Garuda (2004)

A Flawed Gothic Kaiju Gem

Let me make this very clear, This is not a particularly good movie.

The writing has tons of great ideas behind it, but never really wants to fully dedicate to them. I mean a Kaiju movie tackling themes of xenophobia and religion sounds amazing, but the execution is sloppy, rushed, confusing and inconsistently handled. The characters suffer because of the poorly handled story and it results in me not fully feeling the persecution of the Half French/Half Thai protagonist Leena all that well. The acting is hit or miss, with some turning in awesome performances and others turning in shit tier performances. The worst case is with the actor playing Tim who is god fucking awful. Finally, the CG effects are pretty bad, but they do have a charm to them and the movements are well done.

So why do I love this movie then?

It's because of what kind of Kaiju movie it is.

This is not some terrible Asylum movie with no passion or soul, This is a crap Kaiju movie with a style that helps it become entertaining. That being a mix between gothic and 2000's cheese. In a way, this is a similar to Spawn with the style of combining gothic imagery with the cheese of the decade it came out in. While the writing, acting and effects are better in Spawn, both handle that mix perfectly. From the green smoke to the dark and damp caves to the somewhat tragic nature of Garuda to the way the shots are done, this is the only truly gothic Kaiju movie that I have encountered and I love it for that. The beautiful cinematography really helps with everything here and elevates the movie from wasted potential to a deeply flawed gothic Kaiju gem.

I also adore the design and character of the Garuda. Garuda's design has this humanoid yet creature like appearance to it with the bird head, giant wings, large claws and talons, and semi-hunch . At certain points in the movie, it has this dark angelic vibe to it, which I love. I also love how mysterious and tragic it is. Gaurda is the last of his kind and is alone here. The only thing it connects to is the fossil that surrounds Leena's neck. Garuda also shows a very human like intelligence, which helps it stand out from other kaiju. Yet it is also a very bloodthirsty creature as it rampages across Bangkok and will kill anything that threatens it. Garuda is one of the most unique Kaiju that I have encountered in terms of Kaiju media and I love it.

As mentioned before, this a very very very very VERY flawed movie to the point where I would normally that it is bad. However, from the amount of fun here I had to the wonderful gothic tone to the amazing creature to the beautiful cinematography, Garuda manages to be a rather high tier Guilty Pleasure.

Maybe if it were more polished in terms of writing, acting and effects, I would be more confident in saying that this is a gothic Kaiju masterpiece, but I also like it as it is. It's too much of a unique movie to just simply disregard and I am happy to finally have given this a watch after a long time of trying to find a copy with english subs.

If you are willing to look past its many problems and are huge fan of gothic and/or Kaiju movies, than this is certainly one to watch if you can find a good copy with subs.

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