Monster Movie of the Week: Garuda (2004)

Garuda (2004)

Director: Monthon Arayangkoon

Genre: Monster-on-the-loose/Action

THE MOVIE

It seems to be becoming a point of pride for Asian nations to have their own signature monster movies. Japan, of course, has Godzilla, Gamera and dozens others, South Korea gave us The Host and Dragon Wars and, in 2004, Thailand released Garuda, which featured a mid-sized killer bird-man monster based on a mythical Thai creature. The plot of Garuda will be very familiar to anyone familiar with the genre: There is a pretty female scientist named Leena (who gives a hilariously inaccurate paleontology presentation at the beginning of the movie) trying to complete her father’s work in discovering the fossils of an extinct creature; a dormant god/creature awakened by man’s activities; a goofy Westerner who acts as a sidekick and comic relief; and a team of para-military commandos sent to combat the creature in the tunnels beneath Bangkok.

Other than the endless discussions of Thai identity and the design of the titular creature, there is very little Thai flavor in the movie to distinguish it from something you would see on the Sci-Fi channel. One of the fun things about seeing foreign monster movies is that they inadvertently teach the viewer a lot about the culture from which they come. From watching hours and hours of Japanese monster movies, I certainly feel like I have learned a little bit about the Japanese character and identity and I can identify something about the movies that makes them distinctly Japanese (this lack of Japanese Je ne sais quois is what has made it difficult to translate the genre to American movies). Or the way that The Host gives you a real flavor for South Korean life in the early 21^st Century. Not so with Garuda, which certainly borrows conventions from Japanese monster movies, and has some requisite action scenes a la Hong Kong cinema, but what is distinctly Thai about the movie feels tacked on and not part of the story or characters. Part of the problem is that the film takes place mostly in underground tunnels. I would have liked to see a little more Bangkok in the movie.

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

Garuda does feature a decent monster. The Garuda is sort of like a well muscled human with wings and a bird head and legs. I would say he is about 15 to 20 feet tall with a 60-80 foot wingspan. He seems to be largely realized through digital effects, successfully for the most part.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Not to hard to find, and now available on Netflix.

SEQUELS

None planned that I know of.

MINORITY REPORT

There is one Western character in Garuda, Tim, who is a cowardly, bumbling dork as contrasted to the Thai men in the movie who are sort of macho, lethal, and agile. This is interesting because it is an inversion of popular stereotypes of Asians in movies in the U.S. where Asian men have been historically depicted as uncool, cowardly, nerdy and ultimately unmasculine (this is when they are not being depicted as ninjas and martial arts experts). This was the popular perception in the 1980’s and 1990’s and is thankfully changing and there is now an “Asian Chic” movement that has been forming as pop culture mainly from Japan and China are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. and the minority population of Asians in the U.S. is growing and gaining its own voice. I suspect that Tim represents a kind of emasculated revenge stereotype on Westerners. It is curious that Tim, a young reasonably attractive guy, has absolutely no sexual tension with Leena (who instantly falls for the macho Thai commander). This, again, is reminiscent of many Asian characters in American movies that had forever enjoyed strangely platonic relationships with the white female characters around them.

SEE ALSO

The Host (2007)

THE TRAILER