This offbeat entry in the Godzilla series falls almost squarely in the middle of the original series. Gone is famed director Ishiro Honda, now replaced with Jun Fukuda who would "treat" fans to some of the worst entries in the series. Whether or not it was his directorial skills or the limited budgets he faced, Fukuda started off with a very hit or miss entry, "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster."
Terrorist organization Red Bamboo hides on an obscure island, slowly plotting to take over the world with their stockpile of nuclear weapons. Ryota (Toru Watanabe) and a small band of friends crash a boat into the island while searching for his lost brother. Now knowing Red Bamboo is using slaves to produce a yellow liquid to fend off a giant lobster named Ebirah, they have no choice but to try and stop the group alone. Their only chance is a sleeping Godzilla, but is waking him even more dangerous than the terrorists?
Originally slated to be a vehicle for Toho's version of King Kong, there is plenty in the script that doesnt make much sense. Notable is Godzillas odd fascination for a girl (Kumi Mizuno) during a chase sequence. Thats an obvious trait of the big ape and its odd the script wasnt changed to better reflect the change in monsters. Then again, since Godzilla doesnt even get jolted (literally) awake until almost an hour in to this 80-minute feature, they must have needed as much screen time for the beast as possible.
When the real lead character finally does appear, its pretty laughable. Returning suit actor Haruo Nakajima is stuck inside a flabby, baggy, sagging suit that simply doesnt work. The paint seemingly chips away as the movie moves along, as does some of the detailing. Ebirah fares a bit better for his first outing, a surprisingly realistic take on a lobster (though ebi is Japanese is shrimp). Sadly, he's not much of an opponent for Godzilla. Mothra also gets into the action late and looks fair. The prop almost looks dirty, taking away from what is supposed to be a beautiful monster (at least as far as monsters go).
The again, its sort of waste to spend so much time talking about the kaiju since they get so little screen time. Most of the film simply has the actors (including many Toho staples) running around chasing each other. The good guys try to break in; the bad guys try and keep them out. The Red Bamboo must be awfully stupid too. They imprison people from an island (one that houses a giant moth that destroyed all of Tokyo) to make juice to keep a giant lobster away from their boat. Why not just buy a plane or a helicopter and save yourself the trouble?
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
Nice, I've been meaning to start picking up these anniversary releases, but they are a bit pricey for not containing extras. But at least they are widescreen and with the original language track! I have been picking up the ones from the latest series. GMK has become one of my favorite Big G films.
2 - Matt Paprocki
What's funny is how the box sets almost coast as much as buying the individual discs together.
The extras situation is bad too. It's a shame too because the Japanese discs always have SOMETHING on them. I don't see why that stuff couldn't be brought over.
GMK is a goofy one. I liked it, but Ghidrah just looked terrible and I really didn't buy the Godzilla suit either. Looked like he had a beer gut. I couldn't get past it. Nice ideas, good to see an attempt to do something else with the series, but it just didn't work overall for me.
3 - Chris Beaumont
Do you know much about the Japanese releases? like if they have English subs, and quality of transfer? For some reason I don't think Toho puts English subs on them, but I would consider importing if they did....
I loved the Godzilla suit in GMK, but I agree Ghidrah looked bad, the necks were too short.
4 - Matt Paprocki
I dropped you an E-mail Chris.
5 - Alex
None of the Jap discs have Eng subs but the transfers are orgasmic for any serious G-Fan. Add to that the new sound mixes and you're talking a great 50th anniversary box set. It's a shame it's not available on region 1 DVD but maybe Sony will release them all on HD-DVD with the new Japanese transfers and audio mixes.
6 - Matt Paprocki
Well, the transfers for most of the Showa series releases seems to be the same used on the Toho discs. I compared them on this disc (not the 50th set, but the regular Toho release) and noticed no difference. And just a note, any Sony disc that reads "Mastered in Hi-Definition" means it's ready to go whenever the new format launches.