Godzilla Month: Shin Godzilla (2016) movie review (2019)

Here's what you need to know; a seemingly normal day for Japan very quickly gets out of hand when a massive creature appears in Tokyo bay before coming ashore and wreaking havoc, as the situation escalates, the Japanese Government scrambles to come up with a solution to the growing problem. But as the monster continues to grow and the UN and United States get involved, it becomes a race against time to put an end to one of the greatest calamities Japan has ever faced.
Three years ago, Shin Godzilla, Toho's response to the Gareth Edwards directed 2014 film, dominated the box office and blew the minds of critics and film goers of its homeland, being hailed as not only far superior to that film, but one of the best Godzilla films ever made. At the tail end of that same year, I watched and reviewed Shin Godzilla, which had no theatrical release and wasn't on home video yet, so I may or may not have pirated it. The film has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK, meaning I no longer have to feel dirty about watching it. That rather depends though on if I still feel the way I felt about it three years ago, which, if my last review is anything to go by, isn't a guarantee, so let's revisit what was, at the time, the second most divisive Godzilla film ever, Shin Godzilla.

Shin Godzilla gets right to the point; with Godzilla appearing literally in the first few seconds of the film, except he isn't Godzilla yet, but we'll get to that. What we're getting to now though is how that isn't the film's point, that is in fact something else entirely. Like the original Godzilla, Shin Godzilla is a film is a message, but you may recall that I gave Godzilla vs. Hedorah shit for also having a message, on it delivered too aggressively in my opinion, so does Shin Godzilla work or not? Well, before we get anywhere, let's address a very interesting thing that this film does; it's opening title is a blatant homage to the original, which is kind of awesome, it's also the first of many homages, which sounds great. I say sounds great though because not all of it works; the film's soundtrack heavily uses music from old Godzilla films, which is undeniably cool, but there's only so far you can call it homage before it becomes mimicry, and there are a few times that it feels really forced, like reusing Godzilla's roar from both 1954 and 1984. And while we're on the subject of things that are kind of annoying; my Blu-ray of Shin Godzilla includes both the Japanese cut and a dubbed English cut, and at first, I watched the Japanese cut, but I very quickly decided that I couldn't be arsed with it and just switched to the English dub instead. This might need some explaining, so here we go; as a general rule, it's better to watch a foreign language film in its original language, but Shin Godzilla, at least for me, proves to be an exception for one very simple reason, subtitles.

In any foreign language film, subtitles are part of the deal, unless you're lazy, then you go for a dub. But in this film, the subtitles don't just have to translate what people are saying, they also have to translate white text that appears on the screen to introduce a new character or location, meaning that you have the Japanese white text, the translation of that, and the subtitles of whatever they're saying all on the screen at once. And this happens with literally every character in the film, of which there are literally dozens, and it happens with every location they go to, even down to what floor they're on or room they're in. Can you see how this could get a bit frustrating; the film's overload of information is so insane that it's hard to follow what on earth is going on as your eyes dart from the white text to the subtitles to the white text and back to the subtitles, and not even five minutes in, I'd had enough and went for the dub, thinking it would be more tolerable, and luckily, it was. Once you decide to watch the dub to spare yourself the headache, you might still continue to be confused as despite being a Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla isn't really about Godzilla. Shin Godzilla is less about a giant monster terrorising Japan and more about the political response to it, one that's completely useless and ineffectual due to bureaucracy and red tape. Shin Godzilla is a film where you really have to know what to expect, because if you go in hoping to see awesome scenes of chaos and destruction and a badass monster, you will be bored out of your gourd. There's an awful lot of people sitting in rooms and talking, and occasionally they will stand up, walk to another room and sit down and talk again, which really happens, I'm not making that up. Shin Godzilla's greatest strength is satire, which I'm sure would make Chris Stuckmann happy, the tool, but if you watch a Godzilla film and expect to see Godzilla being awesome, which is entirely reasonable, this becomes one of the film's most damning weaknesses.

When I first watched Shin Godzilla three years ago, I found a lot of it to be boring, and having watched for a third time for this special, while I am coming to appreciate the film's satire, I can't deny that I still find large chunks of it to be boring. A sizable portion of this fault is down to the film's characterisation, or lack thereof. As I said before, Shin Godzilla has literally dozens of characters, and expectedly, most of them completely lack any development, they're just talking heads, but you do still have a few central characters. In the forefront is Yaguchi, an aspiring politician who hates the way his government is run, and as the film progresses and the number of talking heads is gradually whittled down, his nationalism becomes a very endearing attribute, as it's his faith in his country that ultimately saves it in the end. Outside of him you have Patterson, who's a bit less endearing; being an envoy to the US with ambitions of one day being the President, and she is a very politically minded person, to a mildly annoying degree. Outside of those two though, it's genuinely difficult to distinguish anyone else out of the bunch, all the film's politicians, army guys and plucky scientists just kind of blend together into the film's political satire, which, as I said before, is either a strength or a weakness, depending on your expectations. On my third viewing of the film however, I did find myself getting rather swept up in the film's politics; it is enjoyable to watch Yaguchi and his band of plucky scientists try to navigate around Japan's incredibly messy political system, and the conflicts faced by the Japanese Prime Minister make for some amusing and intriguing developments.

That still doesn't change the fact that this film just isn't as exciting as the 2014 film, it's much more comparable to the 1954 film, albeit with a different focus, and while the original is more effective, Shin Godzilla is starting to grow on me as a political thriller. But something the 1954 film did very well was its titular monster, and does Shin Godzilla do the same, well, not really. Get ready for an unpopular opinion, but save for one scene, this film's interpretation of Godzilla doesn't do it for me. This Godzilla has radically different origins to the original film's Godzilla, now being an aberration created from the dumping of radioactive material in the ocean rather than a sea monster woken up by Atomic testing. This Godzilla is a bit more direct in how it's very clearly our fault that it exists, still being a product of our abuse of nature, and like the original, this Godzilla's practically indestructible, as demonstrated in a pretty cool scene where the Army tires and fails to stop it from reaching Tokyo. And when Godzilla is in his fourth form, he does look like Godzilla, nearly. Minus the comically long tail and pathetically dinky arms, he's still recognisable as Godzilla, only now he's covered in open wounds that glow an unnatural red. I've heard many people say this Godzilla is scary, and in some ways, he is, for starters, his appearance is nightmarish, at least in his fourth form, and on paper, a monster that can incinerate an entire city in seconds and can infinitely grow and evolve, becoming ever more powerful and harder to kill is kind of scary, as this monster one day becoming too powerful to stop and destroying the entire world isn't a possibility but an inevitability.

It's a monster that will eventually end the world; as long as it may take, it will sooner or later, meaning Shin Godzilla is, on paper, one of the most existentially frightening Godzillas ever put to screen, but like Godzilla in the Anime trilogy, on paper and in practice are very different things, so does Shin Godzilla do better than the Anime trilogy at least? Not like it means anything, but yes, Shin Godzilla's Godzilla is better than the Anime trilogy's Godzilla, but this Godzilla does suffer from many of the faults of that trilogy. Both films take Godzilla in wildly different directions, both from each other and from Godzilla's history, and while Shin Godzilla isn't a tree that barely moves, it does just kind of walk around, not reacting to its environment in any way, like in the Anime trilogy, when Shin Godzilla is attacked, it either ignores it for responds with its atomic breath, that it can now also fire from its tail and spines. This Godzilla is undeniably very powerful, but that isn't a substitute for a personality or even awareness of its own surroundings. Like the Anime Godzilla, Shin Godzilla is very boring in his behaviour, from his first scene in the film, all he does is walk, the characters even say as much, save for two scenes, all the destruction he causes is simply from things being in his way. For the villain of the film, there is no sense of malice in this Godzilla's actions, in fact, there's no sense of intent of any kind, he's a robot. This changes in what is easily the best scene in the film; the scene where he incinerates Tokyo. In all his years, Godzilla has never caused destruction on this scale; he's levelled cities before, but it's never taken him a matter minutes to do it, yet this Godzilla turns downtown Tokyo into a burning hellscape in seconds and cuts buildings clean in half with a laser focused atomic beam, leading to some haunting and beautiful imagery.

This is all after he evolves into his fourth form, because before that, he's a nightmarish sight for different reasons. When Godzilla first makes landfall and we see his second form, it is way funnier than it should be, he looks like a lungfish. Add to that the incredibly derpy face and generally rubbery appearance and he ends up looking like one of those squeaky rubber chickens instead of an imposing, world ending monster. He starts looking a little better when he evolves, now standing on two legs rather than dragging himself on the ground, his spines are more pronounced and his face is a little bit less pathetic. But his fourth form is the best looking, obviously, it's the most imposing and the one that most closely resembles Godzilla, but being Toho's first CG Godzilla, there are new problems that past Toho Godzilla films have never had before. Like the 1998 film, this fully CG Godzilla has none of the personality and weight that came out of the old monster suits, but unlike that Godzilla, which was lean and quick on its feet, Shin Godzilla is a lumbering beast with as much grace as Leslie Jones in a comedy routine, therefore being more comparable to the Anime Godzilla, which was a boring monster in a boring trilogy, where as Shin Godzilla is a boring monster in a film that I'm starting to appreciate a bit more. This is a better interpretation of Godzilla than the 1998 film, but, as unpopular an opinion as I'm sure this is, it's not by much, and for a real kick in the balls, I actually think the 2014 Godzilla is a superior interpretation to this one. The fact remains though that in Shin Godzilla, one of my least favourite things about it is actually Godzilla himself, but at least this film has grown on me as a political thriller in the three years since I first saw it.


Now Do As You Please
Shin Godzilla is a very bizarre Godzilla film, one where your enjoyment of it is entirely dependent on your expectations. If you want a big, dumb monster movie about a monster destroying a city, Shin Godzilla will put you to sleep with its endless political rambling, but if you want a decently intriguing political thriller, Shin Godzilla ain't bad, even if it's being held back by an over-abundance of undeveloped characters, save for Yaguchi and about two others, as well as by an emphasis on them rather than the titular monster. That being said, I enjoy Shin Godzilla more now than I did three years ago, and I can say that it's worth watching, but the best Godzilla film since the original? better than the 2014 film? nah, not really.

Godzilla Month: Godzilla (1998) movie review (2019)

Here's what you need to know; a series of mysterious attacks in the Pacific has the world's governments spooked and Dr Niko Tatopoulus is assigned to study the culprit, believed to be a massive mutated reptile. But when the monster makes landfall in New York, Tatopoulus, the French secret service and the US Army go to war, determined to save the city from destruction and stop this monster before it has the chance to threaten all of civilisation.
Oh yes, we're taking a plunge through the relevant history of Godzilla, why on Earth would I let this one get away. Since I'm crazy for the Big G and have been for my entire life, it was inevitable that I'd have watched this film a dozen or more times in my younger years, back before I realised just what a mess it is. But even though I reviewed this film once before, it only felt right to take another swing at it before Godzilla's third big adventure on American shores hits the screens, even though it's already out as of me writing this but sod it, let's review the bad American Godzilla film.

But just from the first few minutes of the film, you might be confused as to why so many people hate, because the first few minutes of this film are actually really good. The film opens with an outstanding sequence of credits not that different to the 2014 film's opening, in fact they're basically the same, and like the 2014 film, the music really elevates the scene and makes it truly awesome. Taking a page from the original Godzilla's book, this film then shows a mysterious and suspenseful sequence as a Japanese ship is attacked by an unseen sea monster. Things start going a bit wrong immediately though as we get a hard cut to Niko Tatopoulus, or worm guy as I will probably resort to calling him. The film really starts him off in a strange place as he digs around the Chernobyl quarantine zone for worms, hens the nickname, get it? Nick, worms, ah? ah? I'm sorry. worm guy is slightly more developed than your standard Godzilla movie protagonist, being a dweeby NRC scientist studying the effects of radiation on animals, making him decently qualified to study Godzilla. Apart from him being a bit quirkier than the norm, he's completely serviceable as a lead character and manages to be tolerable for most of the film, even if the running gag of his surname being hard to pronounce gets completely fucked into the dirt by the end. I say most of the time though because there are moments of maddening stupidity and forced humour, but as we shall soon learn, he's a relatively mild case. Because then there's Audrey and Jesus Christ, we are in for some good old masochism with this one.

It should come as no surprise that Maria Pitillo won a Golden Raspberry Award for this film, or that her career basically died after this film, because she is terrible. Audrey is an almost impressively annoying presence in the film and is almost everything you don't want in a character; she's ditzy, moronic, loud, wooden and selfish, she's the kind of character that brings the rest of the film to a screeching halt every time she appears. And what's worse than that is how the film tries to force a character conflict by having her stab worm guy in the back to get a scoop, which could make for a compelling ark if the character wasn't insufferable, but since she is, her being a total bitch to worm guy and manipulating him for her own gain only makes her even less likable, proving that it is indeed possible, and from this point, with as bad an impression as she's made, it's kind of hard to redeem someone like that. Things fortunately become more tolerable with Roache and Animal. Animal is a complete stereotype, being about as New Yorker as you can get, but that ain't a problem, he's a pretty likable guy, as is Roache, who is also a stereotype. The leader of the French secret service agents watching from the shadows, he's about as French as it's possible to get, all while completely romanticising America, going as far as giving his men chewing gum because it "makes [them] look more American." He's one of those characters that's just cool, that's what he is, he's cool. The film does stick to the basics of at least the Showa era films I've reviewed in its characters; you got a scientist, a pair of journalists and a bunch of Army guys, and with the exception of Audrey, they all do a semi-serviceable job in their respective roles. As I said before though, Audrey really does kill this film every time she shows up, and it's difficult to get past that.

Like most Godzilla films, this Godzilla tells a straightforward story that's complicated by human drama, human drama that, as we've established, has a very rocky rate of success, but I can at least say that the film wasn't boring, mostly. When Audrey wasn't around, I usually found myself decently entertained by the film, which kept its story moving at a solid pace, though there are definitely boring moments like the entire sequence in Madison Square Garden, but we'll get to that. Unlike its superior American counterpart, this Godzilla isn't conservative with its titular monster, who makes his grand entrance around the twenty-five minute mark and is a relatively constant presence throughout the rest of the film. I also really like how the film teases Godzilla for the first half hour, slowly building to the downright fantastic sequence where he makes landfall in New York and goes on a rampage. This sequence is really good, albeit with a pretty major caveat, the sequence elegantly hides Godzilla's full form and in doing so, teases the monster's appearance while being generous enough to not take the piss, and does all of this while really selling the size of the monster, something Gareth Edwards did better a decade and a half later, but it's still worth mentioning. And when the army is going after Godzilla, these scenes are very entertaining. They're not good, mind you, they're very Roland Emmerich-y, so they're flashy and indulgent as Godzilla tears his way down the New York streets with swarms of Attack helicopters on his tail, or when Godzilla evades a barrage of gunfire and missiles that end up destroying recognisable landmarks because Roland Emmerich.

These scenes fail to compare to the Japanese films however for a few reasons, chiefly the charm and sincerity of those films. There was always something lovable about the monster suits in the Toho Godzilla films, they had charm and personality to them, they had physicality thanks to them being practical effects and that's something that this film does not have, instead it has 90's CGI, though in all fairness, it is the best of 90's CGI, and a lot of it still looks pretty good. In the end though, I grew up on Godzilla and Thunderbirds, I appreciate miniatures more than most probably would because I was raised on it, and to me, that will always hold up better than even the best CGI because good miniature work doesn't age, while even the best CGI eventually does. To this film's credit though, it doesn't entirely rely on CG and has a few well-placed and very well-done practical effect shots, but even so, the bulk of it is CG. When it's good, it's good, but like all CG heavy films, when it's not good, it's really bad. Easily the worst offender in this regard is the Madison Square Garden sequence, which is also the weakest sequence of the film by far, with or without that dated CGI. It's a comparison that's been made a thousand times at this point, but the baby Godzillas are very much a poor man's version of Jurassic Park's raptors. Whereas the Raptor scenes in Jurassic Park were suspenseful and brilliant, Godzilla's baby Godzilla scenes are clumsy, the baby Godzillas aren't as threatening as they should be, partly because they look kind of derpy, but also because when someone important is well within chomping distance, all they do is stand there and snap at our heroes, which doesn't really instil fear when they're that easy to get around, unlike the raptors who hunted with tactics and never let anyone escape.

To the film's credit, while the CG used to create the baby Godzillas looks dated and rough nowadays, the practical work done on them is still worthy of credit. A combination of suits and animatronics bring these things to life quite effectively when used, even making their comical appearance just that little bit more imposing. The same applies to the big guy himself, though to a lesser degree; the CG mostly looks ok, with only a few shots being noticeably dated, and while it's extremely minimal, the practical effects look really good, I just wish there was more of it, at the risk of him turning out like his clumsy offspring. There is an elephant in the room here though, one I've alluded to but not addressed directly, the caveat; all of Godzilla's scenes are made better when you try to forget that it's supposed to be Godzilla. This is the film's biggest problem by far, its reinterpretation of Godzilla, while not awful on its own, is pathetic compared to his Japanese counterpart. The monster's design is fantastic and I'm sure a lot of work went into making it, I would very happily watch it in a monster film of its own, there's just one glaring problem that I can't ignore, it's supposed to be Godzilla. I can understand making him look different to an extent, that's fair, but changing his appearance to the point that he's unrecognisable is another thing and doing it to such a classic look is downright sinful.

The monster in this film that they keep calling Godzilla is not Godzilla, it's more like what you might imagine if someone described Godzilla to you on the phone, poorly. Sure, he's a theropod with spines sticking out of his back, but after that, the similarities stop entirely. His thinner, leaner appearance compliments his behaviour but it does not compliment his name, nor does his more scientifically accurate posture, both of which make this guy completely unrecognisable as Godzilla. This if a film killer here; its name, it's a generic monster movie and could otherwise have been enjoyed as such were it not for that name. Godzilla is a word with power, history, and to many, many people, it's a word with deep personal significance, they love Godzilla, and slapping that name on this monster and this film is like slapping a Ferrari badge on a Dacia Sandero, sure, the Dacia is fine, but that name brings with it a majesty that the Dacia can't even dream of achieving. And that's just his appearance, now let's talk about his personality, because he doesn't really have one. Think back to Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and think about how much personality was in that Godzilla, as I said in that review and my Godzilla vs. Hedorah review, that Godzilla was filled with personality; a tactless brute with a heart of gold and a sense of humour. This Godzilla is just an animal though, he's a lizard that's come to New York to nest, he has no sense of humour or morality, and him being mostly CG, generally looks and feels less alive than his Japanese superior.

He is sympathetic though, being a monster with no ill-will towards humanity, instead just wanting to be left alone to care for his young, this is a more realistic Godzilla for sure, but where's the lovability. So when he dies at the end of the film, there is a sense of injustice to his death, almost a sense of loss that a creature as incredible as him was not allowed to live. But I again refer you to Godzilla's death in the original, where Godzilla's death is characterised not just by injustice, but by an immense feeling of loss and sadness, not just for a one of a kind creature, but for a tormented, brilliant mind who felt that his creation was evil and would rather die than let it be used to hurt people. It's clear in the end though that worm guy has a great amount of admiration for Godzilla, seeing him for what he; an innocent, misunderstood creature rather than a monster, but this death fails to be as effective as it could be because of how the film portrays the monster and uses destruction. Again going back to the original, in that film, destruction wasn't shown for the fun of it, it was shown to make a point, a point it made so well that it had me in tears by the end. But this is Roland Emmerich, it not only indulges in destruction but sells itself on it, even treating the Army's uselessness and destructiveness comedically, and as a result of its more mindless approach to things, it lacks the punch of the original. The original also didn't then have a bunch of people celebrating the death of the monster, its ending was genuinely sombre, whereas this one feels very American. And of course, there's the stinger; the final shot of the film reveals that one of the eggs survived, teasing a sequel that we never got, this kind of thing always makes me sad, even for films as mediocre as this one because I'm always curious about where a sequel could have gone. Maybe that's the fault of a film making promises it couldn't keep, maybe it's me always trying to be optimistic about films, either way, we'll never know, and the fact that we'll never know is the shitty part.


That's A Lot of Fish
Godzilla (1998) is a failure. Looking back at the review I did for this film four years ago, I've clearly mellowed to it a lot, but I still can't call it anything other than a failure because it does indeed fail to capture the spirit of the Toho films or please fans of those films. When looked at as just a monster movie, it's mediocre; its writing is messy, its characters vary from kind of cool and likable to outright infuriating, and it has moments that drag the film down into boredom, cringe and frustration. But even with all that, this is a standard, albeit, below average monster movie, one that could still be enjoyed were it not for the name, and on this point, I haven't mellowed. That name is the last nail in the coffin for this film, I could never forgive it for what it did to Godzilla, but in that, if you're a filthy casual who's never seen a Godzilla film before, you might think this film is tolerable, you might even like it, and I wish I could, but I can't, nor can I recommend it because even ignoring its greatest sin, the film is still weak and forgettable.

Godzilla Month: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) movie review

Here's what you need to know; a new menace has emerged in the seas around Japan, a monster from space that grows in size with each passing day and kills everything it touches, Hedorah. After attacking and scarring Dr Yano and his son and sinking several ships, it comes ashore and continues to feast on the smog and pollution created by mankind, continuing to grow and become more powerful, becoming a threat to all life on Earth, a threat that now only Godzilla can stop.
We've jumped forward in time here, seven years after Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and three years after Toho thought Godzilla's days were done, to what is a very divisive a very, very weird Godzilla film. So why am I reviewing this particular film, it's not like it's relevant to Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it's a film from the dying years of the Showa period about Godzilla fighting a metaphor for pollution, so why? Well, when I was very young, I had a video of this film which someone recorded it for me off the TV, though no one I ask can tell me who or when or even why, but I watched that video again and again and again, it was my favourite film ever, and since I don't really remember being a toddler, I attribute my life-long love and obsession for Godzilla to this film, or maybe this wasn't the genesis, again, no one can give me an answer. Over the years as I switched from video to DVD and eventually Blu-ray, This video of Godzilla vs. Hedorah got lost, I have no idea where it is and that makes me sad, obviously, but luckily, the internet exists so it wasn't hard to track down this film, and would you believe I found it on a Porn site, of all places. So let's revisit a film that could very well be the genesis, the film that made me a Godzilla fan, buckle up, this might get intense.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah's opening minutes are, in a word, weird, with a very 70's song, trippy visuals and hard cuts to gross shit floating in the ocean, before again hard cutting to a shot of a colourful, vibrant bed of flowers with the pleasant sound of chirping birds. The confusion continues as we are introduced to one of our heroes as he plays outside with a couple of toy Godzillas, he then exclaims that Godzilla isn't his only favourite, Superman is too, deliberately conveying that this film's Godzilla is a superhero, at least in the eyes of this kid. Clearly Godzilla had changed significantly in the two decades since the first film, with the walking embodiment of death and nuclear power now being mentioned in the same breath as Superman. We then get a dash of mystery as a fisherman brings Dr. Yano a very weird fish before telling him that he's struggling to catch fish. But before there's even an opportunity to build some suspense, we get news footage of Hedorah sinking a pair of tankers, right before Yano does a very silly thing; he decides to go diving to investigate the strange fish immediately after seeing one of them break a ship in half. Godzilla has had gaps in logic in the past, but this is almost impressive, and is one of Godzilla vs. Hedorah's most baffling attributes. A problem that this film has is its method of delivering its message. Godzilla had a message too, but it knew how to tell a story around that message and to convey that message without the need to be heavy handed or obvious. But while Godzilla started out as a metaphor for the Atomic bomb, Hedorah is very much a metaphor for pollution, and this film has a very, very in your face way of delivering its anti-pollution message.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah has these really bizarre clips sprinkled throughout through which it does most of its messaging, some of which being animated and others being narrated, the first of which shows Hedorah drinking from a wrecked tanker while a factory pumps out black smoke in the background. There are many sequences like this one in the film, take for example another one of a factory eating plants and slowly growing in size before itself being eaten by Hedorah. These sequences are very weird and lack any sense of subtlety when it comes to what they're trying to say. How I can best describe it is heavy-handed; it's almost like the film the trying to teach kids about pollution, well, it's less teach and more preach, Godzilla vs Hedorah isn't simply trying to be thematic and educational, it's trying to be outright scary. This isn't the most annoying thing about Godzilla vs. Hedorah but it is one of them; the film doesn't seem to know how to be subtle, its preaching is aggressive, manipulative, even. Now contrast that to the film's imagery, which really goes the extra mile, and by that I mean it's fucking disturbing. We're talking about people drowning in corrosive sludge and being melted by sulfuric acid and reduced to slimy skeletons, how about another scene where TV screens show people screaming in frustration along with shots of dead bodies and crying baby trapped in the corrosive sludge. These scenes aren't exactly frequent, but do you see my point about the film being kind of manipulative and aggressive in its messaging.

But you may be wondering; there was a scene in Godzilla with a crying baby, and not only did I like it but it turned me into a blubbering mess of tears, but the difference is that while both films are trying to be scary, Godzilla was a clever film that never needed to shove its messaging right in your face, Godzilla vs. Hedorah does though, and it feels as forced as it is, while making its scenes of horror feel tasteless and extreme as the film doesn't earn them. The film fails as a metaphor for pollution like this year's Captain Marvel fails as a metaphor for female empowerment, not because it fails to deliver the message, but because its delivery is so forced and ham-fisted to the point of it being unintentionally funny, and like that film, Godzilla vs. Hedorah's more aggressive method of messaging suggests an almost zealous commitment to the idea behind the scenes, as if to them, pollution really was a monster, just as the Patriarchy is a literal monster to the minds behind Captain Marvel. On the plus side, the vessel of this message isn't a boring, annoying engine of ego, but a monster that is genuinely cool and completely disgusting. Despite the film's many failing, Hedorah remains one of my favourite Godzilla monsters and that isn't entirely because of nostalgia. He's a really cool looking monster, he's exactly how you'd imagine a Smog Monster; a hideous, slimy blob of snot with glowing red eyes and an unnatural, unnervingly inorganic croak instead of a roar, the vertical eyes further enforce the unnatural look of the thing, and his powers are some wacky shit.

For starters, he can shape shift, fly, and fuse with other Hedorahs to essentially infinitely grow in size and strength. But then there's its ability to shoot lasers from his eyes, as well as his ability to shoot the corrosive sludge using some unbelievably gross looking goop cannons, seriously, like a nipple and an arsehole got exposed to radiation and then fused together. His damage immunity is also a problem, being impervious to tanks and guns, as well as being immune to Godzilla's atomic breath. Add the fact that Hedorah can divide itself into smaller organisms that can then fuse back together and continue to grow and you've got a monster that's pretty much indestructible. Hedorah's a tough bastard, one who isn't simply mindless but enjoys hurting and killing things, cackling sadistically while he tries to drown Godzilla in the sludge. So on one end you have Hedorah; a walking embodiment of pollution and toxicity with a sadistic streak and near invulnerability, it only makes sense then that on the other end is the polar opposite, a mascot of virtue, heroism and environmentalism, and who else would fill that role but the former embodiment of death and suffering; Godzilla. Godzilla in this film is weird, I can definitely see how this version of him would draw me in though because he's a straight up superhero; a paragon of goodness that's loved by children and fights for Earth, an unstoppable force for good that comes to the defence of mankind whenever it is threatened. Yet despite being a superhero, I find this Godzilla less compelling than his portrayal in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, where he was a tactless brute with a heart of gold and a sense of humour, unlike this where he is just gold and there isn't a bad bone in his body.

And when these two throw down, it's not really a throw down by any reasonable description, it's split between the two of them just standing around and gesturing at each other and Hedorah mercilessly kicking the shit out of Godzilla. There are brief spurts of things happening, like Godzilla taking swings at Hedorah, but more often than not, the hits come from Hedorah, who blinds Godzilla, throws him down a mountain and tires to drown him in sludge. On the whole though, the fights in this film are far less energetic and entertaining than they were in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster or even Mothra vs. Godzilla, they're slow and overly dramatic, more like the two monsters are insulting each other rather than actually fighting, which was still more entertaining in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. That all being said, Godzilla's victory over Hedorah is insane and hilarious; he apparently understands the humans' plan to kill Hedorah with electricity and charges the electric plates with his atomic breath, which makes sense. But when a piece of Hedorah survives the zapping and makes a break for it, Godzilla flies after him. Even if you're a complete outsider to Godzilla, you've probably seen this scene or know of it; the time that Godzilla flew, it's completely ridiculous, downright retarded to look at, and I don't know whether I hate it or love it. After this infamous scene, the two monsters fight, and they actually fight this time, making the rest of the film's fights even worse. Godzilla then fries Hedorah again before going in for most entertaining example of overkill I've ever seen; with Godzilla ripping chunks out of Hedorah's corpse and stomping on it while a rendition of the opening song plays, I don't know why, but this scene always makes me smile, and it's easily my favourite scene in the film.

Through all of that, I haven't even mentioned characters or story, but they're not hard to sum up, the film's plot is the most straightforward of any film I've reviewed in this special, it's literally; a Smog Monster shows up and Godzilla 'fights' him, all while human characters do stuff, I guess. The human characters in this film kind of suck; Yano and the kid are alright, being the two characters who effectively spearhead the fight against Herodah, then there's the wife, who's... well, she's the wife, then there's Yano's brother and his hippie girlfriend, two characters whose reason to be in this film eludes me. Yano and the kid serve their roles decently; with Yano being the smart guy who's studying Hedorah and figuring out how to kill him, while the kid is perfect as the young, unrealistically smart Godzilla lover that children can relate to, but the rest of the cast are pure filler, and as such are completely forgettable, save for the weird scenes like that one in the night club, I mean, what the fuck even was that. Other stuff I somehow haven't mentioned include the visual effects which are outstanding almost across the board. The suits are amazing and the pyrotechnics are eye-catching, it's just a shame that they're wasted on such boring fights. The only time I can think of in the film when the effects really stumble is the Godzilla flying scene, but to the film's credit, I don't think it's possible to make that not look stupid. This is, however, the most city-friendly Godzilla film I've reviewed so far, with the climactic battle going down in a massive open space, like this film wasn't already boring in the destruction department.


Dammit, Why Can't Anything Go Right Today?!
Godzilla vs. Hedorah may be been a younger me's favourite film, but watching it as an adult, I honestly struggle make sense of this film. I'm not sure what the film is trying to be, I don't even think the film knows; it's too boring to be a fun, exciting Monster Movie, it's too scary to be a kids film, it's too preachy to be effective as an anti-pollution film and it's too cheesy to be taken seriously as any of the above. The film has cool monsters and a few pretty awesome moments near the end, but even by Godzilla standards, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is a dud, which is something I never wanted to say about it. There are things about it that I love, things I will always love, but Godzilla vs. Hedorah drops the ball as a Godzilla movie, and when held to the standard I would hold any other non-Godzilla film, this film is kind of terrible. Unless you already love Godzilla, this film will ultimately do more harm to your understanding of Godzilla than good, and for that reason, I can't recommend it, there's about two dozen other films out there that stand a better chance of winning you over than this one.

Godzilla Month: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) movie review

Here's what you need to know; when a mysterious meteorite crash lands on Earth, professor Murai joins the team looking to study and observe the bizarre rock from space. Meanwhile, a seemingly successful assassination attempt on Princess Selina turns out to have failed, and not only that, she's now walking around saying she's a Martian and warning of a coming apocalypse. But when her apocalypse prophecy comes true in the form of Ghidorah, a three-headed monster from outer space, the planet's survival hinges on an unlikely alliance as Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra team up to take him down, meanwhile Detective Shindo does what he can to fend off Selina's would-be assassins, who have returned to finish the job.
So here we are; after seeing the origins of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, it's time to see them all join forces against a threat unlike any other. But after I found Mothra vs. Godzilla to merely be decent, which is probably not a popular opinion, I was even more curious and excited to re-watch yet another Godzilla film I watched countless times when I was younger, the film that gave us one of Godzilla's coolest and most menacing villains, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster wastes no time in introducing its primary characters and conflicts, rapidly introducing us to yet another journalist as she watches Ghidorah crash land on Earth, before jumping to Detective Shindo and the Princess as she escapes from an exploding plane by, get this; getting possessed by a Martian and jumping out of it into the sea. Still not even ten minutes in and we get yet another character introduction with Murai, who's the second not-Chujo in a row, but don't worry, this one's better. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster introduces us to its world and characters very efficiently, kicking things off with a literal bang as a meteorite crashes to Earth and a private plane is bombed out of the sky. Things cool down a bit after that, but the film does a great job of building suspense for its titular monster; with a slow build to the reveal of the meteorite, and the reveal that it's magnetic giving it even more of an otherworldly quality that's very in the spirit of old school sci-fi. Then in comes the prophetess, who is kind of a bore; I get that she's supposed to be distant and robotic, but her robotic personality makes her very boring to watch, but this film does have characters to pick up the slack. In place of idiotic, greedy capitalists, we have a gang of assassins, characters who can actually be threatening when they need to be, something Nelson didn't need to be, but that the two from Mothra vs. Godzilla certainly needed. Oddly though, they take a backseat behind our heroes, who are thankfully an improvement over Mothra vs. Godzilla.

We have Murai for example, another scientist played by Hiroshi Koizumi, then you have yet another reporter, but this film throws in a detective, how adventurous, this does give the human story and the monster story a sense of relevance to each other that Mothra vs. Godzilla lacked; with all of it being centred around the prophetess princess. The fairies also return once again and they've apparently become celebrities in Japan, with the film introducing them as guests on a TV chat show. As usual, the fairies are great, singing their charming Mothra songs, though they are in this film less than they were in Mothra and Mothra vs. Godzilla, which is a shame. What's quite pleasantly surprising about the film's human story is how solid and engaging it is on its own, independent of the monsters. The plot of the assassins hunting the Princess while Shindo and his sister try to keep her safe, all while she's blissfully unaware, spaced out and calling herself an alien, it's cool, and it certainly has it's exciting and intense moments as Shindo and the assassins clash, leading to a conclusion for the story that's very exciting and has a sweet payoff. This naturally plays out alongside the monsters fighting, which also has a somewhat sweet ending with Godzilla actually making friends for once. That's another thing that Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster also does very well; it does a better job than any film before this one of conveying the monsters' personalities. This isn't just because of the scene where the fairies translate the monsters' argument, though that certainly helps, the monsters are made to feel more human than they ever have before thanks to the physical expressions of the actors.

Yes, there is indeed a scene where Rodan, Godzilla and Mothra sit down and talk about whether or not they should save humanity from Ghidorah, making for a funny and surprisingly fascinating scene as the fairies translate, exclaiming that Godzilla and Rodan have no love for mankind since they hate and fear them, while Mothra tries and ultimately fails to persuade them to fight for a greater good. Godzilla and Rodan in this film are a pair of meatheads; only wanting to fight each other and not caring how many people die, humanity does hate them after all. It's also unbelievably charming to watch them laugh at each other as Mothra silks them to make them listen, as is seeing them react with a shocked and dazed expression every time one gets a good hit on the other, it's these little quirks that really flesh out these monsters  and the relationship they have with each other. The fight between Rodan and Godzilla is very cheesy and dumb, but in a good way as they throw rocks at each other and laugh at each other's misery, it's very childish in how it's portrayed and it works. They decide not to side with Mothra, who then tries to fight Ghidorah alone, a testament to just how brave and strong willed Mothra is, even as an almost useless larva. But what really makes this sequence special is of course when Rodan and Godzilla come to Mothra's aid, which is an awesome moment which reveals the good nature of the two monsters, very odd given that they've both only ever been bad guys. This is the first time in the series that Godzilla had been portrayed in a genuinely heroic light and would of course be the start of Godzilla's descent into being a superhero.

But this film is truly special because of Ghidorah, who is not only an outstanding monster, but is the foe of one of most badass monster throw downs ever put to screen. Ghidorah is an amazing looking monster; his design is striking and memorable, and the scenes of him flying around and lighting up cities with his gravity beams show off some expectedly breath-taking visual effects and pyrotechnics. Then comes the fight itself which, unlike the childish fight between Rodan and Godzilla, is all awesome, and free of many of the failings of Mothra vs. Godzilla's fight. The hopeless puppet work of Mothra and Godzilla's previous fight is completely gone in this film, replaced with meaty punches, pecks, bites and tail swipes. seeing the three monsters all joining forces is absolutely fantastic, as is seeing them find new and comedic ways to get the upper hand on their foe. This is less of an apocalyptic duel and more of a brawl with a bully, a bully that comes out of the fight completely humiliated by the cunning and teamwork of the unlikely friends that took him down. There's so much to love about this fight; it's far superior to the fight from the previous film and is given more weight by the personality and charm this film injects into its monsters. This fight isn't vicious, it's fun, it's a good old kaiju wrestling match with all the goofy charm and none of the bad effects or sloppy editing, possibly making the film's finale the most entertaining sequence of any film I've reviewed in this special. And to top it off, with the fight over, the film ends on a very jolly implication of Godzilla and Rodan actually becoming friends as they watch Mothra and the fairies swim away to their island, making it the most wholesome ending of any Godzilla film up to that point with new friends made, bad guys stopped and a bully getting the shit kicked out of him, it's silly, but it's what Godzilla would become and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster nails it.


Oh Godzilla, What Terrible Language!
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is easily one of the best film from Godzilla's earlier years, it may have set the course that turned the series into a Saturday morning cartoon, but it does what it does so well that I can forgive that, and its leaps and bounds ahead of what was achieved in Mothra vs. Godzilla. The film fleshes out the monsters' personalities and relationships brilliantly, making for one of the most engaging and glorious fights to come out of Godzilla's Showa period, one bolstered by the rejection of pretty much all of Mothra vs. Godzilla's faults. Add onto that a compelling and exciting human story and you've got the Godzilla series at its best. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is a fantastic little monster movie that's definitely worth watching.

Godzilla Month: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) movie review

Here's what you need to know; when a violent storm washes Mothra's egg onto Japanese shores, it quickly ends up in the hands of greedy entrepreneurs looking to make money off of it, stirring Mothra from her island home as she and her fairies try to retrieve the stolen egg. Things escalate when Godzilla emerges and goes on a rampage, and with the military powerless to stop him, Professor Miura and his reporter friends Sakai and Nakanishi call on Mothra to help them, a fight which will be Mothra's last, and where Japan's fate hangs in the balance.
I loved Mothra, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would and while I was just going to skip ahead to Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster for obvious reasons, I decided that I simply had to take a look at Mothra vs. Godzilla; the first time Godzilla and Mothra would meet and far from the last, it's a piece of both these monsters' histories that I would feel guilty about ignoring, so here we are, looking at the film that spawned one of cinema's longest and most entertaining feuds, Mothra vs. Godzilla.

Unlike Mothra, Mothra vs. Godzilla was a film I watched a lot when I was younger, being one of the Godzilla films my mum got her hands on back in the day, but now, having seen Mothra just a few nights ago, I can honestly say that it's cheapened this film quite a bit for me at least. One way that this film takes a turn is in its tone; Mothra vs. Godzilla's tone is more similar to Rodan's than it is Godzilla's or Mothra's, which is to say that the film exists between those two extremes; harrowing and depressing and family friendly fun. While this pays off big in the Godzilla scenes, it means that the films characters suffer, being much more conventional than those in Mothra. The film basically reuses Mothra's cast of heroes and villains in a figurative sense, but also in a literal sense as the actor who plays Professor Miura also played Chujo in Mothra. It is a bit of a bummer then that this film then introduces a completely new cast of characters, all of which serving the archetypal roles that their counterparts served in Mothra, only with none of the goofy charm. We're back to the days of struggling to recall names as this film ends up fairing only a little better than Rodan. The film's villains are a lot like Nelson too, only missing all the maniacal charm that Nelson had, they're now just greedy, money obsessed idiots. I think I'm sounding a little negative here, but none of the characters are annoying, they're just kind of dull, even with the odd moment of levity. They're not as flat as the heroes of Rodan, but compared to Godzilla and Mothra, they don't even come close. The fairies do return however and are given a lot more to do in this film than they had in Mothra, with Emi and Yumi Ito returning from Mothra and lending their voices to even more Mothra songs, both old and new, and all awesome.

The film doesn't exactly change the game in the story department either; in reusing the archetypes of Mothra, it also ends up reusing most of that film's story beats as well. The McGuffin this time is an egg instead of fairies, but the gist is the same; greedy capitalists steal something that isn't theirs to make money and a plucky gang of reporters and scientists try to stop them. But then you throw in Godzilla, who just appears out of nowhere half an hour in in an admittedly pretty awesome scene, at which point the film starts to diverge from what came before it. The Godzilla side of the story is nothing new; Godzilla's on a rampage and the military is trying to stop him, and even without the fascinating themes of the original film, this is rather compelling to watch, and made all the more so by some fantastic suit and model work, not to mention Akira Ifukube's music, which is fantastic as usual. The Mothra side of the story plays out much like it did in her solo film; with the slimy villains meeting their dooms as a result of their own greed and short-sightedness. But there is something about this side of the film that I really like, and that's how the island natives feel about the heroes. The natives initially not caring about Godzilla destroying Japan is a very interesting idea, one that's entirely understandable, this leads to a pretty interesting conflict as the heroes try to reason with their better nature over their distrust of the outside world. Adding to this dilemma is that their Goddess is old and dying, making her decision to leave the island and fight Godzilla a surprisingly impactful one. This positions Godzilla and Mothra as opposing forces; Godzilla being a cruel, unsympathetic engine of destruction, and Mothra being a loving, compassionate force for good, which fits their characters very well, even if this Godzilla's a bit of a clumsy moron.

This wasn't the first time Godzilla brawled on-screen, there was Godzilla Raids Again in 1955 and King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962, but this was his first show down with Mothra, or the Thing as they insist on calling her because, again, I'm saddled with the American cut, so how well does Mothra vs. Godzilla handle its biggest selling point. Even with Godzilla being clumsy and stupid sometimes, the scenes of him levelling cities and getting shot at are as entertaining as they've ever been, and while some of the effects really don't look that good anymore, anything that involves miniatures is still top of the class material. Mothra vs. Godzilla sets a new high standard for model work, but overall, I think that the effects generally hold up better in Mothra and Rodan, even with how good Godzilla and particularly Mothra look in this film. The Mothra models used in this film look amazing, even better than the ones used in her own film, and her design has received minor updates, mainly her more pronounced legs, which she uses to grab and claw at Godzilla. Meanwhile Godzilla is still suitmation at its best, the design is a cool update on his look, and certainly looks meaner than he looked in King Kong vs. Godzilla. Continuing about the visual effects, while the integration of life-sized objects and miniatures vary from decent to outright laughable, it's nowhere near the black magic that they pulled off in Mothra, they did nail the integration of the fairies though, who never look out of place and whose tiny size the film sells excellently, plus they sing catchy, nostalgic songs so of course I like them, I grew up on this shit.

But let's stop digressing, you're here to see Godzilla and Mothra fight, and when the film finally gives you that at the one-hour mark, it's... interesting. Many of the shots that feature both monsters look really good, and as usual, the miniature work as Mothra blows away entire buildings with her wings are top, just as they were in her own film and Rodan. It's almost comedic how powerless Godzilla is against it too, as he stumbles and eventually falls. The problems really start to arise though when Godzilla and Mothra take each other on in close quarters, which might the single campiest scene of any film I've reviewed in this special, though that's sure to change. The puppets and extreme close-ups of this sequence are rough, and this fight generally fails to sell Mothra as a worthy opponent to Godzilla. But as I alluded to in my review of Mothra, her design doesn't lend itself to destruction and combat, it is a beautiful design for sure, but there's a reason Legendary gave her a radically new look in King of the Monsters, one with a sleeker body and massive claws; because the classic Mothra design is a bit clumsy in the fight scenes. The fight between Godzilla and Mothra is also very brief, with Godzilla continuing his rampage after Mothra dies, her egg nestled beneath her wing, which is a beautiful image. This isn't the end of the fight however, because the film's climax is a pair of Mothra Larva fighting Godzilla. Well, I say fighting, but really they just shoot webs at him, and one of them bites his tail and gets thrown around at one point. Even by the standard set by Mothra's fight earlier, this is a bit anticlimactic. That kind of sums up the monster fights in this film, anticlimactic; they're brief and they push the effects to their absolute limits in a bad way, and the film is made all the cheesier for it.


A Monster Egg?!
Mothra vs. Godzilla is considered by many to be a quintessential film in Godzilla's long and colourful history, and in many ways, it is; just not necessarily for the right reasons. It lacks the complexity and intrigue or the goofiness and charm of the Godzilla or Mothra, respectively, with a central cast that essentially recycles Mothra's fantastic heroes, and a story that essentially recycles the story of Mothra, only now with Godzilla thrown in. This works as intended, being completely functional, but it ultimately feels unfulfilling in the shadow of Mothra. Then there's the effects, which vary from the best visual effects the series has seen up to this point, to 60's sci fi cheese at its absolute finest, with amazing model and costume work and a hysterical fight scene that it's difficult to take seriously. I could never say Mothra vs. Godzilla is bad, it's certainly a visually impressive film most of the time, has an outstanding score, and I personally have a lot of nostalgia for this film. There is a certain appreciation that this film deserves, but if given the choice, I'd personally take Mothra every time.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu movie review

Here's what you need to know; following Detective Harry Goodman's mysterious death, his son, Tim arrives in Ryme City in search of closure, but that isn't what he finds when Harry's Pokémon shows up at the apartment, a Pikachu with amnesia, an addiction to coffee and the ability to talk. But more pressing matters loom on the horizon; with a mysterious gas circulating around the city that makes Pokémon crazy, a quarantined research lab and Mewtwo on the loose, it seems that Harry learned more than he should have, and that a sinister plot that threatens all of Ryme city is about to erupt, one that only Tim and Harry's Pikachu can stop.
So a Pokémon movie happened, a theatrically released live-action Pokémon movie starring Ryan Reynolds, but do you know what, I saw King Ghidorah on a billboard the other day, nothing surprises me anymore. And maybe I'd have been more excited about this film if I'd given a damn about or knew a single thing about Pokémon, I was always a Yu-Gi-Oh guy in my younger years, so knowing that this film would be full of monsters and references that would go right over my head, I went in looking simply to have a good time, and to be honest, I kind of did.

The film surprised me in its opening as Mewtwo breaks out of the research lab and blasts Harry's car off the road, setting up the film's mystery in an honestly quite compelling way, I wanted to know more as this sequence unfolded. What follows is your standard sequence of setting up the film's protagonist, introducing us to a much, much less annoying Justice Smith as Tim, the lonely young man looking to just live a normal, boring life away from Harry. What I came to really like about Tim though is how the film explores the relationship he had with Harry, dabbling in a backstory that's actually rather morbid, one that drove Tim away from Harry, leading to him making decisions that he now deeply regrets. Into this troubled young man's life then crashes a talking Pikachu voiced by Ryan Reynolds, who's basically Deadpool because why wouldn't he be. While Tim tries to be the heart of the film kind of succeeds, Pikachu is the film's driving force, firstly in comedy. It's Ryan Reynolds, we all know that he's funny, and shock and horror, he's funny as a talking Pikachu with a coffee addiction. It being Ryan Reynolds, there's a fair few adult jokes scattered about the film, and Pikachu undoubtedly brings the film's biggest laughs, but what's really weird is just how well it works. There is a strange juxtaposition of Deadpool's voice coming out of a photo-realistic CG Pokémon's mouth, but eventually that went away, probably not long after I realised that Pikachu wasn't a purely comedic character, and that the emotional stuff with him was good.

This really is Pikachu's movie, as well as Tim works in the role of sympathetic, lonely kid who finds companionship in his adventure, and I know what you're thinking; the clue's in the name. But Pikachu is the strongest part of the film; the mystery is his mystery, he's looking for his friend and trying to remember his past, and the personal connection the mystery has with Tim and Pikachu means that the film is always engaging, never straying too far from the point of the story. But what's a good story without some side characters, let's see; you got Lucy and Psyduck, Howard Clifford, who totally isn't a villain, and Ken Watanabe who the film needed more of. Lucy is clearly the big one here; a blogger looking to become a big boy journalist and hoping that solving the mystery of Harry Goodman's death will get her there. She inevitably becomes the object of Tim's desire, with him being a lonely twenty-something year old and her being an almost intolerably cute woman. But outside of seeing what Tim clearly sees in her, she's not exactly the beating heart of the film. The scene where she tries to be an intense, serious journalist and fails miserably is very funny and cute, but she doesn't stand out in the film like Tim and Pikachu do, and yet again, sorry to be a dinosaur who's still beating this drum, but this is yet another film where the guy doesn't get the kiss at the end, this surely sounds petty and that's because it is, but it's something I've noticed again and again and again in the past few years and here it is once more, it's almost like Hollywood finds it dirty or something. Still, at the end of the day, she's cute, has her moments of pushing the story forward, and her Psyduck was really funny.

But of course, the biggest character of this film isn't really a character at all, it's the world; this is the first time Pokémon has been presented in live-action, and for this film to work, its world has to work and its world building has to be on point. For the most part, I had no trouble believing that this world was a world where Pokémon exist, as ridiculous a premise as that even is. Ryme City was also a very cool setting for the film; a sprawling, near future big city with a bunch of London Landmarks in it for some reason, despite the film clearly going for a more neo-noir-y aesthetic. In this world is a bunch of references and monsters that I don't recognise or understand, something I wholeheartedly expected and am therefore not going make an issue of. But something I can almost buy is the film's representation of the Pokémon; from a design standpoint, these are the Pokémon from the game, practically nothing has been changed about the way they look outside of them now being photo-realistic, which actually works really well. Charizard for example looks awesome, and Bulbasaur is completely adorable, and those are the Pokémon I know, I don't know the names of any Pokémon outside of them and a few others in this film like Cubone and Mewtwo. I did watch some of the Pokémon Anime films a long, long time ago though and as such, I remember Mewtwo, who is easily the second coolest Pokémon in the film after those giant turtle things. Make no mistake, this isn't Ghost in the Shell or Alita: Battle Angel, two films with amazing world building whose worlds I wanted more of once the film was over, but what's here is cool, and will probably be way, way cooler if you like Pokémon.

But those giant turtle things though, apparently they're called Torterra, I get it, very clever, but that sequence was awesome as the world around them shifted and contorted, leading to probably the film's most visually impressive shot where it is revealed that they're in a forest growing out of the backs of mountain-sized Torterra. This rather nicely brings us to the film's action sequences, because it's a film about Pokémon, even I know that it's about battles. For the most part, the film's action sequences are pretty cool, take for instance the entire sequence with the giant Torterra, where all logic and rules are completely disregarded in favour of cool visuals, I mean, that fall really should have killed him. But one of the film's first action scenes; the chase with the hand monkey Pokémon is exciting and funny, and of course then you have the finale, which is when things go a little nuts. Obviously, this is where all is revealed and it becomes all about stopping the film's villain, whose plan doesn't really make a lot of sense, but it's Pokémon, I think expecting it to would be kind of unfair. But this sequence is a lot of fun; it's naturally also the sequence where you get all the Pokémon action you may or may not have wanted, as Mewtwo flies around magic-handing people and Pikachi throws down with his electric powers. Truth be told, this sequence is entertaining, it does end very cleanly, however, with the villain's plan not really having any long-term consequences outside of the big reveal of who Pikachu is and why he can talk. The payoff of that mystery was very surprising to me, not because it was unexpected, it was kind of obvious, but because it rounds out the film's story in a very conclusive and wholesome way, one that would make carrying this story on in a sequel difficult, but since inconclusive, sequel setup endings are kind of a curse in this age of movies, seeing one in what is certainly the first of a franchise is very surprising and kind of admirable, and the payoff of that ending was very sweet and did put a smile on my face.


That's A Twist, That's Very Twisty
As someone who is completely outside of the Pokémon bubble, I still expected the film to a serviceable, entertaining family adventure film, and to that end, the film didn't let me down. Its leads are funny and have a surprising amount of emotional depth, its twisting, turning plot is very intriguing and weaves in and out of the heroes' personal stories perfectly, and to top it off, the film's action sequences are very impressive and fun. I once had a discussion with a then co-worker who thought this film was literal cancer and a sign that the movie industry is dead, but Detective Pikachu isn't even close to that, it's an alright adventure film, and clearly its heavy reliance on its course material isn't that important to its effectiveness. I enjoyed Detective Pikachu and I'd say it's worth a watch.

Godzilla Month: Mothra (1961) movie review

Here's what you need to know; when four shipwrecked survivors are rescued from the site of Atomic testing, scientists are baffled to find them unaffected by the lethal radiation, and an expedition is sent to the supposedly uninhabited island to see just what the survivors found there. But what they find is more bizarre than they'd bargained for; a tribe of natives, a pair of magical fairies and tales of a winged Goddess that watches over the island; Mothra. Trouble soon follows as the nefarious Nelson kidnaps the fairies and turns them into a theatre production, all while ignoring the increasingly obvious warnings that his greed has awakened a sleeping giant, one that's coming for her fairies and will destroy anything that gets in her way.
That's Godzilla and Rodan taken care of, now let's tackle a very different kind of monster, one that ditches the terror of Atomic dinosaurs ripping up cities and goes for something a little weirder, a little more magical. Something that may also surprise you is that while I grew up on Godzilla and did watch Rodan several times a lad, I never watched the original Mothra growing up, I never owned it on DVD or VHS, so having obtained it recently through, shall we say, a bit of sailing on the high seas, I finally watched the film that introduced one of Godzilla's most famous and beloved foes to the world; Mothra.

Less like Rodan and more like Godzilla; Mothra gets right to the point as a ship gets swept up in a Typhoon and wrecked on the coast of the island. The resulting media frenzy is how we are introduced to some of our main characters; Fukuda, a journalist and his photographer friend, Michi. In terms of its characters, Mothra is an improvement over Rodan, it's also still a downgrade from Godzilla. Mothra goes for something a little different though, While Godzilla's characters were burdened with moral plights and Rodan's were standard 50's sci-fi fair, Mothra's characters go for a more, shall we say, animated feel. Take Fukuda for example, or Bulldog as Michi calls him, who is a lovable goofball. He's a strange kind of character, one who's silly and childish but never stoops to the level to moronic, he's an eccentric journalist who will do anything for a story, literally anything, like stowing away on a research ship headed for a deadly Atomic test site. He has his moments of silliness too, but far from being annoying, they make him really endearing, he's just a funny guy and I like him. Michi is less interesting or funny, but she too has her quirky moments that make her very charming. Then there's Chuju, who's the most straightforward of all of them, but his introduction also exudes personality and charm, refusing to have his picture taken only to reveal that it's so nobody sees his beard. But the crown for silly, goofy characters undoubtedly goes to Nelson. This is the first film I've reviewed in this special that has a human antagonist, and he's about as antagonistic as you can get in all the wrong ways, or right, depending on your point of view. He's a straight up evil, maniacal, moustache twirling super villain, a slimy git who always has this scheming, sadistic little grin on his face.

The moral ambiguity of previous films is completely absent in this film and in its place is very clear cut, black and white heroes and villains; a plucky gang of good guys trying to free the fairies from the evil, greedy, smirking capitalist. This is quite the conundrum for me, personally, as on one hand, the moral and philosophical musings of its characters is part of the magic of Godzilla, but on the other hand, Mothra's characters being so wholly good or evil means that they can really play up their roles, and the results are really entertaining and charming. It's ironic that this film, the one clearly more for kids and families is the one I'm watching when I'm 22, but Godzilla, the much scarier and less family friendly film is the one I watched when I was young. Mothra is clearly not coming from the same mindset that spawned its predecessors; it's a much more comedic, goofy film, one in keeping with Godzilla's gradual transition to a more family friendly series, and this change also comes along side this film's decreased focus on science fiction and increased focus on fantasy. Mothra brings the fantasy not just in the form of its God moth, but in the form of the fairies; a pair of tiny twins with a telepathic bond to Mothra who spend most of their screen time singing and chanting to their Goddess. This is easily Mothra's weirdest aspect, and it's something that always stuck as Mothra fell in with Godzilla and company, and while they are reduced to a McGuffin in the film's latter half, their presence is a constant reminder of the coming chaos, as well as the evils of greedy capitalists, and the effects used to create them are pretty impressive for 1961, but then again, this is Toho in 60's, impressive was a trait they nailed ten years earlier in their visual effects.

Like Rodan, Mothra takes quite a while to get to its titular Monster, with her hatching in her larval form at the halfway mark and only taking off in her adult form in the last fifteen minutes. But thanks to its entertaining characters, the film never got slow or boring, and while they probably could have done more on the island, that isn't the point, Mothra is a battle of good and evil, and in a twist, it makes its titular monster a good guy. Mothra is a constant presence in the film, even if she only appears in the latter half, there's always a feeling that she's coming that drives the characters and story to the inevitable moment that she makes landfall. And while Godzilla's motive was more metaphorical, Mothra's is more direct, she wants to save the fairies and take them home. This is quite the departure, putting Mothra in a more protective role than Godzilla or Rodan, but if you're hungry for a giant monster levelling a city, this means that Mothra might let you down. In the Larval form, she does deliver, crawling her way through streets and buildings while the Army uselessly tries to stop her, and her emergence as an adult is a downright gorgeous scene and the adult form is a wonderful thing to look at, but once her adult form emerges, she just kind of flies around and destroys things by flapping her wings at them. This could be a problem attributed to her design, given that she doesn't have claws or a beak or a tail, but this fits the monster's more gentle nature, she isn't a destroyer and this is reflected in the choice to make her a big, beautiful moth rather than a mean looking dinosaur like Godzilla or Rodan. While those monsters were clearly trying to instil terror in their audiences, Mothra clearly isn't, and that really makes her stand out from the bunch.

But this is a kaiju film, so that means that there will be death and destruction, they're inseparable, and Mothra does cause a bit a chaos in this film. She destroys a Dam at one point, and her path of destruction towards Tokyo is a feast for the eyes thanks to vastly improved model work and pyrotechnics, which seriously do get better and better with each film. it's amusing just how much destruction she causes in her Larval form given that all she does is crawl, she also shoots down a helicopter at one point with silk. It's not just the model work itself that's further improved, the integration of actors and miniatures is downright black magic, the film swaps out miniatures for life-sized counterparts almost seamlessly, making the miniatures feel more alive than they ever have before and the scenes where the Army throws everything they have at Mothra hugely exciting. That being said, the destruction is still more fun in Rodan. Mothra may be a more compelling monster and the model work is far better, but Rodan was just more indulgent than Mothra, the scenes where Rodan is crushing buildings and kicking up a storm with his wings are just so awesome, and I think that Rodan's more aggressive, antagonistic nature lends itself to that kind of mayhem, while Mothra just isn't that kind of monster. What Mothra has on Rodan is its characters and story, which are much simpler but far more endearing, making the heroes' victory a satisfying and uplifting moment rather than a depressing, foreboding one. And since the film has a cartoon bad guy, seeing him get is comeuppance is an absolute treat, as his own misdeeds come back to ruin him, he is such a dick throughout the entire film, to an absurd degree, and seeing him meet his end is made all the more joyous because of it. And in another twist, Mothra's ending isn't depressing; the equilibrium restored isn't ambiguous and full of dread, it ends with the heroes joking and laughing while Mothra flies home, it's certainly a change, but it fits the more family friendly tone of the film and gives its characters the happy ending that they deserve, or unhappy in Nelson's case.


I suppose It Was Those Two Girls
Mothra is a very strange kind of kaiju film that's targeting a different audience to its predecessors and in my opinion, it's all the better for it. Even with the improvements to the visual effects, Mothra's scenes of destruction are not as spectacular and badass as something like Godzilla or Rodan, but despite this, from a pure entertainment aspect, Mothra is easily the best of the three. It gets this boost thanks to a collection of genuinely lovable heroes that are a lot of fun, a deliciously sinister and over the top villain and a story whose focus more on fantasy and magic over science fiction creates a very different viewing experience. Even though Godzilla is objectively a better film, I'm conflicted as to which one I enjoy more, because Mothra is just so much fun, and I'm kind of ashamed that I didn't watch it as a kid, I like it that much. Mothra is just a joyful blast and I'm even tempted to call it a must watch, I highly recommend it.