“Negadon: The Monster from Mars” Review

Negadon: The Monster from Mars is a 25 minute CGI featurette that pays homage to the 50 years of kaiju eiga. The featurette was produced in 2005 by Jun Awazu and, right away, I have to say how amazing the CGI work is here! Even ten years after the film was produced, the CGI work holds up tremendously well. If you’ve ever played a video game on the most recent generation of gaming consoles, and your game has cutaway scenes to expand on the story of the game, that’s what the CGI looks like for this featurette.

I had heard of Negadon a few times in the past decade but had never been able to see it until 2014 when I picked up a copy at G-Fest. Prior to that, the feedback I had read about the film online was fairly positive. The only criticism people had was that the film was too short.

One of the things I noticed right away was the film presentation itself. It has a slight discoloration, or fading, to it with some artifacts placed into the film to make it seem as if the featurette is older than it actually is. Being that this film is an homage to those classic Godzilla and other kaiju eiga films, I enjoyed that touch by Awazu.

Also in homage to kaiju eiga are some of the vehicles within the film. We get a nice shot of a satellite that is very reminiscent of the Mysterians’ mothership. Even the jets used by the JSDF hearken back to the model jets used by Tsuburaya for many of the early kaiju films. Dare I even say that Miroku and Negadon have some classic kaiju eiga qualities to them as well, but not to the degree that the jets, satellite, and other aspects of the film. Even the poster, above, reminds me very much of a Showa era kaiju film. This poster, in particular, reminds me of the poster from Godzilla vs. Hedorah.

In a 25 minute featurette, you’re not going to get a lot of story here. In fact, that may work to the film’s benefit in some ways. This brief story, involving Dr. Narasaki, is right to the point and, quite frankly, cliched. That’s not to say that it isn’t good. It is a fairly interesting story to some extent. He flashes back to the accident at the hangar that took his daughter’s life and his left eye. The incident has made him bitter in the ten years since the accident and he has vowed to never work with science or robotics again. Yet, when Negadon arrives, he feels the need to combat the kaiju as he sees how helpless the JSDF is against it. I even believe, due to how depressed he’s been in the last ten years, he probably even has a death wish.

When Narasaki is able to get Negadon safely away from the human population, he wastes no time in finishing off the kaiju and destroying Miroku, Negadon, and himself in one blow.

The story is a bit of a downer until Negadon arrives. The brief destruction scenes we get with it are fun and help to liven up the mood a bit. However, when Narasaki goes into action, the tone of the featurette becomes a bit more depressing again as Narasaki continues to remain glum. Even the song during the credits, while beautiful, has an air of depression about it. I think the film spends a little too much time with Narasaki not enjoying life than it does with the kaiju–which are supposed to be the feature of this film.

Despite the brief action scenes, the story is enough to keep us engaged. While it certainly isn’t groundbreaking, it does pay homage to the classic kaiju eiga and, to some degree, Tokusatu as well.

The design of Negadon reminds me of Destoroyah. Negadon is a parasite-looking kaiju that can fire a deadly beam and an even deadlier beam when it unfolds part of its body and extends an appendage that enables it to blast that beam. Unfortunately, however, I can’t say I’m impressed by Negadon’s design. While it has some interesting capabilities, its overall design feels a little uninspired. While I haven’t seen anything like this, per say, it reminds me of a number of kaiju I’ve seen in shows like Ultraman, UltraSeven, Iron King and others. I’m not saying it’s terrible, just nothing unique. But I have to remind myself that the point of this film isn’t so much as to create something within the genre that will stand out, rather, it’s point is to pay homage to the genre as a whole. On that level, the design of Negadon succeeds.

Miroku has some flare of a contemporary mech while keeping part of the design in line with classic mech. It has a cool, large drill bit on one of its arms and has the ability to fly. Its other arm has a grappling hook to carry its targets to any given destination. I found it interesting that its nuclear core, when starting up, opens up like the oxygen destroyer did in Gojira.

The battle between Miroku and Negadon, of course, is brief. Miroku practically owns the entire battle. Negadon gets a couple of shots in, but nothing that really puts Narasaki in danger; at least what we are able to gather according to how little damage Negadon does to Miroku. Even Negadon’s more powerful beam blast is no match for Miroku. Miroku, using its drill appendage, charges through the beam and impales the kaiju dead. Miroku, and Dr. Narasaki, appear to be more dangerous than Negadon. As a result, it makes Negadon less impressive as a kaiju menace. Nevertheless, I really wish we had a longer battle between Miroku and Negadon and spending less time watching Narasaki loathe in self-pity.

When watching Negadon, the viewer has to keep in mind that this film is 25 minutes in length and its purpose isn’t to expand on the kaiju folklore. It’s purpose is to pay homage to kaiju eiga and, on that level, I believe it is successful. While I would have spent a little more time with the Miroku-Negadon battle and less time watching Dr. Narasaki in a depressive mood, his story is still interesting enough to carry a large chunk of the featurette.

In the end, Negadon is worth watching; even if to get a quick kaiju fix.