April 26, 2006

Welcome back to the Late Show.

Before I get to the reviews, I'd like to remind all you B-movie fans about the online petition to save the MGM "Midnight Movies" DVD line. The line has been home to a number of films from the AIP, Cannon, and United Artists libraries – a wide variety of quality cult cinema titles, presented in their proper aspect ratios in pristine transfers. In most cases, these have been the uncut, international versions with their original music restored, versions previously unavailable on U.S. home video.

With the recent purchase of MGM by Sony, and the recent bizarre withdrawal of the latest Midnight Movie discs from U.S. distribution, the future of the line seems to be in the air. Rumor has it that the line may be discontinued. If, like me, you'd like to see Sony keep the line going, click on the link below and add your name to the list. Can't hurt, might help. Thanks.

Last week, I covered some of the Japanese giant monster (or kaiju eiga) movies currently available on DVD. In that column, I focused on a few of the less-familiar creature features – GAPPA, GAMERA and their Korean cousin, YONGGARY – but I know that for most people the genre begins and ends with just one battling behemoth, the Big "G" himself, GODZILLA.

Thanks to Columbia/Tristar Home Video, many classic (and not-so classic) Godzilla movies are finally getting quality DVD releases in their original aspect ratios and language. Further, these are the original cuts of the films, unaltered by the original U.S. distributors, with no scenes rearranged or missing.

The most recent releases range from 1966's GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER to 2003's GODZILLA TOKYO S.O.S., covering at least three distinct eras of the gargantuan one's checkered history.

Godzilla 101 – A brief Godzilla primer: In 1954, Toho Studios in Japan released GOJIRA, which upon its later release in the United States, became known as GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS. This dark, brooding film, dealt fairly seriously with its subject matter, treating the radioactive behemoth as a metaphor for the atomic bomb. But by the time of the second sequel, KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, the series started to take on a lighter, more family-friendly tone, and by the mid-Sixties, Godzilla had become a bonafide hero, battling alien invaders and a vast pantheon of other giant monsters, several of which – Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah – went on to headline their own films, and rival Godzilla himself in popularity.

This first series of Godzilla films ended in 1975 with TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA. In 1984, Toho relaunched the series with the film that became known in America as GODZILLA 1985. This second series of seven Godzilla films lasted for a decade, until 1995. Then, in 2000, Toho launched a third cycle of films, known as the "Millennium series" beginning with GODZILLA 2000 and running through to last year's GODZILLA: FINAL WARS.

Didn't know there were so many, did you?

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Well, Columbia/Tristar home video is making a real effort to get most of those films out there on DVD, and we're going to take a look at some of their most recent releases, starting with 1966's GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER (GOJIRA, EBIRAH, MOTHRA: NANKAI NO DAI KETTO).

SEA MONSTER was the first of what fans came to call the "South Seas" films, as the action takes place on an isolated Pacific island, rather than the densely populated and very urban Japanese mainland. This film also marked the first stint for director Jun Fukuda behind the camera. Fukuda would ultimately direct most of the remaining films in the first series, and was best known for his budget-conscious cost-cutting efforts. Part of the reason for the island setting, for example, was to avoid the cost of building and destroying elaborate miniature cities.

The plot of SEA MONSTER is pretty simple: a group of young men are shipwrecked on a small, uncharted Pacific isle, where they discover, in short order, a beautiful native girl in a sarong, a terrorist base and factory, and Godzilla slumbering in a cave. The girl is from nearby Infant Island (home of Mothra, of course), brought to this island by the terrorist organization Red Bamboo, to work as one of many slaves in their factory. The factory is pretty versatile: it produces both hard water for atomic weapons and a berry juice that the terrorists use to keep the local sea monster, Ebirah (the original jumbo shrimp), from attacking their ships.

Okay, so maybe it ain't that simple.

In any event, before the end of this colorful, fun, family-friendly monster romp, Godzilla goes on a rampage, the terrorists are toasted, the slaves revolt, and Ebirah's destined for a Red Lobster dinner platter. Oh yeah, and Mothra makes a brief, last reel appearance, as well.

The disc is gorgeous, with a beautiful, lush widescreen transfer. The colors are bright and sharp, and the print is near flawless. Columbia/Tristar provides both an English dub and the original Japanese soundtrack, with optional English subtitles. The Japanese track is preferable for a couple reasons, not the least of which is that it sounds richer and more robust. The only extras on the disc are trailers for other currently available Asian fantasy films from Columbia.

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1967's SON OF GODZILLA, also directed by Fukuda, has many similarities to the previous year's entry, and is the first in the series to be wholly aimed at a juvenile audience. Like SEA MONSTER, SON is set on a small Pacific island, has a beautiful girl in a sarong, and is very colorful. It also adds a few new monsters to the Toho bestiary; specifically a trio of giant preying mantises and a giant spider called Spiegas.

A group of UN scientists conducting weather control experiments on an allegedly uninhabited island are joined by an ambitious reporter who drops in (literally, via parachute) uninvited on their supposedly secret operation. With no easy way of getting rid of him, the scientists grudgingly take him on as cook. Before long, they discover that their isolated, supposedly uninhabited island is teeming with giant bugs, a big egg and at least one hot chick. (Guess they should have checked it out a little more carefully, huh?) The egg, of course, hatches, revealing a hideous gray muppet who turns out to be Godzilla's offspring. Instead of smartly abandoning the goofy-looking thing, Big Daddy G shows up, kicks some mantis ass, and starts teaching Lumpy to blow radioactive fire.

Do you get that I hate the kid?

The design of Baby Godzilla (identified in later films as "Minya") is atrociously bad. In an attempt to make the tyke "cute" the special effects team has come up with something that looks like the Pillsbury doughboy returned from the grave after being dead for a month. And the Godzilla suit in this film is pretty poor, too, with a much more frog-like face than usual and huge, bulbous eyes. The bugs though, are great. The elaborate marionettes are well designed and skillfully manipulated. Even with the crystal clarity of DVD, the strings are only briefly and infrequently glimpsed.

Like SEA MONSTER, this is a fantastic transfer. I've never been able to watch this movie all the way through on television since the TV prints were so grainy and badly cropped. But on disc, the film is beautiful to look at, with the same bright, pop-art colors and skillful photography of its predecessor. Sure, it's a kid's film, and one of the weakest in the series… but it sure looks great on this DVD.

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Now, we'll jump ahead a few years to the original GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1974, GOJIRA TAI MECHAGOJIRA), the first of three films to carry that title. Originally released in the United States as GODZILLA VS. THE BIONIC MONSTER (until Universal Studios, producers of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN, threatened to sue) and then as GODZILLA VS. THE COSMIC MONSTER, GVM well represents the state of the series in the Seventies.

As was common in the kaiju films of the disco era, alien invaders are the real threat – in this case, green-skinned ape men who employ a robot duplicate of the mighty Godzilla in their plans of conquest. Fortunately, the ancient Okinawans predicted this, and have a prophecy about two monsters that will save the world from the extraterrestrial menace. One is the Big "G," of course, the other… a shaggy, dog-like Okinawan demigod known as King Seesar.

Of the films of this era, GVM is my favorite. The battle scenes are particularly fun, especially when Godzilla first encounters MechaG, who is initially covered in fake lizard skin. Their battle in an oil refinery is appropriately explosive, and visually thrilling. You've got to wonder what it's like to be in one of those heavy costumes while the set is exploding in flames around you. I don't think they pay those guys enough.

Godzilla's ally, the mystical King Seesar, is disliked by many fans because of his manic bouncing around, but I rather like him; he's not like any of the other Toho titans, with a distinct personality all his own. The final tag-team battle between the three monsters is full of energy, animated ray beams and explosions. It's fun stuff.

This is going to sound awful repetitive, but once again, Columbia's DVD presentation off this vintage kaiju eiga is astonishing. The anamorphic widescreen transfer is without blemish, the colors are bright and true, and the picture is as sharp as a samurai sword. Like the other discs in this collection, the original Japanese soundtrack is preferable to the English dub, but both are clear and well balanced.

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For the next disc, we jump a couple more decades to the rather unwieldy titled GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (2001, GOJIRA, MOSURA, KINGU GIDOR: DAIKAIJÛ SÔKÔGEKI), directed by kaiju auteur Shusuke Kaneko, whose outstanding GAMERA trilogy, for rival studio Daiei, was covered in last week's column.

Like most of the "Millennium Series" films, ALL-OUT ATTACK ignores all previous Godzilla films other than the 1954 original, and plays out as a direct sequel to that classic. Kaneko, hot off the success of his GAMERA trilogy, was given a completely free hand with the Toho monster mythology, and he recasts the creatures into new, sometimes drastically altered roles.

In this version, Godzilla is a nearly demonic force, with white, pupil-less eyes, and a more alligator-like head (although I think he looks a little chunky, to be honest). It is even suggested that the big guy is the living embodiment of the souls of Japan's WW II dead, out for revenge. Mothra, Barugon (from Toho's 1965 monster mash, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD – apparently a favorite of Kaneko's) and King Ghidorah (who had previously always been portrayed as a malevolent alien villain) are reimagined as Japan's mystical guardian beasts, summoned to defend Nippon at the coming of the titanic terror.

Kaneko's film is entertaining and a nice twist on the mythology, but it's not nearly as successful as his GAMERA films. The human characters (primarily a pretty, young TV journalist and her military father) are not nearly as interesting as they could be, and it takes far too long to get to the monster battles. And when it finally does, instead of having Godzilla face his opponents together, he takes them on one-by-one in series of far-too-brief episodic encounters.

The effects are quite good, overall (although, like I mentioned before, Godzilla looks like he needs a thighmaster) but there's a little too much CGI in this movie. While computer animation helps make the flying insect Mothra look more realistic, it's somewhat overdone. King Ghidorah often looks like he was pulled from an anime – although the final underwater battle between Godzilla and the three-headed dragon in Tokyo Bay is pretty damned impressive.

Once again, a great transfer from Columbia, and as with the others in the series, the only extras are a smattering of similarly-themed trailers, a Japanese language track and optional English subtitles. Ultimately, while ALL-OUT ATTACK isn't as good as Kaneko's Gamera Trilogy, it's still a worthwhile couple hours of monster mayhem.

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The two most recent Godzilla films to make it to American DVD are GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002, GOJIRA TAI MEKAGOJIRA) and GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. (2003, GOJIRA TAI MOSURA TAI MEKAGOJIRA: TÔKYÔ S.O.S. ). Both films are directed by Masaaki Tezuka, and S.O.S. is a direct sequel to the previous film (an unusual occurence in the Millennium series).

GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA again ignores all the previous Godzilla movies except the 1954 original, but in this continuity, other giant monsters have attacked Japan over the years besides the Big "G," including the Gargantuas, Rodan and Mothra. In response to these threats, the government decides to build a robot Godzilla, incorporating the skeleton and DNA of the original beast killed at the end of the 1954 film. (Somehow, they're convinced that this is a smart and sane idea.) Sure enough, not long after the Mechagodzilla is built, a new Godzilla shows up to terrorize Tokyo.

In their first bout, MechaG is handily kicking his counterpart's scaly ass... until the lumbering leviathan's roar somehow "awakens the spirit" of the original Godzilla, sending MechaG on a rocket-launching rampage through Tokyo. Confused yet? Don't worry. It sorta makes sense in the film.

GAM is filled with great special effects sequences – by far the best in the series up to this point – and for once, human characters that you actually care about. The pacing and structure of the film is flawless, and it's a remarkably satisfying fantasy adventure film.

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TOKYO S.O.S continues the story, with the Japanese government frantically working to repair MechaG before the radioactive lizard returns for a rematch. But this time things are complicated when the fairies of Infant Island (from the original MOTHRA, 1961) show up and warn that unless the soul of MechaG is allowed to rest in peace, great harm will come to the people of Japan.

Um… right.

Anyway, before long, Godzilla, MechaG and Mothra are throwing down downtown, buildings are toppling, tanks are melting, missiles are exploding and the population is running for cover. You know... business as usual.

The special effects and action are right up there with the previous film. The 2002 model MechaG itself continues to be an astounding creation, beautifully designed and bristling with high-tech armaments. Mothra has never flown more convincingly, and director Tezuka keeps the battles moving at a brisk pace. The performances are uniformly good, and there's some genuine suspense mounted at the climax. It's great fun.

One more time: Columbia/Tristar delivers high quality, pristine widescreen transfers of these two flicks, with the same skimpy extras. But if you haven't seen any of the newer Godzilla flicks, I highly recommend picking these two up – at least for a rental. I think you'll be surprised at just how good these movies are.

I can't wait for Columbia to get around to releasing the latest (last?) in the series, GODZILLA: FINAL WARS.

Whew. That's a lot of kaiju. Hope you enjoyed this two-part look at the genre. I won't be doing this again… at least for a while. I think it's time we got back to the sex and violence (with an emphasis on the sex, naturally), don't you?

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