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Tape Reviews
Godzilla Movie Five-Some!
Posted by Tony Jaymz on Jul 3, 2003, 18:37
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Every writer on TSM has a particular quirky love. Bryan Staebell loves NWA:TNA, and has been loyal to them since the start. Patrick Spoon loves the hot Australian chick whose name I can�t remember. And Nik Johnson loves the cock...I mean, I only sorta like it but Nik loves it*! And I love big green giant lizards that blow blue burning breath and knocking down buildings. That�s right, Godzilla! So, let�s pop in some monster bashing, small twin loving, freaky monster from planet X goodness.
*Note: feud is not real...all friendly rivalry...so Nik�s pimps stop emailing me, saying how you�ll man-bitch he-pimp slap me. Thank You.
Godzilla:King of The Monsters(w/ Glorious Black & White)
For those of you who don�t know about Godzilla, here�s a short bio: In 1954, the Japanese film company Toho struck an idea that was simple, and yet spectacular. What if the A-Bombs� radiation affected animal life, like a lizard, and caused that animal life, such as a lizard, to grow to great heights, and have powers like Sonic Breath? With Japan still feeling the effects of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a movie addressing the issue of the Atomic Bomb would be met with open eyes. Thus, Gojira was born. The success of the movie brought it to America, where it was redubbed, reedited, and in some places, reshot with American footage. The movie is about American Reporter Steve Martin( Raymond Burr) investigating a series of mysterious disasters off the coast of Japan. Sooner rather than later, him and the whole world realize that this is because of Godzilla, a monster created from the H-Bomb testing. Steve Martin lives through the horror, as the bay of Japan is torn to shreds and lives is lost. It seems that a brilliant Japanese scientist has the answer to save Japan, and maybe the world. But it is a weapon far more dangerous than the H-Bomb, the Oxygen Destroyer. The question is, what is more dangerous: Godzilla or man with the technology like the Oxygen Destroyer. The film holds up today, as it is basically Man facing the consequences of man. We brought Godzilla upon ourselves, and we must deal with it. This is why Godzilla �98 sucked: The original was great because it played on what was goining on at the time in the world. Not only was Japan afraid and curious, but so was the whole world. The threat of nuclear war was on the verge for nearly 4 decades, and this film highlights those fears without being preachy. Godzilla �98 was just a movie about a monster. Godzilla: King Of The Monsters was about a monster brought together because of Man. Big difference. Great movie, regardless of genre.
Godzilla vs. Mothra
Most people don�t know it, but Mothra was in movies before this one. In this one, a storm washes a huge egg ashore Japan, and of course greedy businessmen want a part of it. They want to make the egg a tourist attraction of sorts. The Twins, two small little women who are the ambassadors of Monster Island, whose god was a huge moth-like creature of benevolence, plea the Japanese to return the egg to Mothra, where it belongs. Of course, they are assholes, so they say no. Even when the human good guys plea too. That�s a lot of pleaing you know. The Twins return home, defeated.
And just like that, Godzilla returns. The Japanese ask the Twins for Mothra�s help, whom the twin have a telepathic link to. Those greedy assholes don�t deserve it, but because the egg is in Japan, Mothra agrees. Huge battles occur, between Godzilla and the Army and Godzilla and Mothra. Eventually it all comes down to what is inside the egg that saves the day....but I won�t give that secret away. This film had less of a underlying message than the original, and was more of a movie-movie, but the storytelling is topnotch, as you feel bad for Mothra and The Twins, having to help out people whom reject them. This would also be the last movie that Godzilla was a main villian.
Godzilla vs. Monster Zero
And Planet X debuts! The movie tells the story of Fuji and Glen, whom discover that Planet X is inhabited by super-intelligent beings who live underground because they are under attack.. They are under attack by a monster called Ghidorah, a three headed beast with the ability of electro shocking. The Aliens want Earth to send Rodan and Godzilla to Planet X to destroy the monster. They promise technology in exchange for the monsters. The astronauts report back to Earth, but the aliens take the monsters before an answer is given. The astronauts, questioning the aliens, snoop around and realize that they are bad! They established mind control on eth three monsters to destroy Earth. The Japanese reversed the mind control thanks to a brilliant scientist, and Rodan and Godzilla go face to face with big bad three headed monster. This film reenforced Godzilla�s new role of good guy, and for the time was a technical masterpiece. The story wasn�t so good as the other two, but top notch none the less.
Godzilla's REVENGE
Probably the most un-Godzilla movies in the Godzilla movie line, this movie is about a Japanese(or is it Canadian?)kid running and dodging from bullies and bank robbers. When he gets home he has dreams about Minya, Godzilla's son( or is it Chris Benoit?) who is having his own problems with a monster bully on Monster Island...home of Monsters! Together they overcome bullies, bank robbers, and cause a workman to fall off a ladder, proving theys be some bad mamma jammas. This movie is considered the drizzling shits of all the movies, as it didn't have anything to do with any other movie, and it was basically a film aimed at little kids. HOWEVER, what makes this movie worth watching is it's realism. Now I know foiling banks robbers and the like aren't realistic, but Japan here is. In the other movies, Japan is depicted as a uptopia of sorts, with a strong army and a long line of genius scientists. Not to mention they are the world leaders when it comes to space technlogy. But in this film, Japan is Japan as it was in 1969. A Japan where latch-key kids have to protect themselves, while their parents work at blue-collar jobs trying to makes ends meet. The kid has a reason to dream about monsters and the such. In terms of Godzilla movies, this isn't the best, but for a view of Japan coming back from the low depths it had reached in World War 2, it is worth looking at.
Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla
Godzilla, now a good guy and all, comes back to Japan and starts tearing it up. Then another Godzilla shows up, attacking the first. Que? In the battle, cheap-o paint scraches off, and the first one...is a robot! This is of course because of meddling aliens. The only aswer is for the human heroes to summon King Seesar, a lion-like god. So Seesar and Godzilla clash against Mecha-Godzilla, with each side getting in their blows. Godzilla actually outsmarts Mecha-Godzilla in the end...and confirms his status as Earth's champion. This movie was one of the few that basically established Godzilla as a sentinent being and not a dumb dinosaur. I looked for but I couldn't find mush deep meaning, but it was a hell of a fun ride.
That�s a Wrap
Those Five films were not consecutive sequels, as Godzilla vs. King Kong and Godzilla Raids Again came before these two, and some movies where inbetween others. The great thing about the Godzilla movies was they took on social issues without pushing it down your throat. From pollution to child-plight to the original A(H)-Bomb=Bad. Even though there have been 15 Godzilla movies, only the original Godzilla: King of The Monsters, Godzilla 1985, and Godzilla:2000 were true sequels. The other films are considered in a universe all their own. Rodan, Mothra, Ghidorah etc. all had movies of their own, which were successful in their own right. All five of the above movies were directed by the original film director, Inoshiro Honda, who is considered the best director of Godzilla movies, and in my opinion, monster movies in general. I urge you to check out his movies.
I hope you enjoyed this, one of my guilty pleasures. Hopefully, if the response is good, I can do more. I also hope to do �History of..� articles of movies, wrestling years, etc.
Tony Jaymz
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