War of the Gargantuas
I have to say, is my number one favorite Japanese Kaiju monster movie (Brad Pitt loved this movie as a kid too). Compare to the giant lizard Godzilla, I have a deeper affection for these two giant apes.
When I first laid eyes on War of the Gargantuas, I was about twelve, and it had a profound effect on me. I think it would have had a much greater impact if I had been a few years younger like ten. At the time, I thought it was a movie about a loving mother and misbehaving child. With the Japanese language barrier, I could not tell that the two Gargantuas are actually brothers. I thought the brown one who is the good Gargantua was the mother, and the green Gargantua was her bad son.
Their story is a tragedy. The green Gargantua is in a way a tragic hero who fails to change his ways and finally meets his demise and along causes the demise of his brother. Hmm… I wonder if the story would have been more compelling if they had made them mother and son? While the green one looks male, the brown is female to me since it is friendly and has brown fur with a wider face and big eyes.
Spoiler Alert! In one scene of the movie they have a fierce battle with the Japanese army where the son, green Gargantua, is shocked by laser tanks in every corner he turns until he falls. Then his mother, the brown Gargantua shows up and saves him. She takes her son to the sea to hide from the army where he can heal – and this I asked myself, “He has no medicines how is he going to heal?” Seeing blood on his shoulders, chest and hands, I actually started to feel sorry for the green Gargantua. But then later when he finally recovers, he goes back to his bad behavior again and eats some people (He swallows people ALIVE!).
And this I thought, “Some bad children just cannot be controlled and eventually will cost the life of their mother.” So in the end, the mother ends up sacrificing herself in vain trying to save her misbehaving son. This was my interpretation of the movie when I saw it for the first time.
I'm a ANGRY CRITIC on BAD Movie Endings:
Let's talk about the ending. Spoiler Alert! My only complaint about this movie is the convenient ending. The ending in this movie is called "Deus Ex Machina" in Greek; it translates "God comes out of the machine and saves us from doom" because we humans can't defeat the two giant Gargantuas that will destroy Tokyo. It is simply a "convenient ending" to a movie plot. And I understand why the filmmakers chose this ending because no one in the movie can stop the Gargantuas. Not even the army can stop them, so the filmmakers conjured up a volcano eruption out of the ocean as God (hint: Deus ex Machina). The volcano just pops out of nowhere and kills the Gargantuas. The End. Convenient isn't?
The ending would have been SUPERB if they had done this way: In addition to the appearance of the Gargantuas, which is our main plot/story of the movie, they should establish early in the movie in the form of news cast that Japan is experiencing ongoing earthquakes (subplot). And along the ride, just show once or twice that the Japanese government is warning its citizens about earthquakes and for them to stay safe. Then later when the two Gargantuas are battling, BOOM! An earthquake and volcano erupts and devour the Gargantuas. We call this "Setup and Pay Off". In novels, it is called "Foreshadowing" or "Chekov's Gun". The idea of setup and payoff in movies is to create a "satisfying plot" so that the we, the audience, don't feel cheated for our money. We pay good money to go to movies to be thrilled and exhilarated, not cheated away with a convenient
I have to say, is my number one favorite Japanese Kaiju monster movie (Brad Pitt loved this movie as a kid too). Compare to the giant lizard Godzilla, I have a deeper affection for these two giant apes.
When I first laid eyes on War of the Gargantuas, I was about twelve, and it had a profound effect on me. I think it would have had a much greater impact if I had been a few years younger like ten. At the time, I thought it was a movie about a loving mother and misbehaving child. With the Japanese language barrier, I could not tell that the two Gargantuas are actually brothers. I thought the brown one who is the good Gargantua was the mother, and the green Gargantua was her bad son.
Their story is a tragedy. The green Gargantua is in a way a tragic hero who fails to change his ways and finally meets his demise and along causes the demise of his brother. Hmm… I wonder if the story would have been more compelling if they had made them mother and son? While the green one looks male, the brown is female to me since it is friendly and has brown fur with a wider face and big eyes.
Spoiler Alert! In one scene of the movie they have a fierce battle with the Japanese army where the son, green Gargantua, is shocked by laser tanks in every corner he turns until he falls. Then his mother, the brown Gargantua shows up and saves him. She takes her son to the sea to hide from the army where he can heal – and this I asked myself, “He has no medicines how is he going to heal?” Seeing blood on his shoulders, chest and hands, I actually started to feel sorry for the green Gargantua. But then later when he finally recovers, he goes back to his bad behavior again and eats some people (He swallows people ALIVE!).
And this I thought, “Some bad children just cannot be controlled and eventually will cost the life of their mother.” So in the end, the mother ends up sacrificing herself in vain trying to save her misbehaving son. This was my interpretation of the movie when I saw it for the first time.
I'm a ANGRY CRITIC on BAD Movie Endings:
Let's talk about the ending. Spoiler Alert! My only complaint about this movie is the convenient ending. The ending in this movie is called "Deus Ex Machina" in Greek; it translates "God comes out of the machine and saves us from doom" because we humans can't defeat the two giant Gargantuas that will destroy Tokyo. It is simply a "convenient ending" to a movie plot. And I understand why the filmmakers chose this ending because no one in the movie can stop the Gargantuas. Not even the army can stop them, so the filmmakers conjured up a volcano eruption out of the ocean as God (hint: Deus ex Machina). The volcano just pops out of nowhere and kills the Gargantuas. The End. Convenient isn't?
The ending would have been SUPERB if they had done this way: In addition to the appearance of the Gargantuas, which is our main plot/story of the movie, they should establish early in the movie in the form of news cast that Japan is experiencing ongoing earthquakes (subplot). And along the ride, just show once or twice that the Japanese government is warning its citizens about earthquakes and for them to stay safe. Then later when the two Gargantuas are battling, BOOM! An earthquake and volcano erupts and devour the Gargantuas. We call this "Setup and Pay Off". In novels, it is called "Foreshadowing" or "Chekov's Gun". The idea of setup and payoff in movies is to create a "satisfying plot" so that the we, the audience, don't feel cheated for our money. We pay good money to go to movies to be thrilled and exhilarated, not cheated away with a convenient