 |
| Tsutomu Kitagawa (left) poses with Motokuni Nakagawa. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Today, I was able to take in a screening of Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) on the big screen in 35mm. If memory serves, I'd only seen the movie once before, which was also on the big screen. It was at a screening in the U.S. in July 2004, and (quite frankly) I never got the urge to see the movie a second time!
 |
| In between Tsutomu Kitagawa and Motokuni Nakagawa. |
So how did I feel about it this time? It was well-made but not very compelling. I found myself distracted at several points during the film, even during the monster battles. I also thought the ending was a bit lackluster. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it just felt like it was going through the motions. Honestly, I can see why I never gave it a second look.
 |
| Tsutomu Kitagawa. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
That's OK, though, because the real highlight of the day was hanging out with the suit actors from the film! Tsutomu Kitagawa was the "man in the Godzilla suit" for all the Millennium series films between Godzilla 2000 (1999) and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). minus GMK, of course. I was surprised to find that he was a Gamera fan in his youth, which one might not expect from a future King of the Monsters.
Also on hand was fellow suit actor Motokuni Nakagawa, who played Kiryu in Tokyo S.O.S., as well as King Caesar, Monster X, and Keizer Ghidorah in Final Wars. He left shortly after his Q&A sessions, so my interactions with him were very brief. Not so with Kitagawa-san, however. It was a blast sitting next to him during dinner. Even though I hadn't seen him in three years, I was flattered that he recognized me.
Suffice it to say, this weekend was a lot of fun, and it's nice to be busy again. I look forward to an exciting summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment