Reptilian (1999)

From Wikizilla, the kaiju encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Article.png
Image gallery for Reptilian (film)
Credits for Reptilian (film)
Reptilian (film) soundtrack


Reptilian
The South Korean poster for Reptilian
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Yonggary: Great Monster Battle (2001)
See alternate titles
Directed by Shim Hyung-rae
Producer Shim Hyung-rae
Written by Shim Hyung-rae, Marty Poole
Music by Sung-woo Jo, Chris Desmond
Distributor Zero Nine Entertainment
TriStar PicturesUS
Rating PG-13
Budget ₩10,000,000,000
Running time 90 minutes1999
(1 hour, 30 minutes)
99 minutes2001
(1 hour, 39 minutes)
Aspect ratio 1.85:1
Rate this film!
2.96
(23 votes)

For the Godzilla: The Series monster, see Reptilian.

Reptilian (용가리,   Yonggari, lit. Yonggary) is a 1999 South Korean kaiju film co-produced by Younggu-Art Movies and Zero Nine Entertainment. A loose remake of Yongary, Monster from the Deep, it was released to South Korean theaters on July 17, 1999, followed by an extended version with improved special effects on January 20, 2001. It was released internationally later in the year.

Plot

A team of archeologists led by Dr. Campbell explore a cave full of dinosaur bones. Dr. Wendell Hughes, having wandered off on his own, is stunned to discovered an alien fossil as well. Campbell, in charge of the expedition, ignores his cry and presses on. One of the archeologists strikes a glowing red vein on a stone pillar with a hatchet, setting off an explosion. Only Hughes and Campbell survive, though Hughes is presumed dead. The explosion reveals a tablet full of hieroglyphics, which Campbell views with triumph.

Two years later, as a Galaxion spaceship approaches the Moon, Campbell's efforts to excavate a dinosaur skeleton "50 times the size of T. rex" are well underway. Bud Black, a reporter, arrives unannounced at the dig site. Campbell is impressed to learn he was published in Time and welcomes him, though his lead assistant Holly Davis is unmoved. Meanwhile, the spaceship shoots down the Space Shuttle and a satellite.

Presumed dead since the explosion, Hughes returns to the dig site. He demands an end to the excavation, believing that it will lead to the resurrection of the dinosaur, which he calls Yonggary. Campbell scoffs and has him forcibly escorted away. Later that night, fighters deployed by the spaceship fire on the dig site, killing two workers. Their deaths go unnoticed until morning, with Campbell destroying Black's film when he tries to photograph them. He blames their deaths on a live wire and orders the others back to work, offering to double their salaries. It is the third such accident in the past week. Holly, aghast at Campbell's callousness, resigns. The U.S. military detects the spaceship hovering over Earth, but the Galaxions press on with their plans.

Yonggary's teeth fly out of the ground and return to his jaw, killing another worker in the process, while his skeleton begin to regrow. Again, Campbell blocks Black's efforts to document his death. He even convinces Black to help him hide the body, only for another worker to die later that night. Facing a revolt, Campbell threatens to report the remaining workers, who are all undocumented immigrants, and they fall in line.

Hughes follows Holly to a bar, where he repeats his warning about Yonggary, first told to him by a shaman in Southeast Asia. According to this prophecy, the dinosaur will be reborn to destroy the world. He reveals that he took the alien fossil to the U.S. government, which became too preoccupied studying it to bother with Yonggary. Holly does not believe him at first, but is convinced upon reading that carbon dating estimated that the Galaxion fossil was 220 to 250 million years old. They return to the dig site as Yonggary's skeleton is fully revealed. The spaceship fires a ray which rapidly restores Yonggary to life, with a jewel called a Daemon forming on his forehead. Campbell, gripped by madness, tries to communicate with the monster, only to be stomped flat, along with most of the workers. The spaceship teleports Yonggary away.

The military sends infantry to the dig site, and Hughes and Holly try to explain the situation to Captain Parker, who is incredulous until he sees one of Yonggary's footprints. The Galaxions beam down the monster in front of their Jeep, but he hesitates to attack them, with Hughes explaining that his vision is based on movement. A squadron of helicopters surround him, allowing them to escape, but their weapons prove ineffective. Spitting fireballs, he destroys most of them.

Stunned by the defeat, Lieutenant-General George Murdock meets with Stanley Mills, an agent from the highly-classified National Space Investigation Agency. He shares Hughes' discovery with them, admitting that he knew the Galaxions could return six months ago. The aliens deploy Yonggary to Los Angeles, where he goes on a rampage. Infantry attacks him to no avail. In the war room, Hughes and Mills have a testy reunion, as Hughes left the N.S.I.A. with a CD containing tablet translations. Fighter jets target Yonggary next, but he evades most of their missiles, leading to massive collateral damage, and returns fire to devastating effect. The President of the United States informs Murdock that he has five hours to stop the monster before he will order the use of nuclear weapons. After Yonggary vanishes again, the military learns that he has a force field which interferes with the missiles' guidance systems.

Out of options, the military turns to Project T: infantry armed with experimental jetpacks and laser cannons. Using the tablets, Hughes and Holly determine that the aliens are using the Daemon to control Yonggary. The T-forces intercept Yonggary before he can reach a nuclear power plant, but the campaign seems futile until Hughes and Holly instruct them to target the Daemon. Before they can hit it, the Galaxions teleport Yonggary away, aware of their discovery. Using infrared, the T-forces determine Yonggary's destination as a nuclear-armed stealth fighter heads towards Los Angeles. He damages Captain Parker's jetpack, though the soldier survives the fall, and Lieutenant O'Neil destroys the Daemon with a suicide attack. Freed from the aliens' control, Yonggary saves a group of civilians from a building toppled from another errant missile salvo, causing Hughes to realize his benevolent nature and convince Murdock of the same.

Mills jams the war room's communications with the President before the nuclear attack can be called off. He is determined that Yonggary's death will cause the aliens to descend to Earth, allowing them to be captured and studied. Murdock gives him the code to leave the war room, but Sergeant Archie is waiting on the other side of the door to disarm him.

With electric rays from his tail and raw strength, Cycor gains the upper hand over Yonggary, but Parker distracts him. Yonggary recovers, blasting off Cycor's right claw with a fireball. Tentacles emerge from the stump and ensnare the dinosaur, electrocuting him. When Cycor closes in, however, Yonggary decapitates him with a fireball. The alien keeps coming, but another fireball fired into his neck blows him to pieces. Yonggary collapses, while the nuclear strike is terminated just in time.

The Galaxions opt to retreat "before Yonggary discovers his true strength." Helicopters transport the groggy monster to a remote, deserted island.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

  • Directed by   Shim Hyung-rae
  • Story by   Shim Hyung-rae
  • Screenplay by   Marty Poole
  • Produced by   Shim Hyung-rae
  • Executive Producers   David A. Smitas, P.J. Leone, Yong Ho Lee
  • Music by   Sung-woo Jo
  • Cinematography by   An-hong Kim
  • Edited by   Steve Swersky
  • Production design by   Birdy Lee
  • Assistant director   Jin Man Jo
  • Visual effects supervisor   Sunny Ryu
  • Sound mixing by   Paul Vik Marshall

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Dan Cashman   as   Lieutenant-General George Murdock
  • Bruce Cornwell   as   Mr. Mills
  • Dennis Howard   as   Major-General Jack Thomas
  • Matt Landers   as   Major-General Don "Boom Boom" Howell
  • Richard Livingston   as   Dr. Campbell
  • Donna Philipson   as   Holly Davis
  • Wiley M. Pickett   as   Lieutenant O'Neil
  • Brad Sergi   as   Bud Black
  • Eric Briant Wells   as   Captain Parker
  • Harrison Young   as   Dr. Wendell Hughes
  • D.J. Robbins   as   Editor
  • Derrick Costa   as   Sergeant Archie
  • Johanna Parker   as   Sergeant Romiski
  • Alex Walters   as   Sergeant Michaels
  • Les Brandt   as   Sergeant Sanchez
  • Karl Calhhoun   as   Sergeant Andrews
  • Allan Grifka   as   Sergeant Smitty
  • Julie Kessler   as   Bartender Sarah Saunders
  • William Hankins   as   Man at door
  • Wilborn Monroe Kilpatrick Jr.   as   Dudly
  • Kurt Leitner   as   Voice Performer
  • Matthew Perniciaro   as   Man at bar
  • Marvin Poole   as   Private Lewis
  • Ken Wayne   as   Soldier/Pilot
  • Chan-ho Seo   as   Worker

Japanese dub

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Takao Ishii   as   Lieutenant-General George Murdock
  • Yutaka Nakano   as   Mr. Mills
  • Bin Sasaki   as   Major-General Jack Thomas
  • Katsuhisa Hoki   as   Major-General Don "Boom Boom" Howell
  • Kazuhiro Yamaji   as   Dr. Campbell
  • Mabuki Andou   as   Holly Davis
  • Naoya Uchida   as   Bud Black
  • Mugihito   as   Dr. Wendell Hughes

Appearances

Monsters

Weapons, vehicles, and races


Gallery

Main article: Reptilian (film)/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Reptilian/Soundtrack.

Alternate titles

  • 2001 Yonggary (2001용가리; 2001 South Korean re-release title)
  • Yonggary vs. Cyker (English-language South Korean re-release title)
  • Yonggary: Great Monster Battle (怪獣大決戦ヤンガリー,   Kaijū Daikessen Yangarī, Japan)
  • Reptile (Réptil; Brazil)
  • Yonggary - The Reptile (Yonggary - O Réptil; Portugal)
  • Resurrection of Godzilla (哥斯拉复活; mainland China)
  • Yongari (French working title)
  • Yonggary - The Space Monster (Yonggary - Az űrbéli szörny; Hungary)
  • Upgrade Yonggary (업그레이드용가리; South Korea)

Theatrical releases

  • South Korea - July 17, 1999  [view poster]JSouth Korean poster; January 20, 2001 (2001 Yonggary)  [view poster]South Korean
  • Japan - November 10, 2001  [view poster]Japanese poster

Video releases

Sony DVD (2001)[1]

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Special features: Original trailer, Yonggary profile (3 minutes), photo gallery
  • Notes: Out of print.

Videos

Trailers

South Korean TV spot
International trailer
U.S. video spot
Japanese trailer

Miscellaneous

Yonggary Chronicle Project, a 2019 documentary on the making of Reptilian
Making of featurette
Behind the scenes gallery
Toy commercial
Harim chicken nugget commercial
Shoe commercial

Trivia

  • The version of the film that premiered in South Korea in 1999 had unfinished visual effects due to a lack of funding and an inflexible release date.[2] It has never been released on home video.
  • Before engaging Yonggary with the T-forces, Captain Parker declares, "Compared to this guy, Godzilla is a pussy!"
  • A deleted subplot involving Bud Black has the reporter obtaining the aliens' secrets of genetic resurrection, the same method used to bring Yonggary back to life, and returning to the archaeological site with its cave of dinosaur fossils. Supposedly, Bud Black and the revived fossils were going to be the antagonists of the unreleased sequel Yonggary 2.[3]
    • Concept art done for Yonggary 2 also featured a Mechagodzilla-style robot duplicate of Yonggary.[4]
  • The Reptilian logo used for Sony's VHS and DVD releases of the film mimics the logo of GODZILLA (1998).
  • In 2016, while developing D-War II: Mystery of the Dragon, director Shim Hyung-rae discussed the prospect of a theme park based on his films, Reptilian and D-War chief among them, with the vice president of the China Real Estate Industry Association.[5]

External links

References

This is a list of references for Reptilian (film). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. Amazon.com: Reptilian (2003) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  2. https://youtu.be/_WB67GRYnJk
  3. https://youtu.be/_WB67GRYnJk
  4. https://youtu.be/_WB67GRYnJk
  5. Nam-Yeon, Kwon (15 June 2016). "Shim Hyung-rae to build D-War theme park... "Investment by Chinese giants"". Kukmin Ilbo.

Comments

Showing 89 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.

Loading comments...
Movie