looking back on godzilla tokyo sos,a hidden jem?

goji85

all the way back in the wonderful year of 2003, toho made "godzilla tokyo sos" a sequel to godzilla againt mechagodzilla from 2002, AND (in my opinion) is a hidden gem among the other godzilla movies. its a film with some great acting, an amazing story, and a underlying message thats up there with the original film! so if you havnt seen it,like, GET ON THAT. tell me your opinion in the comments

Djdndnejwnwn

What makes it hidden? It’s just a gem.

G theorist

Well.... Most showa-Heisei Godzilla movies are hidden gems(atleast among americans) but yeah, it was a good movie :)

Monsterzero9

its a hidden gem because its onley on,like 1 streaming service and has rarely been distributed in the USA.

but its still a really good movie.

G. H. (Gman)

monsterzero9,
It's been readily available on DVD from Sony since 2004 and they released a Blu-ray double feature of it with Godzilla: Final Wars in 2014. It's one of the more easily attainable Godzilla films in the west and Sony won't lose the license to it until 2023 at the very earliest.

I reviewed the film years ago for this site. I don't think it's exactly a great movie, but I do applaud it for being Tezuka's most mature effort yet. My review is on Substack:
Retrospect of the Last Era, Part 5: Godzilla Tokyo SOS

ErimakiAnguirus

Tokyo S.O.S. is not a hidden gem. Its straight garbage.

Monsterzero9

jeez man!

Djdndnejwnwn

@ErimakiAnguirus

I wonder why you think so.

Monsterzero9

some people can enjoy garbage as long as its entertaining! even if the actings bad if a film has a good story its still watchable. sure, acting is a big part of a movie bieng succeful, but its not illegal for someone to enjoy something that over people dont. a film being a hidden gem comes down to personel taste. and once you think about it, the kaiju gonre as a hole is garbage due to how stupid the idea is of a giant animal destroying a city is. but the reason that people praise the kaiju gonre is because of the amazing practical effects and, despite the gonres stupid premes, it can craft some beutiful storys. look at gmk for example, the acting in that film is garbage,but the reason that people love and praise the film is for 1:the amazing practical effects that still hold up today, and 2: the absolutly incredible story. so a kaiju film being good dosnt revolve around the acting, it revolves around if the film has a good story and good practical effects, and tokyo sos has all of that. so saying that the films garbage is really just not true.

Jordan502

Out of all the Millennium Godzilla films, 2000 and S.O.S were my favorites. I still have my Diorama statue of S.O.S in my attic. 

And the old old DVD release of 2000 when the case was THICC. So to me S.O.S was special for that series of Godzilla Films.

Djdndnejwnwn

@Jordan 

GMK is my favorite Millenium film, it was on of the first Goji films I saw

Jordan502

@HinikunaGoji

I remember coming across that movie for the first time and I adored how they made the Kaijus look. 

G. H. (Gman)

monsterzero9,
GMK was praised for the performances by Ryudo Uzaki (a Yokohoma Film Festval award winner), Shiro Sano (a revered Japanese cult actor) and Adayo Amamoto (who was a classically trained actor of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema.)

So. No.

Monsterzero9

gman. well the onley version of gmk ive seen is the tristar dub. and I found it to be a not very good dub.

G. H. (Gman)

monsterzero9,
Then why judge someone's acting by another person's voice?

I agree, the Omni Productions dubs Sony uses are awful, but that's not the Japanese actors faults.

Monsterzero9

good point

G. H. (Gman)

As for ErimakiAnguirus take on Tokyo SOS. I don't think it's straight garbage, but I know a lot of people who find it to be one of the least inspired in the series, and thus, one of the worst.

I don't think it is, but I do think it's merely one of the better "meh" films of the series.

It's ironic that the lip service theme at the end of the film is, “The dead should be respected and left in their natural state. Life should not be unnaturally prolonged," because it digs up Mothra vs. Godzilla's (1964) old story line and merely replaces Mothra's egg with Kiryu as the McGuffin.

But as I mentioned in my article, maybe that's a roundabout way of complimenting Tezuka's film:

"In 1954, Godzilla was portrayed as both victim and tormentor. When Kiryu became self-aware in Godzila x MechaGodzilla it unleashed the tormentor—Tokyo was leveled. In Tokyo SOS, Kiryu’s cognizance is somber. Godzilla the victim is tired. It no longer wishes to be a symbol of post-war trauma and the McGuffin for monster battles. It wants to rest.

In a strange way nothing could be more poignant for a Tezuka-led film. His movies have been void of substance and until 2003 he had yet to address why. Perhaps yanking the post-war Godzilla into action time after time (like Kiryu) stagnates a long standing message. Even Shusuke Kaneko had to adjust Godzilla's meaning in GMK—deviating from franchise norms to make the monster more relevant. Unlike his contemporary, Tezuka doesn't bother with hot button assessments. His movies left the 1954 monster in peace to focus on what made him a fan: Monster brawls and visuals."

Monsterzero9

how long did it take you to write that?

G. H. (Gman)

5 minutes?

Monsterzero9

you are sonic