive fight. Ghidorah, on the other hand, should be superior to Godzilla in almost every way, so seeing him smaller & weaker than Goji was almost an insult to the character.

My apologies about the Higuchi mistake. I think my point about lack of time still stands, though.

My bad Rody, I meant no disrespect regarding who did the SPX for GMK. I just thought you guys would like to know

[Giga Kaiju]

At first i didnt like this movie but now is easily one of my top ten favorites.
The SPX is one of the best in the Millenium series.

[Tim85]

This is one of my favorite Godzilla movies. When I first saw it on Sci-Fi, I didn't care for it. It wasn't until I saw the Japanese version on DVD did I really enjoy it.
It still pisses me off that I can't get the volume to play when I use the downloaded subtitles on my laptop. They played great on my old one but for some reason it won't play the volume.

Anyways, after catching only a the first hour of it twice on Encore Action recently, I took it to work and watched it on my lunch hours. It's been a long time since I saw it and forgot how much I enjoyed it. I still love the opening theme, I get goosebumps every time I hear it and the theme that plays when Godzilla first arrives. The whole Ghidorah being a hero thing doesn't bother me. Never has. I really loved how evil Godzilla was portrayed with the no pupils in the eyes.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Won't play the volume?

[Tim85]

Won't play the volume?

Opps, I meant audio. It plays the movie and the subtitles fine, just no sound. The volume is at 100 and not on mute.

[RedZillaKing]

King Ghidorah just didn't fit in this movie, IMO. He (and to a lesser extent, Mothra) just felt tacked on. Throwing in two lesser opponents would've made this film loads better. Ghidorah needs his badassery restored.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Won't play the volume?

Opps, I meant audio. It plays the movie and the subtitles fine, just no sound. The volume is at 100 and not on mute.

Okay. Just wondering, I thought maybe a volume was some sort of DVD image file thing, that's why I was confused. :shrugs: Thanks.

[Tim85]

Won't play the volume?

Opps, I meant audio. It plays the movie and the subtitles fine, just no sound. The volume is at 100 and not on mute.

Okay. Just wondering, I thought maybe a volume was some sort of DVD image file thing, that's why I was confused. :shrugs: Thanks.

No problem. I just wish James posted more so I could ask for some help. It's too bad he couldn't update it for the newer systems.

[GreenScar]

King Ghidorah just didn't fit in this movie, IMO. He (and to a lesser extent, Mothra) just felt tacked on. Throwing in two lesser opponents would've made this film loads better. Ghidorah needs his badassery restored.

Like the original idea of having Anguirus and Varan instead of KG and Mothra. That would have been perfect! IMO

[Rody]

Actually, I think Mothra fits in this film pretty well. She was always a mystical, deity-esque kaiju, and a rather frail one at that; so she didn't really suffer from the GMK treatment. In fact, she survived a direct blast from Godzilla's heat beam! That's pretty impressive for her.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

I'm always up for some Mothra, but I do think she fits into the GMK universe exceptionally well. I missed the Shobijin, but not too much.

[RedZillaKing]

King Ghidorah just didn't fit in this movie, IMO. He (and to a lesser extent, Mothra) just felt tacked on. Throwing in two lesser opponents would've made this film loads better. Ghidorah needs his badassery restored.

Like the original idea of having Anguirus and Varan instead of KG and Mothra. That would have been perfect! IMO

Hell yeah. The fact that they substituted the two popular monsters for who Kaneko really wanted actually manages to kill some of the enjoyment for me.

[Bentley]

As some others said, KG just doesn't feel as if he was KG, many other lesser kaiju could've filled that role as well. Mothra was fine, although it was still far from her own mythology, at least she had good moments. The puppet wasn't the best from that era.

The film is good enough to let pass KG and Mothra as some loose adaptations of themselves. Godzilla was hardcore, the story was good. The only claim is that they should restore KG's majesty and power, but this is far from the only film that hurts that notion.

[Biollante]

Am I the only one that thinks King Ghidora looks weird in this movie? Guy has a mean case of scoliosis.

[Kaiju-King42]

As some others said, KG just doesn't feel as if he was KG, many other lesser kaiju could've filled that role as well.

Which is exactly why I dismiss him as a different Ghidorah, apart from KG, just as Death, Grand, and Kaizer are different Ghidorah's. Unlike the other's however, "Guardian" Ghidorah is a good guy.

[Chris55]

Am I the only one that thinks King Ghidora looks weird in this movie? Guy has a mean case of scoliosis.

He wasn't fully "baked" yet. He looked like a dragon named "Larry" or something.

[GreenAiden555]

Am I the only one that thinks King Ghidora looks weird in this movie? Guy has a mean case of scoliosis.

He wasn't fully "baked" yet. He looked like a dragon named "Larry" or something.

Oh my god I just died laughing

Considering watching this again, but with subs instead... But I have no motivation, because I find the movie boring now.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

You know...I don't get why there is a sudden distaste for GMK. It feels like less than a year ago, it was one of the best Godzilla films and clearly the best one since Godzilla vs. Biollante, with how it took the basic ideas and concepts of Godzilla, but decided to retell it with a unique perspective. But now, it's been falling like crazy and seems to be getting a lot more hate than it deserves. This is just something I'm not understanding. Why is GMK now getting worse?

My feelings about the film haven't changed at all. I still believe it's not only the best Millennium Godzilla film, but is one of the best films since the end of the Showa era, only topped by Godzilla vs. Biollante. Compared to the other Millennium films and bad Heisei films, like Godzilla X Megaguirus, Godzilla: Final Wars, Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, and even Godzilla 2000, this is just a much better film. A story that draws the audience in and keeps it interested, characters that are flawed, but relatable, fight scenes that aren't too long to the point where they get boring, but aren't short either, and a story world that is probably the best part of the film, where I actually feel like I'm part of the fight against Godzilla.

I think the main complaint I've seen against the film is that Mothra and King Ghidorah don't fit in the film, because these parts weren't written for them. To which I have to say: that's not fair. It's not fair to say this film would have been better with Anguirus and Varan over Mothra and King Ghidorah, and think less of the film because of that. That's not the film's fault, not is it Kaneko's fault, so don't blame the film or Kaneko. Blame Toho for forcing Kaneko to put in Mothra and King Ghidorah. A film should be able to stand on it's own merits. Therefore, I don't care if the roles of Anguirus and Varan were switched with Mothra and King Ghidorah at all. And for what it's worth, I think that Mothra and King Ghidorah work for their respective roles in the film (as well as Baragon and Godzilla). Really, I'm not too picky when it comes to monsters playing certain roles in a film like this, to the point where I would have been fine with Hedorah and Titanosaurus playing those roles, so long as it's done well.

King Ghidorah playing the good guy? Pfft, I don't care. As long as Godzilla and King Ghidorah are against one another, I couldn't care less who is playing which role. In fact, considering the Godzilla they were going for in this film, I think King Ghidorah works as a good guy. If they had to have Godzilla fight King Ghidorah, and you want Godzilla to return to same kind of monster he was in 1954, then I don't see any other way to do it, other than have King Ghidorah be the good guy.

Making the monsters that Godzilla fights appear weak to make Godzilla look stronger? Again, I don't care. As long as the fights in the film are fun and interesting to watch, they can do whatever they want to the monsters for all I care. And the fights in GMK are by far the best of the Millennium series, and even better than most of the Heisei series. The pacing is great, each fight feels different than the last and the effects, while at times aren't great, get the job done and don't come off as incompetent, lazy, distracting or face-palm worthy. If King Ghidorah is smaller and clearly weaker than Godzilla, I don't see how that would make the film any worse, so long as the fights are still well done.

Now, I'm not saying that GMK is amazing and just as good as Godzilla, or even that it doesn't have any problems. Because while I do very much enjoy the film, it still has it's share of problems. Yuri can be annoying at times, as really doesn't seem to fit in the world that this film wants to portray, along with most of the non-military side characters. And the main concern of the film, that modern day Japan has forgotten the sacrifices made by the people who lost their lives in WWII, only really works if you live in Japan or are very familiar with current affairs and problems of present-day Japan, and also makes the film incredibly dated at times. However, I'd say that the pros easily outweigh the cons of this film, to help create one of the better monster films made in the last 30 years.

Overall, GMK is pretty damn good film, and I'm completely confused by all of the distaste that is coming from this film as of late. Almost all of it really comes off as undeserved and unwarranted. GMK may not be nearly as good as some of the gems of the Showa era, but it is leagues above all the other Millennium and most Heisei films. For that, I believe that GMK deserves all of the praise that it gets.