JLRVancouver The film opens with a bit of revisionist history and selective kaiju amnesia. Following the destruction of Tokyo during the first of three attacks by Godzilla on Japan (in 1954), the capitol was moved to Osaka. Japan no longer uses nuclear energy, as that was what attracted the monster, but remains concerned that he may return, so the 'G-Graspers', an elite anti-Godzilla combat team was formed. In attempt to construct a space-based black hole gun (odd: there seems to be no word for 'black hole' in Japanese), a wormhole is opened through which a giant primordial dragonfly emerges. The creature lays an egg which hatches in the Tokyo sewers: Megaguirus has arrived. There is much more GGI in this film than in previous Godzilla films, which combined with an excellently detailed adult model, makes the megaguirus in its various morphs one of the best realised monsters in the series to date (although at times the supporting wires are visible). The Godzilla suit is the same one used in Godzilla 2000 and still looks great and most of the special effects are very good, especially the scenes of a swimming Godzilla seen from above or when he wades through the Tokyo harbour. The scenes featuring the swarm of moulting meganulon in the flooded city and their subsequent attack on Godzilla are also very well done. The human characters are pretty typical of the genre: heroic G-graspers, a young rogue scientist with all the answers, the little kid who is instrumental to the plot (in this film, the kid is OK and doesn't overstay his welcome) etc. - they are all fine but secondary to the action. The latest anti-Godzilla flying machine is the 'Griffin', which is mostly visualised through CGI and looks a lot more airworthy than the various flying tanks in the Heisei era. I watched an English-subtitled version, which was generally well done although I was surprised to see "G-graspers" in English on the side of the team's vehicles as it is an odd name and I initially assumed that it was simply is an awkward translation of Japanese term. The film (25th in the franchise, 2nd in the 'Millennium series), differs in tone from the Heisei-era films. In the latter, characters felt empathy for Godzilla and objected to attempts to destroy him, while in this film, the characters have lost friends to the rampaging kaiju, hate him, and are motivated to some extent by revenge. As usual, the plot is based on pseudoscientific nonsense (e.g. creating a 2 meter black hole in orbit around earth would obliterate planet; the professor seems to know a lot about the life cycle and behaviour of a creature that has been extinct for 350 million years and is only known from a single fossil, etc). Minor flaws notwithstanding, the imaginative story and excellent special effects make this a standout film in the series.

JoeB131 Translated from the Japanese- "Okay, we have to come out with a new Godzilla movie. What haven't we had Godzilla fight yet?" "Crabs?" "Plants?" "Birds" "Giant Spiders?" "Giant Mantises?" "Really big pools of industrial pollution!""No, no, no, we've done all those. We need something new!""HOw about Dragonflies?" And that's the plot, Godzilla is minding his own business raiding Japan again, and a bunch of Giant dragonflies show up. And the Japanese invent yet another ineffective weapon to try to kill him. And that's kind of the plot, I guess. I long ago gave up on Japanese films actually making sense.

ray59 Just read all the IMDb reviews of this film (going back years!) so I'm going to confine my posting to things that HAVEN'T previously been mentioned by others. But to briefly recap: this movie is great fun, with a plot that adults as well as kids can find interesting. It definitely hearkens back to the early 1960s 'glory days' in both its epic feel, and its portrayal of Godzilla as a serious menace to humanity.But you got all that out of the other reviews.I'm surprised no one else has commented on some rather unique photography techniques used in the SPFX sequences of this picture. I have seen nearly all the Godzilla films, going back to 1954, with the exception of the very recent GMK and Final Wars.There are several things I found unique about GXM's photography vs nearly every other film in the franchise. This is the only time I have seen a sort of time-delay technique used in showing the monster. At some dramatic moments, the action inexplicably (and artfully) freezes for just a moment. At other times Godzilla's lumbering advance is shown with a surreal technique that makes his movements kind of jerky in a strobe-like effect. Rather than speeding up his movements (which would look ridiculous) this slows action into a 'flash-card' surrealistic style, like a film made with (for example) 12 separate image frames per second, rather than the usual 24.One thing I didn't care for as much, that is very abundant in this film, is a kind of unrealistic flight effect for Megaguiras. He hangs in the air as if suspended on strings (OK, he is suspended on strings, but they obviously filmed it to emphasize rather than lessen this effect) with wings moving too slowly to be convincing. I don't think this is a "flaw" so much as an intentional artistic choice, but for me it hearkens back to some of the lesser G-films of the 1970s. I prefer the more realistic flight techniques from RODAN (1956). But that is just a personal bias. Unrealistic effects do not equate to bad effects. Too many American reviews of kaiju films make that mistake. Unrealistic is often an artistic choice.The ending of the movie is also unique and artistic in its own way. No other film from the series ends quite like this, with the dialogue freezing midway through a human dialogue scene. It was a very interesting artistic choice and caught me by surprise. Like the director probably intended, it left me wanting to know what would happen a heartbeat later. But then the credits were rolling.The big G's suit looks good in this film and his presence is powerfully portrayed. If I had to quibble about anything, I would say that the face lacks animation in many closeups and tends more toward looking frozen and rubbery. Godzilla's face looked much more animated and 'alive' to me in films like 'VS Biolante' or the early 1990s "VS King Ghidora".There are a number of water effects sequences that look great in GXM. The flooded Tokyo streets, and the big G's spines surfacing out at sea, come immediately to mind. Great entry in the series!

julian kennedy Godzilla vs. Megaguirus: 4/10: I know it is a popular pastime to bash "the American Godzilla" but in it's defense I would like to give you exhibit A: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (easier to type than pronounce needless to say.) Where do I begin?Well let's start with the latest scheme by the Japanese to rid them of Godzilla once and for all. Shoot him with a black hole from outer space. Yup that is practically mishap proof. Now I know that dumping Oxy- Clean into Tokyo harbor killed the first Godzilla, and since then some fairly dubious scientific methods have been used to battle our green friend but a satellite that shoots black holes has to win some sort of award. I love the scene when the scientist asks the military man "after we destroy Godzilla we destroy the satellite right?" (You can practically see visions of Pearl Harbor 2 in the general's head).To make matters even worse they already have a team battling Godzilla embarrassingly called G-Grasper (not to be confused with our satellite scheme "Project Dimension Tide" that sounds like a really bad futuristic laundry detergent.) The G-Graspers are lead by the all too cute Misato Tanaka who looks like Amelie joined the French Foreign Legion. G-Graspers fight Godzilla by shooting RPGs at his ankles while dressed as Fed-Ex deliverymen. Surprisingly this isn't effective. Now I can take miscast actors and silly story lines in a Godzilla film, but at least the special effects are good right? Nope. Megaguirus is clearly on strings in one scene. The fights have groan inducing wrestling moves. Building destruction is surprisingly light. There is way too much bad CGI. In addition there a lot of underwater scenes, which lets face it has never been a Godzilla strong suit.This is not excusable for new millennium Godzilla. On the plus side nice there is some nice Mimic action with bugs killing young lovers. But when you start feeling like apologizing to Matthew Broderick it's a sign of a bad Godzilla movie.