Comments on: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monster All-Out Attack (2001) Movie Review http://www.beyondhollywood.com/godzilla-mothra-king-ghidorah-giant-monster-all-out-attack-2001-movie-review/ Hollywood, Indie, Asian, Foreign, Horror, and Genre Movie Reviews and News Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:27:33 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Craig D. http://www.beyondhollywood.com/godzilla-mothra-king-ghidorah-giant-monster-all-out-attack-2001-movie-review/comment-page-1/#comment-88981 Craig D. Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:59:58 +0000 http://www.beyondhollywood.com/?p=620#comment-88981 I like this movie a lot, but I can't jump on the "best Godzilla movie in decades" bandwagon that everyone else seems to be on. It's not even the best Godzilla movie in the Millennium series (1999-2004). The action is great, but it was improved in the very next movie and only got better, and what the hell is so special about the story is beyond me. I love how Godzilla is an outright villain again, and a vicious one at that, and the totally unique and original plot is refreshing. I'm fascinated by the idea of Godzilla being possessed by the souls of people who died in World War II and are angry about people today trying to forget about the past. But the movie never does anything with this idea after it's introduced. After Godzilla is defeated, there's no reason to believe that anything will change. It's not even suggested that anyone will start to acknowledge and respect the past. We see Yuri and her father saluting soldiers (and the guardian monsters) at the end, but they're only saluting the soldiers who helped to defeat Godzilla! Why spend so much time talking about why Godzilla is attacking if you're not going to address it? And the human characters, apart from being either extremely unlikable (the dickhead with the glasses) or just boring (almost everyone else), don't have any impact whatsoever on the plot aside from Yuri's father and his military team. Again, I think it's a damn good movie, but the praise that it gets for having a well-developed story and amazing action scenes is completely undeserved. I like this movie a lot, but I can’t jump on the “best Godzilla movie in decades” bandwagon that everyone else seems to be on. It’s not even the best Godzilla movie in the Millennium series (1999-2004). The action is great, but it was improved in the very next movie and only got better, and what the hell is so special about the story is beyond me. I love how Godzilla is an outright villain again, and a vicious one at that, and the totally unique and original plot is refreshing. I’m fascinated by the idea of Godzilla being possessed by the souls of people who died in World War II and are angry about people today trying to forget about the past. But the movie never does anything with this idea after it’s introduced. After Godzilla is defeated, there’s no reason to believe that anything will change. It’s not even suggested that anyone will start to acknowledge and respect the past. We see Yuri and her father saluting soldiers (and the guardian monsters) at the end, but they’re only saluting the soldiers who helped to defeat Godzilla! Why spend so much time talking about why Godzilla is attacking if you’re not going to address it? And the human characters, apart from being either extremely unlikable (the dickhead with the glasses) or just boring (almost everyone else), don’t have any impact whatsoever on the plot aside from Yuri’s father and his military team. Again, I think it’s a damn good movie, but the praise that it gets for having a well-developed story and amazing action scenes is completely undeserved.

]]> By: matt http://www.beyondhollywood.com/godzilla-mothra-king-ghidorah-giant-monster-all-out-attack-2001-movie-review/comment-page-1/#comment-88269 matt Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:41:28 +0000 http://www.beyondhollywood.com/?p=620#comment-88269 You must not have paid much attention to this film if you think its explanation of Godzilla is nationalistic. In the film, the characters who seem to understand what is going on best (The Professor and Yuri) clearly explain that Godzilla is animated BOTH by the angry souls of the Japanese who died in the war (and by implication in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as both soldiers and civilians are included in this) who are angry that the young have forgotten them AND by the angry souls of the Americans and Chinese who died in the Pacific part of the war as well. It's absurd to label it nationalistic for Godzilla to represent BOTH the amnesia of the young over the suffering of Japanese civilians and soldiers back then AND the guilt Japan has for beginning a war that killed American and Chinese soldiers. To use your own words, this absurdity of yours detracts from what could have been one of the best Godzilla film reviews but now slumps to third rate do to its jingoistic misunderstanding of a key thematic point in the film it claims to review. You must not have paid much attention to this film if you think its explanation of Godzilla is nationalistic.

In the film, the characters who seem to understand what is going on best (The Professor and Yuri) clearly explain that Godzilla is animated BOTH by the angry souls of the Japanese who died in the war (and by implication in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as both soldiers and civilians are included in this) who are angry that the young have forgotten them AND by the angry souls of the Americans and Chinese who died in the Pacific part of the war as well.

It’s absurd to label it nationalistic for Godzilla to represent BOTH the amnesia of the young over the suffering of Japanese civilians and soldiers back then AND the guilt Japan has for beginning a war that killed American and Chinese soldiers.

To use your own words, this absurdity of yours detracts from what could have been one of the best Godzilla film reviews but now slumps to third rate do to its jingoistic misunderstanding of a key thematic point in the film it claims to review.

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