Godzilla Day

Akira Ifukube - Godzilla Main Theme

Today I woke up thinking, GODZILLA!!!! I had forgotten that this weekend was its opening weekend in Japan. 2 months late, you would think that Godzilla would open here at the same time as the US or first. Perhaps it was to open for the summer school holidays here which just started.

Anyway, I was really excited. I've been a Godzilla fan since I was very young. My father had bought me a Godzilla toy when I was about 6 or 7, which I believe was the 80s version around Godzilla Vs. Biolante. I had watched the original on a cult night on TV and was totally in love, not only for the awesome special effects but also the notion of anti-nuclear war post WWII. Seminal to say the least. I have watched a bunch of others (not all) and they are nice and cheesy. Don't even mention the 1998 version, that was bloody awful.

The new Godzilla was pretty good, for the fact that it placed drama and acting first instead of over the top spectacle. Sadly, I didn't think the acting was very good despite a killer cast, but then again most of the acting in Godzilla films are outshone by the rubber suits anyway. Nonetheless, I dig its angle but only wished there were more fight scenes and destruction and took itself a little less seriously. I normally don't go for films like this, but it IS Godzilla. Pacific Rim was a much better film, in that it was aware of its b-grade roots, hammed it up AND delivered with special effects and monster spectacle. I simply wish that there was more Godzilla in the new film because he looked AWESOME! The special effects looked very realistic and his roar was beautifully close to the original versions that I like.

I bought the movie book / pamphlet and the toy at the cinema (something that I don't see anywhere else in the world when going to the theatre). I'm rather happy with my little Godzilla sitting in my apartment. He's so cute.