Godzilla – Attack at Pacific Promo Scene

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Arleigh

It is just a week to go before the premiere of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and the marketing has begun to go into overdrive.

In addition to trailers and the latest tv spots, Warner Bros. has begun to release clips and behind-the-scenes to help announce the latest arrival of the King of Monsters.

We have here a brief clip that shows the Big Guy taking on the U.S. Navy as it tries to defend Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay it straddles. This marks two straight years that the Golden Gate Bridge has been threatened and/or destroyed by these damn kaiju.

Film Review: Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (dir by Ishiro Honda)

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“These monsters are as stupid as human beings!” — Detective Shindo in Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster.

With that above line, Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster stakes it claim to being one the best of the old Godzilla movies.

First released in 1964, Ghidorah was the fifth film to feature Godzilla. Historically, it’s important because it was the first film to feature Godzilla as a hero. Though he doesn’t quite assume the role of Earth’s protector that would define his later films, Godzilla is definitely presented as being the lesser of two evils. Godzilla’s previously threatening role was taken by the film’s title character. Ghidorah, a flying, three-headed dragon, would go one to become one of Godzilla’s most frequent foes and you can tell why from watching this film. Seriously, if anyone could be considered a worthy opponent to Godzilla, its Ghidorah.

Ghidorah!

As is often the case with the best of the Japanese monster films, Ghidorah’s plot doesn’t make a lot of sense but it’s still fun to watch. As the film begins, Detective Shindo has been assigned to protect Princess Selina of the fictional country of Selgina. And Selina needs the protection because Selgina is full of sinister men wearing elaborate, court jester-style costumes. They want Selina dead and they go so far as to plant a bomb on her airplane. However, right before the bomb goes off, an apparently possessed Selina jumps out of the plane.

Meanwhile, Prof. Murai leads a group of scientists through the wilderness, searching for a meteor that has crashed to Earth. Is the meteor somehow connected to the bomb on Selina’s plane? As a matter of fact it is. Now, to be honest, you’ll probably figure out what’s going on with the meteor long before Prof. Murai or any of his colleagues but director Ishiro Honda still does a good job of building up the suspense. You know what’s going to happen but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining when it actually does.

While Murai investigates that meteorite, a woman who looks exactly like Selina suddenly shows up in Japan, telling people that she is a Martian and predicting the end of the world. First, she predicts that Rodan, a prehistoric pterosaur who was believed destroyed in a previous film, will come back to life. As you can probably guess, that’s exactly what happens.

Rodan

Next, she predicts that Godzilla will rise from the sea and destroy a boat. Soon, Godzilla is destroying a boat and getting into a fight with Rodan. Finally, Selina predicts that Ghidorah will destroy the world. Soon, Ghidorah is flying over Tokyo and shooting bolts of lightning from his three heads.

Fortunately, Mothra the giant Moth happens to be in town and it falls to her to try to talk Rodan and Godzilla into teaming up with her to defeat Ghidorah. Unfortunately, Godzilla and Rodan really don’t see why they should waste their time trying to save humans. This leads to the film’s highlight — an extended argument between three monsters, conducted in angry roars and translated by the two miniature twins who live on Mothra’s island. (At one point, they reprimand Godzilla for cursing.) Watching these negotiations, a frustrated Shindo realizes that Godzilla and Rodan are just as stupid as human beings.

That scene (and Shindo’s realization) pretty much sum up everything that I love about Ghidorah. It’s a thoroughly over-the-top, occasionally rather silly film that also happens to be a lot of fun. The action moves quickly, the monsters are all truly monstrous, and the plot is so twisty that its impossible not to enjoy. Best of all, this film features Godzilla fighting his most worthy opponent. Ghidorah is both a classic monster and a classic film.

Godzilla, Rodan, Ghidorah, and Mothra

Film Review: Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (dir by Jun Fukuda)

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

With the latest version of Godzilla set to be released in a little over a week’s time, we’ve been taking a look back at some of previous adventures of the king of all monsters. Today’s movie is the 7th Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster.

First released in 1966 (and also known as Ebirah, Horror of the Deep), Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster opens with a young man named Ryoto who is desperately looking for brother, Yata. Yata is a fisherman who has gone missing at sea. Everyone else assumes that Yata is dead but Ryoto knows that if he can just find a boat, he can set sail and rescue his brother.

But where and how can Ryoto get a boat?

Well, Ryoto happens to spot a dance marathon being broadcast on television. First prize is a yacht! Ryoto runs down to the dancehall, just to discover that the contest has already been going on for three days and that it’s too late for him to enter.

(Incidentally, if you know how much I love to dance than you also know how much I loved the fact that this Godzilla film featured a random and somewhat senseless dance scene. Seriously, it was just so 1966.)

DANCE!

While at the dance, Ryoto meets Ichino and Nita, both of whom have already lost their chance to win the yacht. However, Ichino and Nita take sympathy on Ryoto and decide to take him to the docks so that he can see the yacht that he could have won if only he had been able to enter the contest. (If you’re thinking to yourself that this doesn’t make any sense and seems like an awfully complicated set up for a Godzilla movie — well, you’re right. Get used to it because this is about as logical as any of the characters in this film get.)

Our heroes.

Once they board the yacht, they’re confronted by a man named Yoshimura, who is carrying both a rifle and a briefcase full of money. As they stare at each other, a news report comes over the radio. It appears that there’s been a bank robbery. Yoshimura assures them that he’s not the bank robber and then, for some reason, invites them to spend the night on the yacht.

(I imagine that a lot of kids in 1966 were going, “Where’s Godzilla!?” at this point. Well, don’t worry. Godzilla will show up … eventually.)

When everyone wakes up the next morning, they discover that the yacht is now floating out in the middle of the ocean. That’s right — Ryoto has set sail and apparently, he just assumed that his three new friends would want to come along with him.

Anyway, long story short — the boat gets destroyed by a combination of a storm and a giant lobster (that would be Edirah) and our four “heroes” end up washed up on Devil’s Island. As they investigate their surroundings, they discover that the island is controlled by a terrorist organization known as Red Bamboo. (We know that Red Bamboo is evil because one of its leaders wears an eye patch.)

He’s bad.

Red Bamboo, it turns out, has been kidnapping the natives of Infant Island and putting them to work on Devil’s Island. Now, if you’ve seen any previous Japanese monster movies, you might know that Infant Island is also the home of Mothra, a giant moth who is occasionally Godzilla’s ally. The natives — both those who have been enslaved and those left on Infant Island — are busy praying for Mothra to come rescue them.

Mothra

At this point, you may be tempted to repeat, “But where’s Godzilla!?”

Don’t worry, Godzilla does eventually show up. It turns out that he’s on Devil’s Island, as well. However, he’s asleep. Our four “heroes” decide that the best way to defeat Red Bamboo and save the slaves would be to wake up Godzilla…

Okay, so this is a weird one. The film takes a while to get going, plot threads are raised and abandoned almost at random, and, once he does wake up, Godzilla doesn’t really act much like himself. (That could be because Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster was originally written to be a King Kong movie. That would certainly explain why Godzilla becomes infatuated with an escaped slave named Dayo.)

Godzilla and Dayo

But, with all that in mind, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster has its charms. In many ways, I would compare it to Godzilla vs. Hedorah, in that the film is hardly Godzilla at his best but, at the same time, it has enough odd moments to keep things interesting. Ebirah may not qualify as one of Godzilla’s best opponents but he still has his moments. His first appearance — in which a giant claw reaches out of the ocean to grab that stolen yacht — is undeniably effective. Meanwhile, Red Bamboo makes for an enjoyably silly organization of evil doers. They’re like an amazingly inefficient version of Hydra. Their island headquarters is the epitome of 1966 evil chic and you have to appreciate the fact that not even they seem to be sure just what exactly their master plan entails.

And finally, there’s that big dance number at the beginning!

Seriously, you can’t go wrong with a random dance number…

Film Review: Godzilla vs. Gigan (dir by Jun Fukuda)

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Godzilla and Friends

With the newest version of Godzilla scheduled to be released in another week and a half, we’ve been taking a look back at the some of the Big G’s previous adventures. On Monday, Arleigh paid tribute to King Kong vs. Godzilla. Yesterday, I reviewed the exquisitely odd Godzilla vs. Hedorah. And today, we take a look at the 12th film in the series, 1972’s Godzilla vs. Gigan.

Gengo is a cartoonist who has a lot of talent and a really kickass girlfriend who happens to have a black belt in karate. The one thing that Gengo does not have is a job because he can’t seem to convince any publishers to take a chance on characters like Shakura, a monster created from children’s discarded homework. (Personally, I would have loved to have seen a movie called Godzilla vs. Shakura.) However, things start to look up for Gengo when he is hired to help design an amusement park called World Children’s Land.

However, as Gengo quickly discovers, something is not right at World Children’s Land. For one thing, the park manager says that, as soon as the park opens and everyone sees Godzilla Tower, there won’t be any more need for the real Godzilla or any of his friends on Monster Island. Then, a young woman and her hippie friend approach Gengo and explain that the woman’s brother is being held prisoner somewhere in the park. Finally — and perhaps most seriously — it turns out that park is actually being managed by a bunch of cockroaches from outer space.

The roaches have taken human form (though they still cast cockroach shadows) and spend a lot of time talking about how much they want peace but make no doubt about it, they’re planning on conquering Earth and doing away with all of humanity. See, the roaches polluted their own planet and now, they’re looking for a new home. But, before they can conquer the world, they have to destroy Godzilla.

And so, the roaches summon two monsters from outer space. One of them is Ghidorah, a three-headed dragon who fought Godzilla in several films. And I do have to say that Ghidorah is a fearsome creature:

Ghidorah!

However, as impressive as Ghidorah is, his friend Gigan is even more impressive. Gigan is apparently a cyborg of some sort, complete with metal hooks for hands and a buzzsaw in his tummy. Check him out:

Gigan

Fortunately, Godzilla has an ally in his fight against Gigan and Ghidorah. Anguirus appears to be a giant armadillo and, judging from a scene where he and Godzilla have a conversation (!), he appears to be somewhat surly. However, Anguirus is simply too cute to be believed!

Awwwww! He’s not your typical armadillo!

Perhaps in response to the mixed reception earned by the frequently surreal Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan is a much more traditional Godzilla adventure. I would venture that if you asked most people to describe a typical Godzilla film, they’d probably describe Godzilla vs. Gigan. Aliens invade Earth, evil monsters destroy Tokyo, and eventually Godzilla swims over from Monster Island to save the day.

But traditional as the film may have been, I still enjoyed it. The monsters are memorable, the battle scenes are entertaining, and the cheap special effects (as well as the unapologetic use of stock footage) are far more charming than they have any right to be. Listen, if you’re watching a movie like Godzilla vs. Gigan and expecting a coherent script or Avatar-style special effects then you probably need to lighten up a little.

On a final note, Godzilla vs. Gigan was released in the States as Godzilla on Monster Island and I have to say that I really like the idea of Monster Island. Not only do all the monsters appear to get along as long as there’s no humans around but you have to appreciate the fact that Monster Island is exactly what it says it is (unlike, say, Greenland or Vermont). I mean, if you go to a place called Monster Island and get eaten by a monster, you really have no one to blame but yourself. Perhaps we need to set up a Shitty, Alcoholic Father Island or an Internet Troll Island so that we can keep all of the world’s real-life monsters separated from the rest of us.

Just an idea.

But until that happens, why not enjoy Godzilla vs. Gigan?

Film Review: Godzilla Vs. Hedorah (dir Yoshimitsu Banno)

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

With the new Godzilla film due to be released in two more weeks, we’re taking a look back at the Godzilla franchise here on the Shattered Lens. Yesterday, Arleigh reviewed King Kong Vs. Godzilla. Today, I’m taking a look at Godzilla vs. Hedorah.

First released in 1971, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is, to put it lightly, a weird freaking movie. Judging from the reviews and the comments that I’ve read online, it’s also widely considered to be one of the worst of the Godzilla films. I watched it earlier today and — well, yes, it’s not exactly Godzilla’s finest moment. However, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy Godzilla vs. Hedorah. It’s just such an odd movie.

When Godzilla vs. Hedorah was originally released here in the states, it was retitled Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster. That’s right! This is a Godzilla film with a message! And that message is “Stop polluting the planet or else a meteorite will crash into the ocean and cause all of the waste to take on sentient form.” And, just in case you can’t pick up on that message despite the fact that the film is about an actual smog monster, the movie’s theme song makes the message even more explicit. Both the theme song and the James Bondesque opening credits also serve to remind us that this isn’t your typical Godzilla movie.

(In the film’s defense, the song sounds a lot better when heard in the original Japanese.)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah starts out with a child named Ken who idolizes Godzilla and is worried about all of the muck that he sees floating in the water. “If Godzilla saw this,” Ken tells us, “he wouldn’t be very happy.” Ken also has dreams in which Godzilla arises from the ocean and uses his radioactive breath to set all of the world’s pollution on fire.

No sooner has Ken read an essay that he’s written about pollution then Hedorah comes to life and starts destroying Japan. Oddly enough, nobody in the film seems to be that upset about the imminent end of the world. However, according to Wikipedia, this was the 11th Godzilla film and I suppose that, after the 5th or 6th giant monster attack, it’s reasonable that people would adopt a somewhat blasé attitude towards them.

Anyway, Hedorah is destroying Japan by flinging around acidic sludge, a bunch of hippies decide that, seeing as how the world is doomed anyway, they might as well party on Mt. Fuji, and Ken’s father tries to figure out a way to defeat Hedorah. Meanwhile, Godzilla comes to the aide of humanity and you have to wonder why. The film implies that he’s been moved by Ken’s faith in him but, to be honest, Godzilla goes through this entire film looking somewhat annoyed by everything, including Ken. He’s willing to fight Hedorah but he doesn’t seem all that emotionally invested in it.

(If anything, Godzilla reminded me of how our cat Doc acts if he’s see a cat in the alley right before dinnertime. Doc might hiss once or twice but it’s pretty clear that his main concern is getting back inside so he can eat and then take a nap. The hissing is just to make sure the rest of us know that Doc’s not losing his touch.)

As I said before, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is not necessarily a good movie but it sure is strange! How strange is it? Well, let’s just take a look at Hedorah:

Personally, I think Hedorah looks more like Cthulhu than a smog monster but regardless, he’s certainly memorable.

However, there’s more to the strangeness of this film than just Hedorah. Godzilla vs. Hedorah was the first Godzilla film to be made in the 1970s and its obvious that director Yoshimitsu Banno wanted to make sure that his Godzilla film stayed up with the times. Hence, along with a heavy-handed political message, Godzilla vs. Hedorah features every single technique that was considered to be cutting edge in 1971.

Freeze frames?

This film’s got them.

Split-screens?

Hmmm…kinda. There’s a few scenes where — for no particular reason — we see a dozen or so tv screens, all featuring a dozen or so talking heads talking at once.

Hippies?

Hippies everywhere.

A random dance scene with groovy camera angles and gratuitous use of the zoom lens?

Yes. In fact, that was my favorite scene in the movie.

And, of course, there are the cartoons. Whereas modern movies would probably waste a lot of money on a lot of CGI to show us how Hedorah was created and grew, this movie shows us with random cartoons. And you know what? The cartoons are actually a lot more fun than any CGI ever could be.

In many ways, those cartoons perfectly sum up the appeal of Godzilla vs. Hedorah. They’re silly and a little stupid but how can you not enjoy them? Godzilla Vs. Hedorah isn’t exactly good but it’s definitely a lot of fun.

Guilty Pleasure No. 20: King Kong vs. Godzilla (dir. by Ishirō Honda)

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Arleigh

With the release of the new American reboot/remake/sequel of the classic 1954 Godzilla by Ishirō Honda, I thought it was high time I shared one of my guiltiest of all film pleasures growing up.

Godzilla and everything kaiju I ate up as a wee lad growing up during the 80’s. There really wasn’t anything on Saturday morning and afternoon tv other than reruns of badly dubbed Japanese monsters flicks and anime. One such film was Ishirō Honda’s very own King Kong vs. Godzilla. Yes, you read that correctly. The King of All Monsters fought the Eight Wonder of the World to decide once and for all who was the greatest giant monster of all-time.

The film itself wasn’t that great when I look back on it. Hell, even I had a sort of understanding even as an 8-year old kid that King Kong vs. Godzilla was a pretty bad film, but I still had a blast watching it. The film lacked in coherent storyline and important themes of man vs. nature and the psychological impact of the two atomic bombings of the US on Japan to end World War II wasn’t at all evident in this monster mash-up.

What the film had was King Kong fighting Godzilla. It was like watching two of the greatest icons of youths of my generation duking it out for our pleasure. It didn’t need to have a story or worry about whether it’s depiction of the natives on King Kong’s island was even remotely racist (it was so racist). All it needed to do was show everyone the very fight they’ve been waiting for. Fans of both monster wouldn’t have to wait forever to see the fight happen. This wasn’t going to be a dream fight never to happen like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

So, while King Kong vs. Godzilla was never one of the good entries in the Godzilla filmography (I think it was probably the worst) it more than made up for being one of the most campiest and entertaining entries in the Big Guy’s decades long history.

If there ever was a film from my youth that needs to be remade it would be King Kong vs. Godzilla and only Guillermo Del Toro should be chosen to direct it.

Scenes That I Love: Godzilla vs. Zilla from Godzilla: Final Wars

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This latest scene that I love is for all of you Godzilla fans out there! In this scene from 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, the original Japanese Godzilla takes on his American counterpart, Zilla. Needless to say, it’s not an evenly matched battle.

Zilla, of course, starred in Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla, a film that is often cited as being one of the worst of the 90s. Will the upcoming Godzilla film help to erase memories of Zilla? We’ll find out on May 16th!

For now, enjoy the original kicking the imposter’s ass!

Welcome to the Month of May

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to the month of May, which will hopefully be a lot better than April. Dance, Godzilla, dance!

Scenes I Love: Godzilla vs. Megalon

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Arleigh

It’s just 17 more days til the King of Monsters return to the big-screen. What better way to make a path for his triumphant return than showing you one of my favorite Godzilla scenes ever.

This scene was what got me totally hooked on Godzilla and his monster buddies. While Godzilla vs. Megalon was never one of the brightest stars in the history of the Big Guy’s filmography it definitely showed that Godzilla was more than just kicking and smashing buildings down and burning things with his atomic breath.

Say hello to the Godzilla’s Tail-Slide Double-Kick!

Trailer: Godzilla (Asia Edition)

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Arleigh

Gareth Edwards’ upcoming Godzilla film has been gaining some major hype and buzz since last year’s Comic-Con and with each new teaser and trailer that the studio releases. Yet, outside of more and more looks at the King of Monsters himself we really haven’t seen anything to tell us that there will be other kaiju in this film.

Well, this latest trailer released for the Asian market finally answers the question of whether Godzilla will be wreaking destruction on human cities by himself or doing so while fighting other kaiju. From this latest trailer we see several glimpses of other giant monsters with a flying one being the most obvious. Some think this could be a new iteration of Godzilla rival and sometimes ally Rodan, but I’m hoping that it’s something new and that Rodan and other famous kaiju from past Godzilla films get introduced in later films (if there’s to be any).

Godzilla is set for a May 16, 2014 release date.