Godzilla Resurgence- What Do We Know So Far? [News]

It’s the 29th of March today, exactly four months until the premiere of Shin Gojira, the new Japanese Godzilla film (since the release of Godzilla: Final Wars). Therefore, as a Kaiju fan, I thought it would be a good idea to gather all the information about this production in one place and slightly comment on the news as well.

1. Who’s going to direct?

Godzilla Resurgence is, in fact, co-directed by Shinji Higuchi (Attack on Titan) and Hideaki Anno (Evagelion). What is more, the two filmmakers also took care of other aspects of film production with Higuchi supervising visual effects and Anno writing the script. To be honest, I haven’t seen (yet) anything from Attack on Titan franchise, but after watching the trailer for Live-Action movie and reading some reviews about it, I have mixed feelings about Higuchi. On the other hand, Anno is the father of Evangelion franchise and an extremely successful animator, but he rarely did something outside of anime genre (Love & Pop, Ritual). Thus, I can understand Toho’s decision to turn the making of new Godzilla into collaborative effort, with a director already familiarised with visual effects and another one able to provide decent storytelling.

Pictures of who to blame (Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi ) if the movie turns out to be a flop.

2. What’s the cast?

So far, only the three leading actors were named by Toho and they are:

 

From left to right: Yutaka Takenouchi, Hiroki Hasegawa and Satomi Ishihara

The names of the characters the actors are going to portray on screen are, respectively: Hideki Akagi, Ladou Yaguchi, and Kayoko Ann Peterson.

Information about these characters is very little. Allegedly, the character og Ladou Yaguchi is going to be the main protagonist, whereas Kayoko Ann Peterson will be some kind of an American agent (most probably sent by her superiors to evaluate the King’s rampage in Japan).

3. Who’s the composer?

The movie will be scored by Shiro Sagisu, a composer who already worked with Higuchi on Attack on Titan and Anno on Evangelion, so the choice of him by the directors is understandable, but having in mind really mixed quality of Godzilla soundtracks (through Heisei and Millennium series), I’m a bit worried. Did Toho even try to get in touch with Mischiru Oshima? However, if Alexander Desplat was able to brilliantly score Godzilla (2014), I just hope that Sagisu will also deliver some great themes. 

4. Teaser Trailer

Teaser Trailer was released in December 2015, coinciding with the announcement of the cast and the composer. The video from the youtube channel can be viewed here:

Personally, I think that Legendary Pictures made more effort with their own Teaser Trailer back in 2010, following the announcement of their Godzilla film. What do we get here? People running and screaming plus the King’s classic roar. I understand that they didn’t want to show anything important, but it’s already the end of March and there’s NO proper trailer!

Back in December 2013, Legendary electrified the fandom with their leaked trailer (nobody will convince me that this was not unintentional) and this happened six months before the film’s premiere! Come on Toho! Get a grip and give us some proper film footage already.

5. Godzilla’s appearance

With regard to the King’s appearance, of course, it’s obvious that it’ll be different from Gareth Edwards’s flick and Godzilla: Final Wars. As visible on the poster, the design is indeed quite rough, which is an interesting move, but the eyes are quite disturbing (in a negative way). I don’t want the King to have eye problems again as in the Showa series!

However, some rumours surfaced in January 2016 via bloody-disgusting.com that the King will have three separate looks in the film, with the final one being the most similar to the classic appearance.

The supposedly “leaked photos” below (as presented by Gomaru Island and August Ragone).

Yet, as August Ragone claims, the rumour about the three appearances cannot be taken seriously, since it may simply be a misinterpretation of his own story that the King’s suit is "operated by three people").

Yet, what is definitely officially known is the King new height: 108metres/ 355 feet tall. Oh please, height is not the most powerful feature of Godzilla. Stop making him taller and taller, because soon his head will protrude from Earth’s atmosphere.

6. The Official Site

Needless to say, Toho also launched the official site promoting the film: http://shin-godzilla.jp/

Nevertheless, it is extremely poor in content (poster, trailer, cast info and news rss) when compared to still active Legendary’s official site of Godzilla 2014: http://www.legendary.com/film/godzilla/

7. Thoughts

On the whole, even though there are only four months left, I'm impatently looking forward to this movie. It seems that Toho is not confident enough about their picture in view of such a moderate marketing, but hopefully this will improve from May. Most probably the movie won't get a cinematic release in Poland, so I'll have to wait a few more months for Blu-Ray/DVD release... Anyways, it's Toho's new Godzilla, so not watching it would be a sin.

Lady Snowblood (1973) [Film Review]

Lady Snowblood; or, Vengeance is Hers

      Tsukamoto Gishiro, I'll kill you!

This week’s review will be about a movie that “inspired” Quentin Tarantino to make one of his intertextual mash-ups known as Kill Bill (2003). Lady Snowblood is a simple revenge tale about a woman trying to avenge her parents' death, but contrary to Tarantino’s morbid and disjointed picture, this film presents the story in a more sophisticated and definitely truer way to the chanbara genre.

Release Info

Directed by: Toshiya Fujita Starring: Meiko Kaji, Toshio Kurosawa, Ko Nishimura, Eiji Okada
Language: Japanese Original Title: Shurayuki-hime Runtime: 96 min

Synopsis

Japan has entered the Meiji era in the 1870s, the period during which the Shogunate ceased to exist, the power was restored to the Emperor, and industrial development ensued. However, in the midst of socio-political changes, crime flourished as well. Four ruthless criminals brutally kill the village teacher, his son, and rape his wife. Having ended up in prison, the disgraced woman gives birth to a daughter whom she calls Yuki (snow) and, before dying, she tells the inmates to raise the child for vengeance. Given an exhausting training by a priest Dōkai (Ko Nishimura), Yuki (Meiko Kaji) grows up to become a professional assassin. The priest calls her “a child of the netherworlds,” a demon spirit that came to this world for the sole purpose of revenge. Indeed, Yuki assumes her new identity as Shura Yuki Hime (Lady Snowblood) and sets out to hunt down the killers of her family.

The Unsurpassed Classic

After seeing Lady Snowblood, I thought it wasn’t surprising that Tarantino made his pitiful mixed-bag of various genre references, since the original film, which served as inspiration, is so bloody damn good. Financed independently, directed by Nikkatsu-veteran Toshiya Fujita, and starring glorious Meiko Kaji (already known at the time for Stray Cat Rock and Female Convict 701: Scorpion series), the movie is an adaptation of manga by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura.

Ironically, the film is vastly different in tone and style that Fujita usually used to do for Nikkatsu, but it’s his only picture that has mainstream recognition outside of Japan. Allegedly, it took some time for Meiko Kaji to be persuaded to play the part and, eventually, she agreed on condition of having some input in the shaping of the character. Thus, Lady Snowblood is not a typical pink/exploitation flick of its times, but primarily an action violence picture. We follow Yuki’s quest, divided into four chapters, in which we see her beginnings, each step as she tracks down and mercilessly kills the criminals, and the morbid finale of her revenge at the "House of Joys" that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Some of the more particular cinema connoisseurs unanimously claim that Lady Snowblood is just an outdated, poorly executed B-Movie. Well… they could not be more wrong. Only those who have not seen the movie can claim something like that. Lady Snowblood is literally an unpolished gem among samurai flicks. It perfectly delivers the story of good vs. evil in which the protagonist masterfully slaughters the baddies.

What’s more, the film also rocks in terms of character development. Even though we know that Yuki is just a female assassin, as the plot progresses, we may slightly doubt her earthly nature. We never see her eat or drink, or even engage into sexual intercourse and display her body. Yuki is only focused on completing her mission, her destiny, because it is the only reason of her coming into this world. Although we may perceive some “love interest” through the character of Ryūrei Ashio (Toshio Kurosawa), this is not his function in the story; Ashio serves to provide a metatextual comment on the events and tie-in the storytelling structure of manga to that of the film.

In terms of filmmaking techniques, the picture was simply ahead of its times. The very first scene of Yuki taking on the gang of thugs is beautifully staged and choreographed. The 180-degree-shots of fighting Yuki match perfectly with the framing shots in crowded scenes as well as the handheld sequences of chasing, not to mention lots of Yuki close-ups to hint at her twisted psyche and barely controlled wrath.

In other words, Toshiya Fujita did a splendid job in his directorial duties and Meiko Kaji steals the picture with her mesmerising performance, making the role of Shura Yuki Hime easily the best one in her career. I’m not saying that Lady Snowblood is a flawless film, because it could have been a little longer, more linear in its narration, and more elaborative on the historical context of the Meiji era. Nevertheless, if the movie had a bigger budget and had been made a bit earlier (in the golden era of samurai classics), I’m confident that it would get the attention it rightfully deserves.

Recommendations

I recommend this to anyone who likes good old revenge flicks with moderate amounts of bloodshed but greater emphasis on the main character and enormous pay off at the end. To me, Lady Snowblood is a Japanese version of Once Upon a Time in the West. If you like this feeling of spaghetti westerns, but at the same time dislike the overt craziness of Tarantino, then Lady Snowblood is the movie for you.

Overall score: 9/10

Gunhed (1989) [Tokusatsu Review]

Gunhed; or, Post-apocalyptic Tech-Noir Made in Japan

This week’s review will be about a film that originated as a scrapped idea for the 17th part of the Godzilla franchise. Nevertheless, Toho decided to give this project a green light on condition that King of the Monsters be written out of the script. As a result, the text written by James Bannon (however wikipedia lists a certain Tatsuo Kobayashi as the co-writer) was heavily reworked by director Masato Harada and the end result is a mixture of some awesome cyberpunk and not-so-breathtaking storytelling.

Release Info

Directed by: Masato Harada Starring: Masahiro Takashima, Brenda Bakke, Yujin Harada, Kaori Mizushima
Language: Japanese Original Title: ガンヘッド Runtime: 100 min

Synopsis

In the year 2005, on a small, desolated island 8JO, the first self-sustainable industrial complex was built. It was managed by the most advanced and highly sophisticated computer called Kyron-5. However, after 20 years of efficient work, Kyron-5 reached a conclusion that humans are dispensable units in the new world of high-tech. Thus, the computer declared war on mankind. In response, a specialised battalion of military robots called Gunheds (Gun UNit of Heavy Eliminate Device) was sent to the island in order to destroy Kyron-5. The computer was disabled but all the robots perished in succeeding their goal.

Now, 13 years later, a group of daredevil scavengers in search for some old computer chimps (that are allegedly “more precious than gold”) lands on the forgotten island. In the ruins of an old facility, they discover a Bio-Droid that attempts to reboot Kyron-5. Surprised by the facility’s defences, treasure hunters are killed off one by one. The only people who survive are a tech savvy Brooklyn (Masahiro Takashima) and Texas Air Ranger Sgt. Nim (Brenda Bakke). After encountering two children who live on the island, they decide to rebuild one of the Gunheds and stop reloading of Kyron-5 before all hell breaks loose.

 

Completing the mission

Yeah, that’s quite a lengthy synopsis, but the film quite swiftly manages to introduce the viewers to this post-apocalyptic world with the usage of an off-camera narration (highly similar in tone to The Terminator (1984) opening) and the following title cards:

As interesting as it may sound, Gunhed unfortunately fails to deliver much of its promises. The opening shot of Mary Ann ship flying through the storm with an epic music score by Toshiyuki Honda and Takayuki Baba is literally awesome. In addition, members of the scavengers group seemed quite likeable and vivid characters that could carry on the picture, thus it’s a huge shame seeing them killed off after the first 15 minutes!

Afterwards, the film mercilessly slows down and it doesn’t get any better until Brooklyn launches Gunhed and they start making their way to Kyron-5’s core room. Throughout the movie’s middle section, we either see Brooklyn fixing the robot and dealing with one of the children, or Nim trying to make her way to Mary Ann ship with the other annoying kid. Instead of kick-ass cyberpunk characters, the film is driven by Masahiro Takashima (who later gives an incredibly bland performance in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (1993)) and Brenda Bakke (before appearing in Hot Shots 2 (1993) and having her Lana Turner moment in L.A. Confidential (1997)), who looks great as a commando soldier, but seems underused. On top of that, the movie is dubbed in English, which makes it even harder to watch.

Nevertheless, Gundhed’s main advantages are undoubtedly the visuals. The whole scenography and layout of the facility is simply spectacular, together with the design of Gunhed and Kyron-5’s core. Great special effects and miniature fights done by Koichi Kawakita and combined with great music score guarantee great entertainment, but only at the beginning and the end of the film.

 

Recommendations

If you like cyberpunk in general (and Godzilla as well), you can give it a go, but don’t expect anything exceptional. Gunhed can be watched for action, visuals, and music only. Other than that, it’s just... boring and not engaging in terms of a far-fetched plotline. Recommended for one view as a trivia for Tokusatsu fans.

Overall score: 5/10