Post by magengar on Apr 12, 2010 9:22:11 GMT -5
Has anyone seen the 2008 version of Monster-X
in "Monster-X Strikes Back: Attack The G8 Summit"?
You loved him back in the '60s... here again he returns
to wreak destruction upon Japan, attacking the G8
Summit meeting in Hokaido.
I had borrowed this dvd from my local public library
over the weekend, and watched it.
I should've kept a vomit bag beside me... this movie
was That corny. Actually, the acting was corny...
...the G8 Summit members (representing the USA,
Canada, Japan, Germany, Russia, the UK, and Italy)
made such an embarassment of themselves in their
roles that I seriously wanted to vomit-- I thought I was
watching a bad spoof of "Police Academy".
Overall, the actors looked like they were reading
scripted cue-cards off-camera, ala 'Saturday Night Live'.
The movie is laiden with international slurred humor
amongst the G8 members, which I really didn't find
amusing; and I was down-right gettin bored with it...
...Then I thought I was watching "Team America"
when one of the G8 Summit members turns out
to be the President of China disguised as a former
Japanese Prime Minister, who tries to sabotage
the summit meeting.
Earlier in the movie, Monster-X was said to have
been spawned from a Chinese space probe...
...I didn't like this "humorous" sub-plot at all.
I really didn't understand the political undertone
of this movie. Why was it even made this way!
I would've appreciated this movie much more if
it were a serious drama, like the modern Godzilla
2K japanese remakes.
(This movie is in Japanese language with English
subtitles, and English/Japanese subtitles whenever a
non-Japanese summit member spoke in his and
her native language.)
I liked the special effects of exploding city models
used for Monster-X's city attack scenes...
Special effects and props such as this would be perfect
for my "Ashura's Revenge" movie project.
Monster-X was pretty good in all his scenes, many
of which were quite funny- especially his laughing
scene after he got a dose of German "poison" gas.
Towards the end of the movie, some local villagers
summon their ancient god Take-Majin to finally do
battle against Monster-X.
Beat Takeshi is the rubber suit man who plays
the giant character god Take-Majin.
I liked the Take-Majin character, although he looked
like Jackie Chan in a kaiju-god rubber suit.
Take-Majin has his funny moments, too...
...I won't say just how Dynamic his first
appearance is, due to graphic content involved...
...Take-Majin "took it like a man". ;D
By the way, this movie pays a humorous tribute to
the old Toho Co. kaiju rubber suit acting days; as both
the Monster-X and Take-Majin characters were actors
in rubber suits, and there was also a jumbo-sized
Monster-X model for his headless death scene
at the end of the movie.
Take-Majin at first sits inside a temple upon a shrine
as a statue of himself; and later is summoned by the
villagers to fight against Monster-X. He oughtta have
his own kaiju tv series, worthy of battling different
monsters each week.
When he goes into battle, his six arms dissappear
leaving his two normal arms. His weapon is a
boomerang Halo with sharp edges, which he used
to destroy Monster-X at the end of this movie.
After the battle, Take-Majin returns back to his shrine
in his small statue form.
Below are screencaptures from the movie.
In particular notice, there's a small Monster-X figure
used at the G8 Summit meeting as the members were
discussing strategies to destroy Monster-X.
I wonder if any of you MR1 collectors might have this
Monster-X figure in your collection... he's certainly
a new toy to me.
Overall, don't expect Take-Majin and Monster-X to
be engaged in battle throughout the whole
movie... Take-Maji is only the last resort, after
the stoOopid bumbling efforts by the G8 Summit
members when they each try their shot at
destroying Monster-X.
I rate this movie a 7 out of ten... due to its corniness,
it's no wonder this movie went straight to dvd.
But the movie on dvd itself is worth having for just that
one more additional "kaiju rubber suit" movie in your
kaiju movie collection... If you can by-pass this movie's
corny sense of "humor".
Here's Take-Majin up close
Here's the crew...
zozo-Magengar
I didnt know they had a sequel. I gotta check that out.
