Godzilla contra King Ghidorah

Time travel movies mess with my head. However, GOJIRA VS KINGUGIDORA is the only time travel movie I can follow. To a certain extent. Like, when Big G has been erased from time, why do the Japanese folks still talk about him?

Godzilla is easily at his best here, with his battles with King Ghidorah, the JSDF and their maser tanks and when he gives Sapporo and the Shinjuku distrcit a lovely pounding. Best bit: Big G torching Shindo.

King Ghidorah is good in this movie, but his fight with the jets is not very good. I think the ultimate Ghidorah would be a cross between this one and the Ghidorah from MOSURA 3.

Koichi Kawakita does a lovely job on the special effects. I always prefer Godzilla to battle at night, as that's when the opticals (eg Godzilla atomic heat beam) are at their best.

Akira Ifukube really breathes life into this movie, especially with the use of the Godzilla theme on the end credits.

Roll on GOJIRA VS MOSURA!

Once again swarmy aliens (this time from Earth's future) show up, make promises involving monsters, and then turn out to be up to no good. "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" takes place in three time periods, Lagos Island in 1944, Tokyo in 1992, and somewhere near what was Japan in 2204. Like most time travel stories, the plot does not bear close scrutiny (despite some fans' best explanatory efforts, the story is riddled with inconsistencies and paradoxes), but is imaginative and allows for a variety of kaiju action. Briefly, the 'Futurians' plan to eliminate Godzilla from the time-line by preventing his 'genesis' (by teleporting the dying proto-Godzilla dinosaur to the bottom of the Bering Strait where it won't be exposed to the 1953 H-bomb tests that turn it into the monster) BUT sneakily, they leave behind three little creatures that, when exposed to the radiation, become King Ghidorah who is under Futurian control and will be used to threaten/blackmail 1992 Japan BUT, as you apparently can't go anywhere on Earth without being exposed to radiation (our bad), Godzilla-genesis occurs anyway, producing a larger, meaner monster who defeats Ghidorah, sending him to the bottom of the ocean battered and minus one head BUT, in 2204 "We have the technology, we can rebuild him". The monster action in this outing (the 18th) is excellent, with the new 100 m tall Godzilla looking mean and predatory, while his adversary is a beautifully realized vision of vast wings and writhing golden snakes. The only thing lacking (IMO) with this iteration of the three-headed dragon is the original three-tone electro-chirpy calls ("three heads, two tails, and a voice like a bell"), which have been replaced by a more generic, less interesting, roar. The increased size of the monsters limits the details of the buildings that they trash, but the destruction scenes are still very good, especially the final showdown in Tokyo. On the downside, the dubbing on the version I watched (Tristar DVD) is weak, with random Shatneresque pauses in awkward sentences and some terrible lines such as "Take that, you dinosaur" (perhaps a feeble attempt at comic-relief). The film also liberally 'borrows' images from other works, such as a cyborg that runs fast in slow-motion and who, at one point, emerges from a fiery car accident with the underlying metal showing (the cyborg is a gimmicky character the movie could have done without). Overall: despite the derivative and implausible plot, mild peachiness, and (allegedly) rampant anti-Americanism, the film's pacing, excellent visuals, and great Akira Ifukube score make it a fun entry into the long-running franchise.

This Godzilla film, being the third in the second series, offers a lot of things for the fan . This is the plot: People from the future come to present day Japan to warn the citizens about the threat that is Godzilla and that he will totally destroy Japan and offer their assistance to get rid of it. The futurians deves a plan to go back to the past to the event in which Godzilla was created by moving him from the site where the atomic bomb was used to create him to a neutral location. However, the futurians have an ulterior motive, they create King Ghidorah and use him to destroy Japan, for economical reasons. Unfortunately thier plan to get rid of Godzilla backfires greatly. Not only did they not get rid of Godzilla, but he comes back bigger and more powerful than he was before, and that spells major trouble for both the futurians and Japan.

With Godzilla films, or any other giant monster on the rampage type film, there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief required... but even in the realm of Godzilla where everything from numerous alien invasions, giant robots, and telepathic twin fairies are possible this movie STILL pushed the limits of believability.

So apparently, Japan in World War 2 was in the habit of hiring soldiers in their 50's and 60's who would not age a day in the next 47 years? Buy some make-up, people! This is the first Godzilla movie to deal heavily with time travel, which can be cool if handled well (BACK TO THE FUTURE) but if handled badly (TIMECOP) can quickly get convoluted and messy, or like this film make no sense at all. It doesn't help that several science fiction elements are jumbled together, complete with androids, flying saucers, biogenetically engineered pets who mutate into Godzilla's biggest foe, etc.

After the groundbreaking work on 1985 and BIOLLANTE, the special effects work here is definitely a mixed bag with lots of good pyrotechnics and miniature skylines that look almost real, but some poor model photography, frequently out of focus. The acting from the non-Japanese cast members (like the bad guys and the US servicemen in the world war 2 flashback) is dire, and for some reason baby Godzilla sounds like Rodan (or Gamera when he gets hurt). I have a feeling Sony/Columbia/Tristar dubbed the Heisei series badly on purpose just to make their GODZILLA 98 movie look better in comparison.

The English dubbing here is ATROCIOUS (even worse than GODZILLA 2000) with such instances as when a fighter pilot shrieks "I'm.... I'm spinning!" when he rolls his plane away from Ghidorah (in an otherwise neat aerial battle)... or the famous bit where the navy guy yells "Take that, you dinosaur!" while his soldiers on the beach are yelling "Keep firing! What is this thing? Keep firing!". It's almost like 6 year olds wrote the English language translation. Also, while the monster effects are neat, the android running scenes are just laughable... like something Ed Wood would do.

However, I can't completely dismiss this mess of a film as it has plentiful and good scenes of city destruction and monster battles, complete with lots of good explosions, editing, and best-of-all, Akira Ifukube returns as composer with one of his best scores up to that point. It's also neat to see a few familiar Godzilla movie faces, such as Kenji Sahara and Katsuhiko Sasaki, and fortunately the psychic woman from BIOLLANTE is barely in it, making me wonder why she was even cast at all. She singlehandedly ruined the Heisei series, as psychics and Godzilla totally don't mix. This was all much better back in the early 60's when the effects were worse but the scripts were simpler.

There's a lot to dislike in this film: awful English scripts, more plot holes than plot, and a long wait before Godzilla finally shows up.

Luckily, all of these flaws are made up for by its awesome monster battles, fantastic music, cheesy humor, and sheer entertainment. In the end, the balance is positive, and anyone who can get over their logical disbelief should have a lot of fun with this movie. It reminds us that there's more to movies than dull realism and sophisticated storytelling.

It's no masterpiece, but its definitely one of the Big G's most fun films.