Suddenly finding myself determined to watch a loony Toho kaiju extravaganza from beginning to end, I caught 1991's "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" (hereafter "GVKG")on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 8:15 p.m. on Encore. I am indebted to many of the posters who have already meticulously explained GVKG's contorted "time travel" plot. They probably did a better job than I could. Crazy as it is, that plot at least provides a semi-believable origin for both the atomic-powered lizard and the three-headed electricity spewing dragon. They were both mutated by the fallout of American H-Bomb test blasting during World War II, though not at the same time. Godzilla was originally the dinosaur Godzillasaurus, and King Ghidorah was a giant fusion of three cat-sized flying dragon things call dorats. As usual, it takes more than half the movie for the two behemoths to meet, but meet they do, not once but twice.
Until the monsters' cataclysmic clash, we have to endure the usual, somewhat effeminate English dubbing of not only Japanese scientists, military personnel, and corporate CEOs, but also that of futuristic time travelers (including a Terminator-like android called M-11) who arrive in '90s Japan to offer a seemingly magnanimous chance for the nation to get rid of Godzilla forever - go back to the past before the Godzillasaurus was mutated, let the "imperialist" American World War II leave him mortally wounded, and then transport him back to the present to let him die in the ocean. Of course the aliens are not benevolent; fearing the rise of Japan as a conquering superpower, they resurrect and manipulate King Ghidorah to destroy Japan without any interference. The Japanese then decide to mutate the dying Godzillasaurus to help save them, but a nuclear sub explosively beats them to the punch. Godzilla is back but, as they say, the cure is worse than the disease. Now the Japanese must hijack an alien time travel ship to go back to the future to reanimate King Ghidorah, cybernetically fit him out, even give him a human-operated mechanical neck and head to replace the one Godzilla severed in the first battle, and send him back for a rematch. Which monster wins? Does it matter? Is Japan doomed anyway? Oops, I guess I regurgitated the plot again! :S GVKG is goofy typical Toho monster mashing, enhanced somewhat by the nuclear genetic mutation and time-spanning plot, and sometimes remarkable special effects, including a pre-Jurassic Park animation of the Godzillasaurus which "saves" a "noble" Japanese regiment, and especially its deeply grateful commander, from American naval annihilation. Also lurking in the movie is the ambivalent regard Japan has of itself as both a nationalistically and technologically proud but also reckless and potentially destructive (economically and ecologically) Japan. GVKG seems to view America that way as well. Godzilla is the "unfriendly" undying symbol of that country-conquering spirit.
Until the monsters' cataclysmic clash, we have to endure the usual, somewhat effeminate English dubbing of not only Japanese scientists, military personnel, and corporate CEOs, but also that of futuristic time travelers (including a Terminator-like android called M-11) who arrive in '90s Japan to offer a seemingly magnanimous chance for the nation to get rid of Godzilla forever - go back to the past before the Godzillasaurus was mutated, let the "imperialist" American World War II leave him mortally wounded, and then transport him back to the present to let him die in the ocean. Of course the aliens are not benevolent; fearing the rise of Japan as a conquering superpower, they resurrect and manipulate King Ghidorah to destroy Japan without any interference. The Japanese then decide to mutate the dying Godzillasaurus to help save them, but a nuclear sub explosively beats them to the punch. Godzilla is back but, as they say, the cure is worse than the disease. Now the Japanese must hijack an alien time travel ship to go back to the future to reanimate King Ghidorah, cybernetically fit him out, even give him a human-operated mechanical neck and head to replace the one Godzilla severed in the first battle, and send him back for a rematch. Which monster wins? Does it matter? Is Japan doomed anyway? Oops, I guess I regurgitated the plot again! :S GVKG is goofy typical Toho monster mashing, enhanced somewhat by the nuclear genetic mutation and time-spanning plot, and sometimes remarkable special effects, including a pre-Jurassic Park animation of the Godzillasaurus which "saves" a "noble" Japanese regiment, and especially its deeply grateful commander, from American naval annihilation. Also lurking in the movie is the ambivalent regard Japan has of itself as both a nationalistically and technologically proud but also reckless and potentially destructive (economically and ecologically) Japan. GVKG seems to view America that way as well. Godzilla is the "unfriendly" undying symbol of that country-conquering spirit.