Last nite I watched two of the DVDs I bought when I got The Cure boxset I wrote about yesterday. It was a good, and expensive trip to the store, for not only did I buy these two DVDs, but I got one more Godzilla DVD that is waiting to be watched.
Godzilla: Giant Monsters All Out Attack was the first thing I watched. You all may recall my excitement a few weeks back when I saw this was coming out. Well not only this one came out, but another one did too that I never saw and I bought them both!
This was one of the finer Godzilla movies I’ve ever seen. I opted for the dubbed English option on the disc as I was not in the mood to read a movie last nite (there is also the original Japanese language with subtitles). The dubbing was very well done, some of the best I’ve ever heard to be honest. It was obvious that whoever was in charge of the dubbing actually gave a shit about the story and conveying all of the dialog and retaining the emotion. The movie was widescreen, which I was thankful for after that horible box set they put out a year or so ago that was all full frame and shitty transfers. The sound was Dolby 5.1 and was super sweet. My subwoofer made me feel like the mighty Gojira (that is what Godzilla is called in Japan) was right outside Combustion Manor in the park across the street!
The story of this one is that Godzilla decides he’s gonna give Japan an ass whipping after being thought killed many years ago. He’s pretty much immune to any known weapon on Earth and was originally disposed of by some missing scientist who used some chemical to destroy him. Legend has it that there were guardian monsters whose job it was to actually protect Japan. It is after Godzilla starts tearing the shit up that they are reborn to try and take him out.
Really Godzilla (here in his heel persona) can’t be blamed fully. There was some other monster who appeared first, and that must have pissed off big green, cuz he came up out of the ocean shortly after to show this runt monster who is boss. That monster got his ass handed to him in a squash match and aside from suffering a bite to the arm, the King of Monsters put a quick finish to him.
Shortly after that, Mothra was reborn (complete with CGI effects of his hatching) as one of the guardian monsters and tried his hand at Godzilla. Now immediately upon his birth, and his intially getting the advantage in the fight, I was very concerned for the well being of big green. You see, in a much earlier film (Godzilla vs. Mothra), Godzilla actually jobbed to Mothra! That was bullshit, Godzilla should never job! I blame those two singing bitches for costing him that match, it was 3 on 1! Mothra was clearly the face in that battle, yet used a heel tactic to get himself over in the match! Fuck that! Whoever booked that match needs a good punch in the eye. I haven’t seen that shitty of a booking job since Nash was booking WCW. Anyway, back to the movie. They had a lenghty battle, and it looked like it could go either way, but Godzilla prevailed and cashed in the receipt owed to him by Mothra for jobbing to him in the past.
During this time, King Gidorah hatched, the other of the guardian monsters. He presented a tough battle in a past movie as well, but if I recall correctly, he ultimately did the job at the end of that one. Him and big G put on a great match, and fought on land, and undersea, but being the crafty monster he is, big G went over in that match too and was ready to kick some more Tokyo ass without any further interruption. Or so I thought…
Turns out this crafty army dude in a prototype sub was able to drop a missle inside Godzilla when his sub (with him and the missle in it) were swallowed by Godzilla. Due to this missle, when Godzilla went to shoot his ultra hi-tech (thanks to CGI) electricity from his mouth (which worked more like a blue laser beam), he ended up destroying himself!
I really enjoyed this movie, it is easily one of the best I’ve seen of the Godzilla franchise. The pacing was better than a lot of the others, while they all start off slow, this one had monsters appearing far sooner than some previous movies. The special effects were really well done, and far above average for the franchise. The sound and picture on the DVD were real nice as well.
Now that I’ve written such a lenghty story about this one, I will have to save my review of the other DVD I watched for later today. Stay tuned.
