Gorath - Melancholia Before Melancholia Was Melancholia

Alright, not gonna lie, this one probably shouldn't be in this series at all. I mean, it's not gonna have any kind of importance or significance for a long time. And by a long time, I mean this movie isn't going to have any kind of importance or significance to this series until about a week before King of the Monsters comes out. But, I wanted to give every monster and every fun little detail of this series the attention it deserves and show everything in its most prominent appearance and/or role. So with that in mind, let's talk about Gorath.

A giant rogue star claimed the lives of the spaceship JX-1 Hawk, and it has its sights set on about about 4,000,000,000 more, as it is on a course straight for Earth. Stuck between doing the impossible and the end of the world, it's time for humanity to come together, find a way to movie heaven and hell, and save all life on planet Earth from extinction.

Alright, so, this one is kind of hard to talk about, not gonna lie. On one hand, it's got some pretty enjoyable and really high quality stuff. But, it's kind of like the Mysterians. It's got some good and really solid ideas cooking, but it hasn't quite perfected the recipe. It's still like the Mysterians comparison continues however, in that though it does make some decently odd choices, it doesn't overall ruin the film or make it something I wouldn't recommend.

Let's start with the star (PUN VERY MUCH INTENDED) of the whole movie: Gorath itself. This is probably the most active inanimate object you're ever gonna see. I mean, it's the antagonist of a movie and it's not actively seeking to destroy Earth. It's not even forcing itself to drift throughout outer space like it is. It's just drifting aimlessly through outer space, and we just happen to be in its way. But for such an inactive antagonist, this thing is super intimidating. I mean, it kind of goes without saying. A giant celestial body headed towards Earth, it doesn't matter the quality of the film at that point. You're already dealing with a concept and antagonist that's gonna get under your audience's skin just by thinking about it. And yet despite already being a pretty serious thing to think about and deal with, its execution in this movie is pretty fantastically done. Gorath's blood red color scheme makes you look at it and you're basically already thinking it's a menace. And then the first thing it does in the entire movie is kill an entire crew of astronauts. So already you're kind of thinking "Oh, so we're getting serious, huh?" And then it just keeps getting more serious. The farther Gorath travels and the more matter it hits, the bigger it gets and becomes literally more and more inescapable. The math shifts throughout the movie and becomes a possible miss into something that humanity has to really actively work against in order to have even a slight chance of surviving. It even takes out the Moon once it hits Earth. Gorath is just a menace, and it's really interesting seeing it approach Earth, because we actually get to see entire cities get destroyed without a monster causing the damage. Well, sort of. Alright, I mentioned early on that this movie makes some WEIRD choices, so I think it's time to start diving into some of them. Let's begin with a contradiction to saying it's interesting not seeing a monster this time around.


Despite this movie being about Gorath and its dance of death with Earth, the movie really abruptly throws a monster into the fray: Maguma. Yeah, this must have come out of nowhere, huh? At first you were reading a review about a sci-fi disaster movie, and out of nowhere, BOOM, it's time to start talking about a giant walrus monster that is actually not a walrus. I'm making none of this up, by the way. Maguma is supposedly a giant prehistoric lizard, even though it clearly is based off of a walrus. It's a weird inclusion into the film, being thrown in completely out of left field, with the only approximation of an explanation being that the plan to build rockets in the Antarctic to help Earth escape Gorath's path woke it up. It never gets a proper explanation, it never even gets named. Maguma is shoehorned into this movie, pulling a lot of focus away from the central story and antagonist at hand for a sidequest that lasts all of about five minutes. It's really distracting and out of place and removes a lot of tension from what's really important and actually going on.

However, I do feel like a big downside with the movie is the cast. Usually Ishiro Honda was able to get out a lot out of actors, even if the script wasn't amazing. But this seems to be the exception, I think. With the fate of the entire world at stake, I just don't think people give enough thought with their performances or give enough to the screen. Earlier I mentioned that in the film, the Moon is hit by Gorath. And, that's it. The Moon is gone. That's not a tiny thing. Now, of course. With the approach of Gorath and of course the Moon being officially dead, we do see the immediate destruction. But what you don't see is even a glance from the people of Earth at this. Now, of course, some of that is either it was filmed or wanting to get right to the scene of the destruction on Earth. Which, okay, whatever. I understand. But that's not a light thing that can just be skipped over. So when it does, I felt like I got cheated out of seeing some very genuine emotion and shock from the people of Earth that I feel would have added a lot to the film. On a positive side for the acting however is Akira Kubo (pictured above right in Destroy All Monsters) as Tetsuo Kanai. Kubo is a rather underrated member of the Toho backlog of actors, I find. As a kaiju film actor, his filmography is a mixed bag that I'll bring attention to later, but he always does a great job. He definitely does a great job here in Gorath as well. When you first meet Kanai, it's clear that he's not a character that's ready to face anything in outer space, let alone the apocalypse. He futzes about in an anti-gravity chamber, basically steals a helicopter early on to tell a higher up to let him go on the mission to see Gorath, and even tells one of the women mourning from the JX-1 Hawk mission to basically get over it and move on from the tragic and sudden death in her life. When he does venture into space and goes on a one man mission to see Gorath and almost dies, he basically forgets his entire life and traumatized from the inevitable suffers from amnesia. Only when he returns home to a still alive Earth does he return back to normal. It's an interesting arc, and not one I would have written, but seeing a man being humbled from facing mortality on such a grand scale is really fascinating to watch. Another performance I want to give some props to is Jun Tazaki (pictured above left) as Captain Raizo Sonoda. Captain Sonoda is the leader of the ill fated JX-1 Hawk mission that was killed by the star. Despite being in the film briefly, he stars in an amazing scene. Telling his crew that though they're about to die, they have to let the message of the oncoming trouble reach Earth and to accept their death, but know they're dying for a good cause. As he and his men day saying hoorah, they are absorbed into Gorath and die. His final speech actually makes me think about Theodeon's speech at the Battle of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. But instead of chanting "DEATH!", he and his men simply say "Hoorah!" as they accept the inevitable. It's a stirring image, and one I'm happy to say was in the movie. Though I did say I had a gripe with the performances, there's no way around it: the acting and direction on the opening of the film was incredible.


Before I completely close the page on this review however, I do want to give a very special mention to the man behind the music of this movie: Akira Ifukube. Ifukube composed a lot of the music for the Toho films of the late 20th century, in particular with this series of films. And while he especially deserves mention with his work on films like Godzilla, Mothra and even Varan, his work on the opening title of Gorath alone is just masterful. While I do feel that the movie itself wasn't as dire as it needed to feel, the music composed for Gorath does deliver on that front. You can find the title theme located right here, as well as a compilation of many of his works on other films. Ifukube's music was a very defining part on many of these films. I literally cannot imagine a single on of these films without his masterful composing. Of course, any great composer would make any great movie even better. But these movies would not be as great as they are without him. Literally! (On a bit of a side note, he also created Godzilla's roar and the sound of his stomps in the first film. From him getting creative with using a double bass and a leather glove to knocking over a Toho amplifier, he helped make more sound in these movies than just the music he was instrumental (pun intended) to the making of these movies. Here's looking forward to hearing Bear McCreary's renditions of some of his music in King of the Monsters!)

Overall, Gorath, while by no means a bad film just isn't a great one. It has some very strong components. The star itself in particular being a sinister force of nature, driving the whole movie and every action of its cast. The special effects and destruction that show a new take and spin on the standard city destruction effects. Two very memorable performances no matter how brief they are, and a very impressive score by one of the masters of the 20th Century. And while those aspects are fantastic, some of the stranger choices like Maguma do hold the film back from achieving a status like that of Godzilla and even Rodan or Mothra. Gorath is a great movie to watch if you have an hour and a half to kill. It's just not a film I'd prioritize as much as some of the ones we have coming up shortly.

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Well, that was longer than I was expecting. Thanks for sticking along! Tomorrow, we're gonna take some time to look back at one of the classics. And by that, I mean one of the all time classics! Not of the kaiju genre, but of all cinema history! Tomorrow, we're taking a journey to a strange land called Skull Island, to meet the Eighth Wonder of the World, as we look at the 1933 classic: KING KONG! 

For those asking why we're looking at King Kong now, it's important to note that my original plan was to review King Kong first, actually. But since this is a marathon about Godzilla and Toho's classics, I felt like that'd be a bit of a disservice. But, I felt it was necessary to include it considering what's coming after it, and because Kong is gonna make a few appearances in the future. I just wanted to give his character the proper introduction, which I felt this was the right way to introduce him. Regardless, come back tomorrow for King Kong!