The term “good-bad movie” has come under some fire as of late. How can a movie truly be bad if you find yourself enjoying the experience? If you leave with a smile, regardless of what we understand as a normal cinematic convention, it must be of some quality. Which leads me to the perplexing enigma that is classifying today’s movie. Reptilian, from 2001, is from all normal accounts a terrible movie. The effects are bad, the acting is terrible, and the plot is a mess. Despite all of these factors, I left the movie with a great big smile. Not once was I bored with this movie and I was interested enough in the film to watch a 2-hour fan-made documentary. Reptilian is a remake of classic South Korean Kaiju flick directed by comedian turned director Shim Hyung-rae, it was the most expensive South Korean movie at the time of its release.
The movie involves a giant monster being awoken by an alien spacecraft and wreaking havoc on a very Korea looking America. They manage to break the beast from the Alien control and as such the beast must now take on the alien’s new monster. Yonggary defeats the monster and the aliens leave the planet. Having saved the day the government opts to bring Yonggary to live his days on an abandoned island. That plot synopsis leaves A LOT out. There are secret government agencies, prophecies, evil archeologists, and a bunch of soldiers on jetpacks who say lines like “Compared to this guy, Godzilla is a pussy”. 
As each scene begins you’re left wondering where they’ll go next. Interesting enough the 2001 version is the second version of this film. The first cut was put to theaters in 1999 and has never been released on home video. According to the documentary “The Yonggary Chronicle” which is available on YouTube in its entirety, the film ran out of money and was forced into a theatrical release in South Korea. After the theatrical run, they acquired more money and did another full release in 2001. The new release touched up the CG and had several LA-based reshoots. Certain reports online seem to imply that the film had much more in the way of practical effects in the 1999 cut, however, it seems from interviews that the original cut merely had much worse computer effects. The small cuts of practical footage in the film are superb, however, it seems like more of it is more wishful thinking than proven fact
Despite being directed by a comedian, the film shoot was nothing to laugh at. As detailed in the aforementioned documentary, the shooting conditions were not ideal and the production had loads of night shoots and some truly heinous working conditions. There were even reports of director Hyung-rae slapping someone when they made a mistake. His public persona is a bit misleading it seems. The documentary details some very candid behind the scene documents and there are some things I was surprised they opted to give the documentarian. Shots of crude comments abound and there was a lot of drinking. You witness a night where the entire American crew are drunk as skunks and belting out karaoke. It is amazing to see Richard Livingston put so much life into his karaoke performance, when his character in the movie itself has zero charm. The documentary features much more than outstanding drunken karaoke, it also features some outstanding concept art. 
The script for Yonggary featured lines accompanied by their storyboard. The filming was done by the storyboards and in precise chronological order. The process sounds insane, but one has to remember that this was a much bigger film than the South Korean film industry was used to at that time. The scenes that showcase the effects workshops are outstanding. You get a glimpse of how detailed the practical effects were. If they had reigned in their ambitions just a little bit and opted for a more conventional production this could have been a tremendous showcase of South Korean miniature work.
If you’re a Kaiju fan and love ridiculous action cinema than this is a must see. You cannot tell me you don’t want to see serious American actors perform in what looks like an early FMV game? 
Perhaps my love of independent kaiju films have made me more forgiving of the effects, but even though they look far from realistic, they’re still fun. You can tell what’s happening and follow the fight scenes well. The aliens have seemingly no plan other than destruction and their invasion factors a sum total of one ship. It is absurd that they comment so directly on Godzilla and insult that franchise. It makes it feel all the more 90’s. The best feature of the film involves all of the ridiculous tropes of a movie that thinks it’s being cool and subversive. It is in fact none of these things, but one has to appreciate the hubris of the attempt.
Hopefully one day we will receive both cuts of the film to compare and contrast. As is this ranks among the objectively worst of the kaiju genre. There are no greater meanings or complex themes to unravel, all that we have is a movie where giant ridiculous looking monsters fight and destroy. Good for a smile.
