Dan's Godzilla GMK review

Great review Dan, but I still find it very hard to take any Godzilla film seriously. Perhaps this will be the one to change all that, but I have my doubts...

And as far as the men in monster suits you mentioned, both the Predator and Alien suits were human sized. It's a little different when the man in the suit is supposed to be twenty stories tall.

Great review, but you bastards tease me. I click on the "available at Amazon UK" link to find the page for A Better Tomorrow. Guess I'll have to try and find a decent R3 site.

Fett, I got my copy from <a href="http://www.dddhouse.com" target="_blank">www.dddhouse.com</a> - it arrived from Hong Kong within a week, along with Volcano High, and even including postage it came to less than £18.

Pah! Where's your imagination? And besides, haven't you seen the Predator special edition? Kevin Peter Hall was twenty stories high.

I've never been a huge fan of Godzilla movies (heresy, I know) but this one sounds quite interesting. If it ever swims to R1 I'll be checking it out. Good review, Dan. And a good collection of funny captions.

I should point out that Ryan has reviewed this bad boy over at Creature Corner, and it was his review that prompted me to pick it up.

<a href="http://64.62.157.8/reviews/godzillagmk.php3" target="_blank">Rotten Review Here</a>

Sweet. Can we expect you to grace us with a review for VH as well?

Bloody marvelous review by the way. I dug it quite a bit myself, even though it's not a Destroy All Monsters : Revisited that was anticipated when the film was initially announced.

As a Godzilla-aholic... all I can say is: I WANT THIS NOW! Please, for the love of God, tell me this sucker will be Region 1 at some point soon! Just... LIE TO ME if you must, GODDAMNIT!

The association to the revitilized Gamera flicks made me absolutely turgid - Gamera, Guardian of the Universe slapped the snot out of me it was so good.

This is a must-have for me...

By sheer coincidence, I received my new Malata region-free DVD player with 4 DVDs, one being GMK, today.

I think my feelings can be summed up with one word: DAMN!!!

GMK offers some of the best monster fights *ever*. In many kaiju eiga, the monsters tend to not have any real strategy, making the fights more animalistic. In GMK, however, each monster has a clear strategy. Godzilla just pulls off some bloody awesome moves, one reminiscent of James Bond's dance with Fiona Volpe in THUNDERBALL. He shows great intelligence and intuition. And once the monsters make their first full appearances about a half hour in, the action does not let up. I must've yelled out "holy shit!" or "Damn!" about 20 times during the course of the movie. There are just so many amazing shots. The CGI isn't always top notch, but Gamera 3, which many consider to have the best monster movie FX work ever, had a few less-than-perfect CGI shots too.

One thing I like about Kaneko is his willingness to experiment. He took a fresh and interesting view on Gamera and does so here too. After the strict adherence to formula for the past 12 years, it's nice to see a change of pace, if just this one time. Fantastic stuff.

Yes Dan lay a VH review on us!

As soon as I figure out what in the name of holy fuck Volcano High was actually about, I may just do that.

It's funny really the more I watch the movie the more I have come to like it alot.

Which version did you get Dan Korean release or HK?

It looks like the HK version - it's the double disc edition, comes in a slipcase.

So...is GMK and Megaguirus worth buying a Region X for the PS2 {$25} so I can watch them?

If you like Godzilla movies, then YES.

Also, the disc is NTSC, not PAL as it says at the top of the review.

Actually I'm looking at getting it just so I can watch non-region discs...Did you see Godzilla vs. Megaguirus? What'd you think?

Was there a bamboo fight scene in the movie?

With a pretty faced Korean chick that had problems with her shirt buttons flying off?

nice review. love this flick. SO much quality wreckage. i was a little disappointed that the original Japanese audio track was only 2.0, but it actually sounded pretty great. worth every penny.

and i know i've said it before, but dddhouse is a fabulous money sponge.

It's a high school comedy. No wait, it's a Matrix spoof... no, a Japanese gakuen-manga influenced kung fu spectacle about a telekinetic bleached blond punk who's been kicked out of 8 schools for abusing his powers in class, enrolls in Volcano High as his final option, and gets caught up in the power struggles within its walls between the different student factions and the faculty over the acquisition of a sacred scroll hidden somewhere within, which grants its owner unlimited powers, or something to that effect.

That second in command kendo chick is kinda cute, no?

You are one focused individual Khitch but I am still trying to figure out whether or not that's a good thing for your wife!

I'm just impressed by how she manages to steal every scene she appears in, here and also in <strong>Guns and Talks</strong>.

Plus, she's just so cute!

I think when I was growing up I only caught the bad Godzilla movies, with the exception of the kickass original. So help me out here, Dan, you giant lizard expert you: what are your top 5 Godzilla movies of ALL TIME? Bearing in mind that I'll be doing my best to track them down and watch them, even in the barbaric wilds of Arkansas, USA...

Firstly, there is no such thing as a bad Godzilla movie. Well, apart from the US version. And Son of Godzilla. And the stock footage rip-off that was Godzilla's Revenge. As such, some of my favourites are probably the ones you saw. But anyway...

In no particular order:

Gojira (1954)
The original Japanese version from 1954. Don't settle for the Raymond Burr re-edit (which is still pretty good) as it chops about thirty minutes from the movie. The Japanese original tickles the two hour mark, and is an ominously serious disaster movie with only fleeting glimpses of the monster. It comes laden with about 500lbs of ironic subtext as well, as you'd expect from a movie about the mass destruction of Japanese cities by an unstoppable atomic force, made less than ten years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Godzilla vs Ebirah (1966)
Underappreciated gem in which Godzilla battles a giant lobster for the fate of a desert island. Utterly devoid of any intellectual baggage, it features one of the grisliest Godzilla fights ever, as Big G pulls the claws off Ebirah and bitchslaps him back to the cooking pot.

Destroy All Monsters (1968)
The definitive monster Royal Rumble. Made at the height of Godzilla's camp reinvention in the 60s, it features a huge array of giant beasties - including the excellent Spiga (a big spider) - being released from their prison on Monster Island and going apeshit around the globe.

Godzilla vs Hedorah (1971)
Also known as Godzilla vs The Smog Monster. This was the first Godzilla film I ever saw, and it was so freaky and weird I've been hooked ever since. Another semi-serious movie (pollution being the obvious issue this time) it not only features the creepiest monster - a gooey sack of muck and sewage that can fly and gas people - it also splices in some insane Japanese disco scenes and LSD-inspired animations.

Godzilla vs Mecha-Godzilla
Just a classic of the kaiju eiga genre, and most Western kids of my age first encounter with the idea of "mecha" and transforming super-robots. Scientists build a robot Godzilla to fight the real thing. Massive sci-fi carnage ensues.

I haven't included the more recent movies (which are the ones you're more likely to enjoy as they're camp-free and action-packed) simply because they're not my favourites. They're kick-ass movies, and in many ways superior to the "classics", but not my personal picks. From this period, I recommend:

Godzilla 1985
Godzilla vs Destoroyah
Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1990s version)
Godzilla Millenium
and, of course, Godzilla GMK.

Is there anyway to get this and other Jap Gojira flicks without having a credit card? I'm poor, and I only have Switch!

There may be some UK companies who you can buy import copies off, but I doubt you'd get them at the bargain prices you get in Hong Kong.

I'd have to add the 90s version of Godzilla vs. Mothra to any list of golden Godzilla films. There's a sequence about midway through where Godzilla attacks a ship towing the larval Mothra and then is in turn attacked by Battra that is simply one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. Damn good score too.

I'll be more than happy to let any Atlanta chewers who have a multi-region dvd player borrow GMK for a few days.

Okay...

I've scoured the internet, lately, looking for the poster for this...

I'm at a loss...I'm usually the one people go to to find stuff out there, but this time, I fail myself.

HELP! ANYONE?

<a href="http://www.monsters4u.com/mza/images/Godzilla/Movie_Posters/GodzillaMovie_Posters270484.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.monsters4u.com/mza/images/Godzilla/Movie_Posters/GodzillaMovie_Posters270484.jpg</a>

Not bad, but it's a bit hard to tack to a wall...

LOL! Classic.