Does Lexx have a Japanese influence?
quote:
Originally posted by Jessi:
I’m ashamed to say I’ve actually seen one of them and enjoyed it!
There is no reason, EVER, to be ashamed of saying you’ve enjoyed a Japanese “big rubber-suited monster” movie, or as they’re known across the sea, [i]kaiju eiga[/i]. Well, [i]Godzilla vs. Megalon[/i], maybe deserves some shame. The original [i]Godzilla[/i] is a great, sober, and very serious piece of work. If you can watch it without the baggage of what became of the series later on, it’s a great SF/horror film, and deals quite powerfully with both the collective Japanese guilt over WWII and the horrors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. As the series went on, Godzilla ([i]Gojira[/i] to the Japanese) became less a punishment to mankind for unleashing the power of the atomic bomb, and more a defender of the Earth (the planet more than its residents) against predators (both human and monstrous). Eventually, the Big G became more of a camp icon, mostly because of the reliance on “primitive” special effects as Western effects progressed and because of lousy and indifferent dubbing (not to mention extreme re-editing) at the hands of money-grubbing US distributors. Other [i]kaiju eiga[/i] from Godzilla’s home studio, Toho, should be given credit as well, especially [i]Mothra[/i] and [i]Rodan[/i].
Daiei’s answer to Godzilla, the Gamera (aka Gammera) series, is less-notable, but enjoyable nonetheless. These movies, while never as good as their Toho counterparts, suffered even more indignities from US distributors, and are even more campy. Gamera basically plays into the hands of children, whereas Godzilla was always (until much later in the series) intended for more adult sensibilities.
That being said, the recent Gamera films have been exceptional (the monster was re-visited in a successfully updated series of films, and are at times even better than the recent Japanese Godzilla films), as have Toho’s new series of Godzilla films (with a few clunkers in there, I’ll admit). Avoid at ALL COSTS the US-lensed Godzilla film helmed by the braniacs behind [i]Independence Day.[/i] That whole thing is a sinking pit of shame.
–Aleck