Talkback #7: Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster

GMAN2887 - Ah, now this has ever been a special film for me! The story was fun, the acting was (in my opinion) better than normal, and the monster combat was very interesting! However, Ebira has always been one of those monsters that sits oddly with me; I simply do not know whether to like the creature or find it bewildering. Even so, I would say that Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is a fun romp! :)

Not the top of the Showa, but not the lowest- Godzilla vs Ebirah is a strange Godzilla film that I really can't identify as good or bad.

For me Godzilla vs Ebirah is all about the characters. The monsters do their part and add fun to the film, but it's the human characters that make the film enjoyable. This is why despite the fact it takes a while for Godzilla to appear you never feel bored watching the movie. Watching the characters interact and seeing the things they do is why I love this movie. I think this is one of the stronger Godzilla movies, probably in my upper half if I had to list them out best to worst right now. It's not quite good enough to be in my personal top 10, but probably could solidly hold the 13-16 spot depending on my mood.

I love this film. By far Takarada's best character, loved his bank robber character, tough and always had a plan. I like the G-Suit, one my favorites from the Showa series. I like the whole island atmosphere and how the people we're rooting for take refuge in a cave that happens to have Godzilla sleeping down below. Ebirah was a simple but cool concept and have an excellent excuse for Godzilla to mainly do water battles. I love all the water scenes. Only problem I do feel mothra was randomly thrown in, but whatever love this film, easily in my top 5

"By far Takarada's best character,"

Yeah, the more I think about Yoshimura, the more I love him. The character isn't a exactly an ocean of depth, but Takarada brings so much to it that feels like there's more to him than there is. He knocked it out of the park. Big change from previous roles.

As for the movie, it's already an exciting, action/adventure/espionage-esque film on its own: A fugitive washes a shore with a bunch of kids and find themselves trapped on an island with a terrorist organization creating nuclear weapons and using slave labor.

^That's exciting enough with some great set-up, but for good measure, lets throw in Godzilla, Ebirah as a giant guard dog and Mothra as the slave's goddess. I mean talk about upping the stakes from something that was already insanely exciting! Probably a top 10 Godzilla movie.

Sadly I've never seen this movie, but from what I had heard about it, I would say that it does have its charm like all other Godzilla films. The robber character was interesting, I found Godzilla's awakening suspenseful for some reason, and Ebirah was nice to see. (A normal kaiju compared to all the other mythical/irradiated creatures, he's just a big lobster)

The condor was a bit unnecessary, though.

^It blows my mind that no one understands the condor. It's a product of the island. Both the Giant Condor and Ebirah are mutations brought on by the heavy water experimenting happening on the island.

You should really see this film. It's a wonderful adventure picture.

Gman I don't think the problem is the idea of the giant Condor it's how the movie handled the monster making it totally out of place and random within the rest of the story. 

In comparison to Ebirah which is established they can't control in the direct sense of past movies. They simply avoid the water when they don't have the berries and there's no problem. If anyone ventures into the water without the berries including them Ebirah attacks. The Giant Condor in contrast seems to have a leash of some sort on it since there's no established reason why it seemingly follows their commands, showing up to fight Godzilla after the jets fail, it's that the Condor would be by all accounts a bigger threat to even them than Ebirah. The Condor flies therefore without some way to control it or make it at least avoid you like they do Ebirah the Condor would easily be capable of destroying their base. There's no mention of the monster prior to it showing up and for the few seconds it's on camera the fight is shot so poorly with extreme close ups, fast movements and quick camera angle changes. the only thing you really see is it getting hit in the face then lit up as it flies away, never to be mentiond again. There's also no surprise from the antagonists when the monster shows up meaning as they used the island they were well aware the monster existed there. Through all the gunshots and various loud machinery that was used the monster never appeared to cause trouble but suddenly on queue it can pop up to fight Godzilla for a few seconds when their other plans fail.

Had the condor been managed better with some context it probably wouldn't be so poorly received, but given its circumstances compared to the rest of the movie seems like they just wanted to shoot another monster.

I don't believe the condor needed any reference for there to be any sort of reason behind it. It's merely a nod to the affects the experiments are having on the island and a bonus kaiju battle.

The fact that there is no reference to it make it all the more surprising, if not a left field addition. Even if the inclusion deserved more exposition there was nothing about the fight that I found "poorly shot". The quick cuts likely hid many effects flaws and to convey how fast it was, the camera made sure to use borderline montage-style editing to get the point across. I think the battle was a fairly intense segment between Godzilla and a smaller, quicker flying monster. I could easily bring up less intense and more poorly concieved battles in the Godzilla series-- Some of which are even "grand finale" fights.

This film is a fun movie. Love the beautiful battle between Godzilla and Mothra towards the end. It's touching rather. It was good seeing the guy who played Dr. Serizawa back with the eye patch again. (That's awful that you can't remember his name in real life and what character he played as in this movie Ben. Go watch it again! )