Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) [Tokusatsu Review]

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack; or, Post-War Trauma
     Godzilla is passé.
This week is provide my penultimate review of my Godzilla Millennium series rundown. To be specific, I want to focus on a film about which I have mixed feelings. This is Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack from the year 2001, directed by Shusuke Kaneko.

Release Info

Directed by: Shusuke Kaneko Starring: Chiharu Niiyama, Ryudo Uzaki, Shiro Sano, Hideyo Amamoto

Language: Japanese Original Title: ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ 大怪獣総攻撃 Runtime: 105 min

Synopsis
The Japan Self-Defense Forces are alerted about the American nuclear submarine that went missing. In the meantime, a TV reporter Yuri Tachibana (Chiharu Niiyama) films a documentary piece near Mount Myoko, which is hit by a mysterious earthquake. It turns out that Godzilla might have returned and the only way to stop the creature is to reawaken the so-called Guardian Monsters: Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah.

Anger and Hatred
Contrary to common misconceptions within the fandom, this movie did not come about because of the poor financial and critical reception of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000). During the production of the aforementioned film, producer Shogo Tomiyama was still keen on developing the idea of revisiting Godzilla in an alternate universe with each new motion picture. Therefore, he recruited the services of an experienced Tokusatsu director Shusuke Kaneko.

Kaneko was a major Godzilla fanboy since childhood, and it was his lifelong dream to actually make a Godzilla movie. Already in the 1990s, when the Heisei movies were at their peak, young Kaneko contacted Tomiyama, but the producer politely refused his pitch to direct. Consequently, Kaneko honed his craft in the Tokusatsu genre by directing for Daiei the now-extremely popular Gamera Trilogy (1995-1999).

When Kaneko was approached with the offer in 2000, he developed several script ideas for the potential film, but the one closest to his vision involved Godzilla as the ruthless villain facing off against protectors of Earth: Varan, Baragon, and Anguirus. Toho accepted the idea, but gave the ultimatum to replace the original monsters with King Ghidorah and Mothra in order to make the film more bankable because the previous outings were box office bombs.

The movie itself certainly feels different in tone and its subject matter from other Millennium flicks crafted by Masaaki Tezuka and Takao Okawara. The GMK film is Shusuke Kaneko’s attempt to bring the King of the Monsters back to his roots, to make him not an anti-hero, but an unforeseeable force of nature that detests humans and wants to destroy all forms of life.

What is more, Kaneko not only changed Godzilla’s modus operandi and his appearance, but also gave the monster a spiritual dimension of origin. Of course, the nuclear aspect of Godzilla remains intact, but Kaneko heavily implies that the Big G is also an embodiment of souls of Japanese soldiers who were left to die by the Imperial Army during the war. In consequence, Godzilla becomes a demon that haunts Japan not only for its trauma stemming from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also for the country’s war crimes. Godzilla’s mercilessness is especially telling in a scene where he slams to the ground a hospital filled with innocent people, including a girl who survived the monster’s previous attack.

It goes without saying that Mothra is always the Kaiju heroine, and she always rocks on that front, but it is impossible for me to picture King Ghidorah as the benevolent dragon who saves the day. This is the major cognitive dissonance that ruins this movie for me. King Ghidorah time and time again, for decades, was Godzilla’s arch-nemesis, not the saviour of mankind.

In terms of cinematography and special effects, the GMK movie is the most 2000-like looking production of the Millennium series. I’m not sure why it’s the cause of this apart from that Kaneko is definitely a modern filmmaker, whereas Tezuka and Okawara feel more traditional with their approach to Godzilla. There’s nothing wrong with both approaches. In fact, GMK has many cinematic nods to Godzilla from 1998, as if Kaneko was indirectly throwing shade at the American production. In addition, the special effects director Makoto Kamiya does a fine job with blending classic miniature work with CGI.

With regard to performances, Chiharu Niiyama and Ryudo Uzaki really carry the film with their performances. Uzaki is especially memorable as the army admiral who undergoes a fantastic voyage deep into the belly of Godzilla. The movie also features appearances of the veteran actors such as Shiro Sano, Masahiko Tsugawa, Hiroyuki Watanabe, and Hideyo Amamoto. There are also cameos done by Masaaki Tezuka, Koichi Kawakita, Ai Maeda and Aki Maeda (as twin sisters) as well as Mizuho Yoshida, Akira Ohashi, and Rie Ota (who were the suitmation actors for the titular monsters).

Last but not least, Kow Otani provided a truly menacing music score for the film. I will always cherish the composer’s soundtrack for the Outlaw Star anime, but his addition to the Godzilla franchise cannot go unnoticed as well. “His music was so emotional and classical; it reminds me of old-fashioned kaiju movies, (Akira) Ifukube’s sound. His music makes me excited. It makes your heart beat,” stated Shusuke Kaneko (source).

Recommendations
Undoubtedly, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is a film that stood the test of time and can be watched with having the knowledge of the rest of Godzilla films. However, it is very dark indeed, so it does not have a lot of rewatch value for me. The movie was released on Blu-Ray in 2014.

Overall score: 7/10

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