avieirax7

[avieirax7]

When it comes to creating a Kaiju film, many of the films can not all be perfect when it comes to receiving feedback from the audience. Many of the directors who are in charge of producing kaiju films, have to receive feedback from the general public. The director I have chosen is Jun Fukuda and he directed a multitude of godzilla films. Jun Fukuda attended Nihon University college of art. Afterwards, his interests led him to filmmaking and then in 1946, he joined Toho as an assistant director. Toho later on gave Fukuda an opportunity to direct a godzilla film due to his expertise in special effects. In total, Jun Fukuda directed five Godzilla films. Those five Godzilla films are Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla vs. The sea monster. Despite having made five Godzilla films, director Jun Fukoda was regarded as the second most prominent director of the Toho era behind the first prominent director, Ishiro Honda.

The two films that are well known in the kaiju era that Jun Fukuda directed are Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Son of Godzilla is about a reporter who stumbles to a weather controlling experiment on a tropical island who is led by Dr. Kusumi. The weather controlling experiment causes monsters known as mantises to grow larger. Later on, the mantises uncover a giant egg that contains a defenseless infant that is eventually rescued by Godzilla. Godzilla then adopts the infant leading the monster to care and raise the child as its own.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is another popular film that Jun Fukuda directed and wrote. This film is about aliens from another planet trying to take over earth. For precautionary reasons, the aliens have built a mechanical version of godzilla so if the monster interferes with their plans, they can put an end to the monster's involvement. To help godzilla fight this new foe, the humans call upon another legendary monster from its slumber to help godzilla fight mechagodzilla. This film overall had a strong feel about what kaiju films are all about. It had the monster vs monster feel to it that most fans look for when it comes to watching godzilla films. I would compare this film to a more recent godzilla film known as Godzilla vs Kong who was directed by Adam Wingard.

Reviews for both films have been positive and negative. When it comes to Son of Godzilla, critics say it’s a bad film that is slow paced and dull. The film also has a basic cast of characters to which the audience has no connection with. There are fights between the monsters but compared to most godzilla films, this film is mostly considered a fun film. There are alot positive moments that are scattered throughout the film. Majority of those moments are when we as an audience experience Godzilla adopting the child and taking care of it as its own. Godzilla teaches the child how to defend themself when it comes to fighting off other monsters they might encounter in the future.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla however is one of the popular godzilla films that audiences loved. This film had more positive reviews than negative reviews. Especially when it came to the final battle between godzilla and mechagodzilla. Godzilla fans enjoyed the final confrontation between two legendary foes. It also would be the last Godzilla film that Fukuda would direct before moving on to a different genre.

Kaiju film director Jun Fukoda has created and directed a small number of Godzilla films. Film directors take pride in their projects and are sometimes proud of the work they were able to put together. However, when it came to his projects, Fukuda had an opposite reaction. During an interview with Brett Homenick, David Milner was able to witness the godzilla fandom taking form during the 1990’s.

David Milner had the opportunity to speak to two high profile kaiju filmmakers. Those two names are Ishiro Honda and Jun Fukuda. When David was speaking about Fukuda, he stated that the director was embarrassed with some of the work he made regarding godzilla films. When comparing the two directors, Ishiro Honda was more comfortable with his work due to the fact that he had a godzilla figure that was on display in his front window of his house. Fukuda was more interested in directing some of the non genre films that he previously directed. Fukuda did enjoy creating those godzilla projects, but unfortunately his passion was in other areas in film making then the kaiju films. But when it came to what direction he wanted to go on in those 5 films, he tried to do something different. He wanted the monsters to be the stars of the movies and have the human characters play a minimal role in the film as well.

[avieirax7]

The director that I chose to write about is Roland Emmerich. Roland Emmerich directed and wrote Godzilla (1998). The film is about a nuclear test gone wrong and it mutates a lizard nest. Years later, a giant lizard makes an appearance in New York City. Matthew Boderick who plays the lead protagonist Dr. Niko Tatopoulos is an expert of radiation that affects animals and studies those animals. US government sends Dr. Tatopoulos to study the large beast. Based on the film, it was criticized by websites such as rotten tomatoes. Rotten tomatoes gave the godzilla film an audience score of 28%. One of the critics stated in their film review that the story line was pretty much bloated and slow, along with not having compelling characters. My take on the film is very much different then most takes. This particular godzilla film I have a lot of history with. When I think of godzilla films this is one of the films that I have grown attached to. As a child, I was quite fascinated with the film. But as I watch this film as an adult, I can understand how this film can be criticized. In most Godzilla and Kaiju films, the story has been mostly focused on the monster itself. However, some of the parts of the story include people finding ways to either help the monster with their fight against another monster or help the military stop the monster from terrorizing the city. I think what director Roland Emmerich tried to install in this kaiju film was give the people on the ground a major part in the story. He shows Godzilla terrorizing New York City but I feel like the story revolved around Matthew Boderick’s character along with other supporting characters. There wasn’t much of a kaiju feel to the film. Towards the end of the film, we see Godzilla emerge from a ruined Madison Square Garden to find over 200 children dying from fighter jets. Once Godzilla sees the humans, Godzilla chases them throughout the city until the characters trap Godzilla on the Brooklyn Bridge and thus killing the monster. There was a planned sequel or trilogy with the franchise but it was soon scrapped from the plans. Overall, the best way to make a kaiju film is to showcase the monster more and also balance out the story between people and monster.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godzilla

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/godzilla-1998

https://youtu.be/VV97_cn54bQ

[avieirax7]

Kaiju films have been very popular over the years. The term Kaiju comes from Japan and its definition is strange beast. Besides Japan, other cultures have made changes to create their own kaiju films. The one movie that kicked off the kaiju movement was the film Godzilla (1954). For years, film directors have had the opportunity to be influenced by Kaiju film’s and create their own. There are a few popular films here in the United States that are Kaiju films. Some of those films are Pacific Rim, Yonggarry, Gamera, and King Kong. Many directors here in the United states have been influenced and inspired by the Kaiju genre, but there are two directors that stand out. The two directors are Guillermo Del Toro who directed Pacific Rim (2013) and Matt Reeves who directed Cloverfield (2008).

Pacific Rim is about a group of Kaijus arising from the sea and bringing destruction and chaos. In order to fight off the Kaiju, mankind developed giant robots that are called Jaegers. Jaegers were created to combat the Kaiju and be piloted by two humans. The way Del Toro got inspiration for this film is from Toho. During the 1950’s, Toho has been creating monster movies ever since the 1950’s. The movie that Del Toro directed is just him being a fan of the classic kaiju films that movie companies like Toho created. Del Toro was fascinated and became a huge fan of those classic films. With Pacific Rim, Del Toro was inspired with films like Godzilla, Jaws, and The Thing. He was also intrigued by a mecha anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion. Lastly, Del Toro wanted to create a kaiju film that combined Character driven storytelling and the spectacles of kaiju films.

The second director that was influenced by kaiju films is director Matt Reeves. Matt Reeves' kaiju adaptation that he created was a film called Cloverfield. Cloverfield is about a creature that is the size of a skyscraper that descends upon New York City, leaving destruction and death everywhere the monster goes. A group of New York citizens use a handheld video camera and record their struggle as they try to survive. Matt Reeves' inspiration for Cloverfield came from Godzilla. He wanted a first person view of an individual recording the monster from the ground. He believed that presenting the film in that style would be different then most kaiju films.

https://www.quora.com/What-were-Guillermo-del-Toros-sources-of-inspiration-behind-his-new-film-Pacific-Rim

https://movieweb.com/matt-reeves-cloverfield-aliens-inspired-by-godzilla/

https://youtu.be/dLptjP1RKmQ

https://youtu.be/6esR4uGEFCc

[avieirax7]

The Kaiju movie that I watched was Godzilla: Invasion of Astro-Monster. The movie was released on December 19th, 1965. In this movie, a pair of astronauts travel to a planet that was newly discovered called Planet X. After landing and discovering the planet, they meet the civilians who live on Planet X. They plead to the astronauts to help them save their planet from monster zero also named King Ghidorah. Their solution was to take Godzilla and Rodan from earth and have them fight monster zero. The deal was for the astronauts to give up Godzilla and Rodan in exchange for a cure of all diseases.

The astronauts agree to the deal and the aliens proceed to take the monsters from earth and transport them to planet X. Godzilla and Rodan fight Monster Zero and win the first battle. The astronauts leave planet X with the cure and they find out that the aliens lied to them this entire time. If the humans didn’t surrender, then they would unleash Monster zero, Godzilla, and Rodan to destroy the city. The humans create a device that breaks the mind control on Godzilla and Rodan, once that happens, they break free from the aliens' control. They both fight monster zero for one last time and they win after it flies away.

One key scene from the film is the first fight where Godzilla and Rodan face monster zero. This scene was labeled as a historic fight scene because of Godzilla’s victory dance after defeating the monster. The fight scene is very interesting to compare because of the difference of today’s kaiju movies to kaiju movies of the past.

Kaiju movies in the past have people in costumes, dressed as monsters destroying miniature sets of buildings built by the cast. Today's Kaiju movies use CGI for displaying fight scenes between monsters. If carefully observed, you can see the wires that are used to hold monster zero’s head and Rodan. Also you can see the costume being used for godzilla. Majority of godzilla movies in the showa era have someone playing godzilla using a costume, not just godzilla, but the majority of monsters that are featured in these films have people in costumes.

Growing up, I’ve always watched the majority of godzilla movies. As a child, I was quite fascinated with how the film was producing the monsters facing each other and also how they were causing destruction throughout the city. Today’s films featuring kaiju’s have evolved along with CGI. CGI has become incredibly advanced on how we watch movies, especially when it comes to kaiju films.

https://archive.nerdist.com/godzilla-goodness-invasion-of-astro-monster-1965/

https://aiptcomics.com/2014/05/06/godzilla-the-showa-series-part-6-invasion-of-astro-monster-1965/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GRTkGV_KdM

[avieirax7]

Japanese kaiju films were considered as a breakthrough in the movie industry kaiju is a movie genre that was well-known during the 1950s. Kaiju is a Japanese word that means monster in the genre itself was inspired by Japanese legends through text that was originated from the eighth century during the early stages of the genre’s upbringing the idea for most kaiju films was having a giant creature rampage to the city, either casually or destructively. The first kaiju film that has ever been released was Godzilla in 1954 it was directed in cowritten by Ishiro Honda. Godzilla is still considered one of the famous kaiju in Japan. As of today Godzilla is still known as a popular monster. Even here in the United States. The latest movie of Godzilla is called Godzilla versus Kong. It was a success here in the United States, but between the years, 1954, in 1975 all the Godzilla films were part of the showa era under this era film studios around Japan, started creating their own kaiju films along with creating their own monsters. Here’s also a 10 minute clip that talks about the history of kaiju films along with an example from Godzilla vs mothra