9/3/2023 0 Comments Creature feature movies![]() There’s an inventiveness and cleverness to the way he frames the battling beasts that elevates the battle-centric second half. The creatures are absolutely delightful, a smart blend of practical and digital effects, and Kaneko frames their action in a series of memorable shots that stand out from much of your standard Giant Monster fare. GMK succeeds in all the critical ways a classic Kaiju movie needs to, compelling humans, enough smarts not to get bogged down in the human drama, and most importantly, fantastic monster action. That’s right! There are FOUR Kaiju at play in GMK, but my poor, sweet son Baragon didn’t rank as a title player despite offering some of the film’s standout moments. ![]() That’s where the other monsters come in, the three ancient Kaiju guardians tasked with saving the planet (but not necessarily us) from his wrath. ![]() Like I said, it sounds silly, but the result is a vicious spin on the classic monster, who has a greater taste than usual for killing off innocent civilians in his deadly march of destruction. In a set-up that sounds much sillier than it plays, Godzilla is driven by the souls of those killed in World War II, who want to destroy Japan for forgetting the wartime atrocities. The film follows the monster madness from two compelling points of view - that of a journalist, Yuri ( Chiharu Niiyama), and her father, Admiral Taizo Tachibana ( Ryudo Uzaki), both of whom are embroiled up-close in the action. Directed by Gamera helmer Shusuke Kaneko, GMK features one of the cruelest spins on Godzilla in the character’s long history. One of the best Godzilla movies, if not the best, to come out of the Millennium era, Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack ( GMK) fully delivers on the promise of that epic title and then some. Honorable Mentions: The Monster, Brian Bertino's grim addiction allegory featuring a knockout performance by Zoe Kazan Grabbers, a cheeky Irish creature feature with a comedic flourish Shin Godzilla, Toho's reboot of the Godzilla franchise fuelled by a satirical spin on bureaucracy Spring Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's Lovecraftian love story and Slither, James Gunn's stomach-testing B-movie homage. I'm also being a bit of a tough cookie about the fact that having a great monster doesn't make something a monster movie, which means no Harry Potter, Pan's Labyrinth, or anything with the Hulk. One, they are such established subgenres in their own right, they really need their own lists (which you can find by clicking through the links.) Two, because they were so prolific and trendy at the start of the millennium (especially vampires and zombies), they would either dominate the lineup or force the list to become so big it would be unwieldy. You'll also see some plain old downright fun monster mashes.Ī bit of housekeeping notes here: I'm casting a pretty wide net as to what counts as a monster, however, I won't be including zombies, vampires, or werewolves for two reasons. At the same time, monster movies have long been the proud home of allegorical storytelling gorgeously designed stand-ins for the real-life fears that plague and control us, and in the film's below you'll see an especially interesting assemblage of both modern panic and technology-age terrors, born specifically out the era in which they were created, and more universal, primal fears, timeless reminders of the dark corners of the human mind. There's nothing like a great monster movie to get your heart racing, a perfect blend of adrenaline-fueled thrills and stomach-churning scares that often feels like the cinematic equivalent of a death-defying rollercoaster ride.
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