Godzilla vs. Kong

In July 2021, I watched the movie Godzilla vs. Kong for the first time at Toho Cinemas Nagareyama Ootakenomori. The monster film was released in 2021.

When I was a child, I was not interested in TV series with special effects like Ultraman because they look childish, so Shin Godzilla released in 2016 is the first Godzilla movie that I have fully watched. Watching it on my television set, I keenly felt that I should have done it at a theater, so I did the latest Godzilla one on IMAX with 3D glasses.

The story describes the battle among Godzilla, Kong and Mechagodzilla.

I first knew that it was the fourth installment in the MonsterVerse series after watching it. Although I had not watched the previous three ones, yet I was fully amazed.

The tough and hard-boiled Godzilla versus the kind of gentle Kong who can listen to his favorite girl. Both giant monsters are impossible to hate. Their battle scenes in Hong Kong was exciting and overwhelming. The powerful CGI pictures were so fantastic that the human dramas seemed meaningless.

I was sorry that Shun Oguri appearing in it looked like an ordinary Asian who was not associated with a Japanese. I felt uncomfortable especially watching the scene, in which the Japanese actor rolls his eyes up into his head, feeling that Asians are taken lightly. I wonder if participating in the movie was profitable for him. It might be meaningful in terms of that experiences are useful, though I doubt that he left an impression.

I laughed at a character seriously talking about Illuminati and some tap water. It was amusing that some Americans seem to believe in such urban legends which some Japanese talk about in a proud tone. I also believe in them a little, though.

ゴジラvsコング

2021年７月、『ゴジラvsコング』をTOHOシネマズ流山おおたかの森にて初観賞。2021年公開の怪獣映画。

子供の頃、『ウルトラマン』のような特撮ヒーロー物は、幼稚に見えて興味が無かった。その為、初めてフルで観たゴジラ映画は2016年公開の『シン・ゴジラ』。TVでの観賞中、そのハンパない迫力の映像に、これは映画館で観るべきだったと痛感した。そして、今回、最新作をIMAXにて３Dで観覧した。

ゴジラとキングコング、そして、メカゴジラの怪物同士が格闘するお話。

今回、本作がモンスターバースなるシリーズの第４作に当たる事を初めて知ったが、前３作の知識が無くても十分楽しめた。

硬派でハードボイルド感漂うゴジラと好きな女の言う事には耳を傾ける軟派なコング。どちらも憎めない怪物だ。そして、彼らの香港での乱闘シーンにはただただ圧倒された。ホントに素晴らしいCGIで、人間たちのドラマがどうでもよくなるほどの迫力だった。

出演していた小栗旬がただのアジア人俳優に見えて日本人っぽさを感じられなかったのが残念。特に白目をむく場面は、アジア人が軽んじられているようにも見えて観ていて気分が悪くなった。この作品への出演は、彼にとってはプラスだったのだろうか。何事も経験、と言う意味では有意義だったかもしれないが、爪痕を残したとは思えない。

笑ってしまったのはイルミナティや水道水の話を真面目に語っている男がいた事。日本でも語られている都市伝説を信じている人たちが、私も多少は信じているが、アメリカにもいるのが可笑しかった。

Nobody

In July 2021, I watched the film Nobody at Movix Kameari. The action movie was released in 2021

The story follows an ordinary middle-aged man who has led a dull life and starts to get villains on the occasion of an incident.

I had expected that the story would describe a dull middle-aged man who feels despair in his life, becomes desperate and explodes in the end like a man in Unhinged, however, the protagonist's identity was quite incredible, though he looks to be dull like the man played by Russell Crowe and he is not too strong to overwhelm the thugs in a bus fight despite his incredible identity. I liked how realistically his strength is described anyway. Bob Odenkirk played well as the middle-aged man. If a tough and handsome actor like Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves have acted the man, the action scenes would have been cooler. I like a unique air that the subdued Odenkirk has, though.

By the way, I vaguely got curious about the ages of the three actors and I checked them. Odenkirk is the same age as Cruise and he is Reeves' senior by two years. All of them are the same generation. Although Odenkirk looks his age, yet Cruise and Reeves look amazingly young for their ages.   

Before watching it, I had expected that the movie would encourage exhausted middle-aged men, then until I watched it in the middle, I had thought that it was saying that you should not underestimate middle-aged men and that you should not show off, however, I gradually realized that I was wrong. The protagonist is quite strong for me who have totally recognized how much my strength has declined, so I cannot identify with him at all. In fact, you cannot have an illusion that you can fight a group of young thugs who are used to when you have become middle-aged as long as you have received special training and have taken part in battle missions for many years or who have your physical gift and have kept on building up your body.

The flick is an entertainment action in which a weak looking middle-aged man will change on an occasion and start to fight the villains. Viewers might as well just casually enjoy watching the awesome action scenes. I made a mistake in how to enjoy it from the beginning. I will easily watch it just as an entertainment next time.

Mr. ノーバディ

2021年７月、Movix亀有にて『Mr. ノーバディ』を初観賞。2021年公開のアクション映画。

冴えない日々を送っているごく平凡に見えるオジサンが、ある事を機に悪者たちをやっつけ始めるお話。

『アオラレ』みたいにサエないオッサンが人生に絶望してやけになってキレる展開かと思いきや、そうではなかった。主人公は、同じく見た目はサエないオッサンなのだが、その正体がハンパなかった。ただ、ハンパない割には、バスの中でのチンピラとの格闘で超人的な強さは発揮しない。その点は、逆にリアルで嫌いではないが。ボブ・オデンカークがそんなオッサンを好演。もしトム・クルーズやキアヌ・リーヴスのような精悍なハンサム俳優が演じていたら、よりカッコいいアクションに仕上がっていただろうが、渋いオデンカークの独特の雰囲気も悪くないと思う。

因みに、何となく気になって３人の年齢を調べてみたところ、オデンカークはクルーズと同い年でキアヌより２歳上。３人ともほぼ同世代だ。年齢を考えると、オデンカークは年相応だが、他のお２人の若々しさは驚異的だ。

観覧前は、世の疲れた中年男性にエールを送る物語だろうと予想していた。そして、前半は、オッサンをなめるな、とか、能ある鷹は爪を隠す、という事を表現しようとしているのかなと思いながら観ていたが、徐々にそうではないと気付きだした。主人公の強さは、体が衰えていることを骨身に沁みて実感している私には自己投影なんか出来っこないレベル。実際、オッサンになっても街の喧嘩慣れした若いチンピラのグループと大立ち回りができるなんて、若い頃に特殊な訓練を受けて過酷な任務を何年もこなしたか、恵まれた体格を有した上でその体を若い頃から鍛え続けていない限り、ただの幻想だ。

本作は、冴えない風貌のおじさんがあるきっかけで変貌してカッコよく悪者と闘う姿をただ楽しむアクション娯楽作。端から観方を間違えていた。次回はそういう映画として気楽に観ようと思う。