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Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack -Toho (2001)
Summary Godzilla is more pissed than ever and proceeds to kick everyone’s ass. My Thoughts Godzilla films have never really bowed to continuity. It seems as though nearly every other Godzilla film starts up in its own new alternate universe, where none of the other Godzilla attacks ever happened. They all branch off, sometimes including other Godzilla films in their continuity, other times the film will only include the 1954 attack and the current film being the “sequel.” Such is the case with the darker Giant Monsters All Out Attack, and with three heavy weight monsters getting top billing and a title as long as that, you know this is gonna be one hell of a Godzilla flick. GMAOA picks up fifty years after the first Godzilla attack in ’54. A U.S. nuclear submarine has been mysteriously sunk off Japan’s shores. The radiation is enough to bring Godzilla back. In some movies Godzilla is bad, sometimes he’s the good guy, in others he’s more of an anti-hero, but here he is a full 200% certified bad-ass piece of scum – and I love him this way. The film briefly acknowledges the American Godzilla movie, but not in a particularly good way. When the possibilities of Godzilla’s return start to surface, some Japanese military guys mention the monster attack in New York. One of them asks, “The New York attack was Godzilla right?” “That’s what the experts claim, but our people here have some doubts.” Yes, leave the giant monster identifying to the experts in Japan, not the morons in the states. The Japanese know better than anyone what Godzilla looks like and how he’s supposed to be. When Godzilla resurfaces he begins his murderous rampage through Japan and kills all in his path. I’ve never seen so many people die in a Godzilla film. You usually always just hear about hundreds of deaths at some point in the dialogue, but in this film you get to see a lot of it. People are crushed under buildings, highways, stomped on, or disintegrated by Godzilla’s breath. Don’t think I’m weird, but my personal favorite death was that of a helpless girl in hospital room. I won’t spoil it for you, but it just shows that this Godzilla is a cold-blooded bastard. Godzilla doesn’t give a damn who you are or if you’re already in bad shape, he will kick you when you're down. The other monsters also get into the killing action, which is a little surprising for Mothra, since it’s usually more of a protector. All the death isn’t the only thing happening with the people of Japan. The human story in this one is about a cute girl working at a low-budget television studio, trying to make it as a real reporter. There’s the Japanese Emo guy that’s wants to bang her, and the girl’s military father that wants to bring the big lizard down. I don’t watch Godzilla movies for the human stories, mainly just for the giant monster action. Many times the human story in Godzilla movies can become very boring. Fortunately, this one doesn’t. The story is decent enough and there isn’t any forced cheese-ball comedy. Also, the acting is actually good for a Godzilla movie. A strange old man also warns Japan that Godzilla will get revenge for the souls lost during World War II. This is something that does little more than try to add some controversy to the film. So Godzilla is pissed because the bad guys lost? I think I’ll just leave that alone. The only way to stop Godzilla is to awaken the three Holy Beasts of the Yamato: Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. Each beast is eventually awakened, but not all at once. Had they been all awakened at once assuredly there would have been a Giant Monsters All Out Attack. Instead Baragon is first with Mothra afterwards and King Ghidorah shortly after that. Godzilla is extremely powerful in this movie and the battles become one-sided. There is still a giant monster battle, but it’s not as big as I initially thought it would be. As for the monsters themselves, they all look great in this movie. King Ghidorah looks cooler than ever with his re-designed dragon heads, but he seems to be a real pussy in this film when up against Godzilla. However, he does have a spectacular Phoenix-like scene that was just awesome. Besides the one-sided monster battles, the only other complaint I had was near the end. Highlight the below paragraph to find out what it is. ******Spoiler Alert****** Things get a little weird near the end of the big battle. The three monsters are all killed and, I guess their essence, all combine and enter Godzilla. Godzilla is dragged underwater by the essence. This whole essence thing always feels like a cop-out to me. It’s as if the writer couldn’t think of anything more to do so he has the essence of the defeated finish off or help bring down the villain. This kind of thing seems to happen a lot in various anime series and movies. I suppose it makes some sense for this movie though, since the three monsters are “holy.” At least the essence thing isn’t what kills him; I won’t spoil that at least. ******End Spoiler****** GMAOA was directed by Shusuke Kaneko. If you’re into kaiju movies you may recognize the name. This is the guy that directed the very excellent new Gamera trilogy from the 90's, arguably some of the best giant monster movies ever made, and easily the best of Gamera’s outings. The film also has a nice 5.1 mix in English and Japanese. Aside from that thing at the end, this is a great Godzilla flick. Giant Monsters All Out Attack has lots of action, lots of giant monster fighting, and lots and lots of death. Extras If you count trailers for other movies, then there are your extras. Oddly, there is no trailer for Giant Monsters All Out Attack on the disc. Score: Film: 8.5 Extras: 1.0 Edition: 2.0 Very, very rarely is there a re-release of a Godzilla film so this edition is most likely as good as it will get. -Shawn
Features: Profiles in Courage: Godzilla King of Monsters DVD reviews: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah/Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth Games: Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters Melee
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