Godzilla Series
Monster Films: Godzilla is a long-lasting idea that spans over 30 movies in 50 years. In almost every film, the monster appears spontaneously to do battle with another creature and is never defeated for good. In this respect, the spotlight shines away from Godzilla as a concept and highlights some new outrageous creatures of large proportions as a new tribute to the series. It slowly transforms public opinion of this monstrosity figure from a moving boulder that destroys cities to a hero figure that stops other types of beasts that threaten the world. For almost every release, there is also an interesting backstory when it comes to changing the movies from how their titles are translated to the words used in dialogue for an American audience. Instead of going through the films in chronological order, I figured listing them by monster or production type would be much better when it comes to learning more about the lore of the series. Despite a few oddballs, there were a few monster flicks suggested to me that I did not watch because of the lack of Godzilla relevance such as Varan, Mighty Joe Young, Gorgo, and Son of Kong.
Eras Types: Time periods can change how the monster film industry portrays certain elements. There are distinct universes that follow Godzilla:
- Shōwa era (1954–1975): Before people could recognize what a monster was, each one of them had to have an origin story. They were scary things that went bump in the night. Unfortunately, the formula drifted to telling a new story of how Godzilla was one of the good guys. They made him have a son, talk with other monsters, and a hero that appears to stop others from destroying the world.
- Heisei era (1984–1995): In this timeline, Godzilla is a menace that needs to be stopped. The military shows off their new toys, experiments, and science. There's also a group of psychics that assist in certain matters that occasionally fight. They extend the lore of certain monsters and play on the mythology of transferring one's life essence to another.
- Millennium era (1999–2004): This rebooted series extends a lot of things the previous era did and focuses on the characters as the primary theme within the story. It can be subtle like how corporations are evil or people who are disrespectful will receive punishment. Hero types steal the spotlight from the monsters.
- Reiwa era (2016–present): This is the time of anime when the films are portrayed using a different type of medium.
Godzilla
7/10 Godzilla (1st Film): If you have never seen Godzilla, then watching the original 1954 release would be quite surprising. There is a sense of devastation and tragedy in this black and white movie as people spend quite a bit of time exploring theoretical ideas of how it came out, its weaknesses, and plans of attack. The military practically sends every bit of military weaponry they have at hand from tanks to planes. The amount of detail they put into creating the models of all the towns and vehicles is astounding and at the same time tragic when Godzilla destroys them. I like how they focused on the reactions of the people and angled the camera down at their level to the point where even the footprint they examine barely registers as one to the audience. In order to defeat something so unstoppable, there is an odd love triangle subplot where a mad scientist sacrifices himself using an Oxygen Destroyer. It essentially changes oxygen on a molecular level to the extent of leaving only bare skeletons of anything in its path.
- 4/10 Godzilla: King of Monsters! was the American version in 1956. Imagine if they sent in an American reporter to narrate all the events in a nice newspaper format. While it was nice listening to Perry Mason, his abbreviated version of every form of meeting and dialogue destroyed any sort of impactful story the original had. Almost every scene had him inserted in to record Godzilla's path of destruction and certain moments, like the meeting on whether they should alert the rest of the world, were removed. Only a small section of the ending were dubbed over for prosperity.
- 6/10 Gigantis, the Fire Monster is how the American version decided to title this new creature. The word "Godzilla" is entirely replaced with "Gigantis" in the 1959 release. There are a bunch of new scenes included that reflect how other places, such as the United Nations, would have been involved in the conflict. Quite a bit of narration was included that, like someone reading directly from a book, went into explicit detail of what was occurring as it happened. The main character now describes events with an additional inner monologue that fills in the extended gaps of time for certain scenes. These edits are quite informative but also distract from the natural progression of the film.
6/10 The Return of Godzilla (16th Film): The first remade 1984 film does a lot of things right. It's rather telling when a person explores the remains of nine mummified bodies and fights against Shockirus (the sea louse that goes unnamed) as a sequence much scarier than Godzilla. It is interesting to see a meeting between Japan, Soviet Union, and United States discuss the Three Non-Nuclear Principles statement made by Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967 of not possessing, not producing, and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons according to Japan's Peace Constitution. There is a bit of fun seeing Godzilla stampede through a modern metropolis, terrorize part of a bullet train, and fight Japan's Super X flying hovercraft. The military's initial plan was using liquid cadmium solution bullets shot directly into his mouth to neutralize his radioactive energy followed by luring him into a volcano with a secondary plan of manipulating his magnetic area with the instinctual frequency sound of birds. Despite the suspense, there are also a number of terrible choices of story development that are rather embarrassing to watch. The now denied nuclear weapon from the Soviet Union somehow still launches when their system is coincidentally compromised within Godzilla's path of destruction. The United States manages to intercept with their own missile but the explosion creates an electromagnetic shockwave that both brings down Super X and emboldens Godzilla with lightning bolts that strike his body, despite the fact there are multiple much taller buildings around him. There is also an entire unnecessary sequence where the scientists test their frequency at the top of a building right in front of Godzilla, attempt to flee, get rescued by a helicopter, and physically transfer the data to another site. I was left with many questions. Why did they lower one man down into the building when they could have had the time to rescue all three? Why did they need to test it there if the sound can reach Godzilla from much farther away? I really wish they didn't make the frequency sound so annoying.
- 4/10 Godzilla 1985: The American version adds a few more scenes that somewhat changes the story. After the Soviet Russian submarine is destroyed (subtitles are still used), the Pentagon is shown with some high-ranking officers complaining about strange weather patterns and what is happening in Japan with a Dr. Pepper vending machine in the background. From then on, Americans periodically appear to discuss recent events inside their war room. Any newspaper headline shots are highlighted in blue with bold font in front. Instead of the Soviet Union shutting down their missile, they portray them as leaving the option open and purposely launching it. American planes are included in various action shots. There's also the fun cameo of Perry Mason as the only American surviving the encounter 30 years ago. He mentions a lot of things like how they never found Godzilla's corpse. Where the Japanese version showed photos using the new design of Godzilla, the American version has the military watch direct footage from the original film. They trimmed down some sequences and modified the dialogue to better fit the narrative. What the homeless man says is completely different for more comedic relief.
4/10 Godzilla (TriStar): After 10 years of pressuring Toho, this 1998 film was finally agreed to be made in America. While some refused the idea, others thought it could work as long as precautions were made to keep the original nuclear theme and design requirements for Godzilla. The script would undergo many revisions over the years with several development ideas scrapped. Many of the movies released during that time influenced their decisions such as Tremors in 1990, Mario Brothers in 1993, Jurassic Park in 1993, and Independence Day in 1996. The nuclear fallout for creating Godzilla was blamed on the French this time when a trained team instigates the case of a large creature tearing apart boats. In humorous fashion, the reporter who stole video evidence of the last survivor calling him Gojira was stolen again by another reporter translating it as Godzilla. The kaiju was ultimately changed from a slow-moving force to be reckoned with to an agile monster that can evade the military. At one point, the mayor noted that the military was doing more damage to the city than the monster. Godzilla's elusiveness showed another side of his intellect never seen before when he jumps through a building after establishing a trap for the helicopters, rerouted the underwater missiles back into the submarine, avoided the secondary fish trap after what happened the first time, and used the tunnel system to traverse through the city undetected. One major deviation is how he is born pregnant and lays countless eggs that hatch inside Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, the CGI of Godzilla does not hold up to well in this day of age. The film also mistakenly appealed to the younger audience by making the awkward "worm guy" played by Ferris Bueller be the hero when everyone in authority dismisses his claims of a creature crossing into New York City to nest. The film runs a lengthy 139 minutes and includes an entire ending sequence of Godzilla chasing a taxi cab across the city.
- 5/10 Godzilla Series (TriStar): Despite the 1998 Godzilla film grossing nearly three times its budget, the enthusiasm from everyone plummeted so much that the production team's original intention in making a trilogy was quickly converted to an animated series. The elements, characters, and setting might have been carried over from the movie but much of the style, tone, and personality was changed for the better. The crew is much more intelligent and competent in their activities. The last surviving Godzilla egg that hatched at the end of the film "marked" Nick Tatopoulos and now assists with him and his Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team (HEAT) against a new mutation almost every episode. These can range from the standard giant bee, mosquito, squid, spider, snake, and fish to the more unusual living virus, plant, aliens, and metaphysical types. Every now and then you'll encounter unusual third parties like Democratic Resurgence Against Global Mechanized Armageddon (DRAGMA) or Servants of Creatures Arriving Late to Earth (SCALE). Like the production team should have done in the first place, Godzilla
retains his signature atomic breath and, out of convenience, seems to be
incapable of asexual reproduction. There are some very nice paths of discovery through technical and scientific methods in finding what type of monster they are dealing with and how to defeat it. A running joke is how the Next Millennium Intelligence Gathering Electronic Liaison (NIGEL) created by Mendel and reprogrammed with quirky voices by Randy is damaged or destroyed in every episode (except for one in the mines he does not appear in). Although each episode might be formulaic so you can watch them in any order, there is some degree of continuity retained between the characters. There is a mid-season three-part climax where you meet the aliens in one of the previous episodes use all the mutations on Monster Island to invade Earth. There are around three separate episodes that has a billionaire Cameron Winter use certain technology against the team. There are a couple references made to the Godzilla series with their own version of Mecha-King Kong and cyborg Godzilla. Not all monsters are aggressive with a couple coming from old myths and legends. Godzilla will almost always appear for a fight at some point in the episode whether the team uses a signal or "G-Man" uses his instinct. Only a few voice actors return from the film: Kevin Dunn as Colonel Hicks, Michael Lerner as Mayor Ebert, or Malcolm Danare as Dr. Mendel Craven.
- 6/10 Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: What if there was a 2023 show that connected all the movies that were released between 2014 and 2024 in the MonsterVerse. Monarch is the scientific organization tasked to study and research the large organisms that are appearing all over the globe ever since they tried to destroy Godzilla in 1952. You'll see the events of the far past of two scientists and their military escort try and get the military funding to pursue these ancient legends of creatures. They will encounter an Ion Dragon when they find the USS Lawton, to which one of the scientists is the last survivor from, shredded on land. In 1959, they find Endoswarmers hatching out of eggs right before losing one of the scientists through the portal below. Meanwhile in 2015, you'll follow the drama of a cheating lesbian teacher Cate Randa who is dealing with the trauma of losing the bus full of children that fell into the water when Godzilla ripped the bridge open in San Fransisco discover that her father also cheated with her mother when running into her half-brother's family in Tokyo. When they find a package left behind one of the older scientists before dying on Skull Island, they go to a coder by the name of May on the run after wiping out all the data from Applied Experimental Technologies who later negotiates a deal when they turn into Apex Cybernetics. When searching for their father, they stumble across a Titan in Alaska and Godzilla in Algeria. There is an entire subplot of the teams discovering portals deep in the Earth and a place called Axis Mundi that advances time quicker for those trapped inside.
2/10 Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (30th Film): This 2017 film asks a simple question: "How bad can it get if humanity lost to monsters?" The first of the trilogy is a depressing tragedy as you watch a group of individuals pair together with some aliens in search of another planet when Godzilla proves he can survive any blast and tear apart what's left. Things get desperate for the people who flee when they are unable to find a suitable place to live for 20 years. They are running low on rations and they sacrifice volunteers to limit their population to 4,000 members. A new plan of action spreads about returning to Earth and executing a very intricate and complicated plan to defeat Godzilla. Their traveling warps time to 20,000 years in the future and the land has transformed. Plants are sharp enough to cut through metal and their pollen engulfs the atmosphere in a heavy fog. A series of small winged creatures pick apart the landing party until they have no choice but to continue with their plan. They exert all their efforts in creating an opening in Godzilla's shield and regenerative plate through a coordinated strike. A series of EMP devices drill into his body and disrupts his life force. Soon they realize that they only defeated a smaller version of the mighty beast when the real one the size of a mountain rises in the distance. Perhaps they should have went the safer route of building a base on the moon and collect resources overtime from Earth.
- 3/10 Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (31st Film): This 2018 anime
is the second one in the trilogy. The group discovers that there are
humans hiding underground from the dangerous lands around Godzilla. They
are able to communicate with the group through a sacred egg (by which
represents Mothra with how the chief assists the twin girls) and
interrogate the intentions of "The Passing Crows" when they bombed the
jungle. When the crew realizes that they use nanometal for their
spears, the aliens that once tried to assist the human race discover
that their failed Mechagodzilla (briefly seen at the beginning of the
first film) has turned into a Mechagodzilla City. While hiding behind the thick fog, the city builds three Vultures,
two railguns, and fortifies its foundation. Unfortunately, Godzilla's
hunt for the city makes them quicken their plans. Most of the aliens
"merge" with the city to make it more intelligent and try to force the
humans to do as well. The captain refuses, destroys the command center,
and cries while holding his non-responsive friend. In the end, the name
the alien refused to speak outloud was Ghidorah.
- 1/10 Godzilla: The Planet Eater (32nd Film): The 2018 sequel turns into a philosophical debate on religion. The truth behind the aliens being the ones who summon the energy dragons from another dimension gets revealed. The station gets destroyed and the people that called forth his name get sacrificed in some sort of ritual. The vast majority of the film argues whether a life is worth living for if all comes to an end. There is a bit of attrition made through the captain's grief, anger, and depressed state until he connects with the girls and Mothra's song of hope. Ghidorah's invisible presence becomes known once the alien's eye is destroyed and ripped apart by Godzilla. While most of the people live on with the village, the captain takes the last surviving Vulture and the non-responsive girl on a suicide mission into Godzilla. The worst ending I've ever experienced.
5/10 King Kong vs Godzilla (3rd Film): 7 years after the second Godzilla film and now in color, the 1962 release has people hear of a mysterious "demon" on a stranded island. The comedic expedition for a TV Broadcast visits a tribe with a translator to find out if they should advertise this new discovery. The producers of the film tried a bunch of new things by including people who speak English on a submarine and adding a very weird scene where the guys share cigarettes with the locals. The following events of the film gets rather chaotic: King Kong fights a giant octopus, drinks some pots of red juice that puts him to sleep, gets hauled away on a giant raft, senses Godzilla by his animalistic instincts, runs away when hit by his breath, and proceeds to replicate what occurred in the original 1933 film by picking up a girl out of a train and climbing up a building. Meanwhile, the military is still trying to put a stop to Godzilla by using Operation One Million Volts & Operation Burial (which includes digging a giant hole and detonating some explosives). They use more of the island's Farolacton Fruit to put the hairy beast to sleep, use some stronger than steel thread to airlift him with the help of some giant helium balloons, and drag him back into the battle. Did I mention that for some reason King Kong also has the ability to store electricity by eating power lines and shocking Godzilla with his palms after being struck by lightning? Perhaps it would have made more sense if they added Frankenstein like they were going to do in the first place. After a long battle and both tumble over a cliff into the water, King Kong is seen swimming into the horizon.
- 4/10 King Kong vs Godzilla: Once again the United Nations gets involved in the American version with an extended introduction to why they sent their submarine to the frozen north. The dialogue is rather bad when all that great Japanese inflection is lost in translation. The narrator appears periodically through the movie to explain events in detail. While somewhat useful, the added reports puts a noticeable stain on the original film. There is a very brief split screen at the end when the reporter tells the audience that King Kong has gone home.
- 5/10 Skull Island (Animated Series): The events happen after Kong: Skull Island but before Godzilla vs Kong. If you are a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, you'll notice the similarity in style, tone, characters, and dialogue in this series. Unfortunately, only the first season is available at this time in 2023. The series takes a back-end approach by slowly introducing you to the elements and discovering how things work near the end of the 8 episodes. It boils down to this: a mother hires mercenaries to help recover her daughter she originally thought died at sea after her boat is discovered on a stranded island next to Skull Island. The father fights a creature and they both die in battle. The offspring of both become friends and continue living on Annie's Island for around 10 years. Meanwhile, Kong lives on Skull Island and has his pet bird bring him food at the temple. A fearsome sea monster appears and destroys the village. The entire cast gets rerouted on Skull Island and continue to fight between each other when the mercenaries shoot "Dog" while trying to retrieve the girl. Eventually, Kong and the Sea Monster have a showdown that ends with an unusual cliffhanger of Annie waking up in the hospital on the mainland after being out for 2 weeks. There is a bunch of witty dialogue and things that make you wonder what exactly is going on. The show takes some time to expand on the lore, many people die on the way, and barely anything gets resolved in the end. Other than a few references to events of Kong: Skull Island, there are no connections to the future in how a Monarch base gets built on the island, what happens when Godzilla appears, or how Kong meets the little girl inside the dome.
- 3/10 Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (7th Film): It is hard to pinpoint where this 1966 film should be placed on the list since Mothra remains asleep until the last 10 minutes to rescue everyone left on the island before it self-destructs. However, half of the tribe from Infant Island were captured by the renegade group Red Bamboo to perform some hard labor mass producing "yellow juice" from the fruits on the island. This helped their boats evade the giant lobster that mutated from the nuclear waste coming from the hidden factory until the tribe makes a fake batch from only the leaves of the fruit. The story components were so convoluted that the entire plot could be mistaken as a long Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The cast consists of a thief with a skeleton key that opens many doors, two guys who lost an endurance dancing competition, and a man who is determined to find out what happened to his brother out at sea. The four of them stay overnight on a boat and become stranded on Devil's Island with an escaped tribeswoman. They use an abandoned sword as a lightning rod to pull electricity down some copper wires during a lightning storm to awaken Godzilla. There is a sequence of interactions like playing catch with a boulder, underwater tag, and target practice with a giant vulture. Eventually, Ebirah slips back into the deep when his claws are ripped out of their sockets. There are a couple of great lines in the dialogue like: "You have your girlfriends, and I have this skeleton key." The plane bombardment sequence near the end of the film was pretty good as well. Some parts in the script make more sense if they went with King Kong or Frankenstein like they initially planned. One thing I should mention is that this is one of two reviews done by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- 6/10 Godzilla vs The Thing: The American version makes one grand difference by replacing Mothra's name as "The Thing" in all dialogue. There's also an interesting scene of the military attacking Godzilla.
6/10 Godzilla vs Mothra (19th Film): Hopefully you didn't confuse the two films as this is the 1992 modern adaptation featuring Mothra and black Mothra known as Battra. There is a very unusual subplot regarding a broken family that have an archaeological background like an old Indiana Jones film. Once again, the small "Cosmos" girls are being sold off and calls their guardian to come rescue them. Mothra goes through the whole process of turning into a cocoon and evolving into a moth while Battra has some fun around town like a rebellious teenager. There is this whole underwater battle that makes for an interesting concept in the film. For whatever reason, Battra instantly skips the cocoon phase while out in the ocean, fights Mothra, and then agrees to help carry Godzilla out into the ocean. The conclusion of the film still mystifies me since Mothra agrees to carry out Battra's mission to fly into outer space and divert an incoming meteor destined to destroy the world.
King Ghidorah
3/10 Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (5th Film): Perhaps the 1964 film was rushed or poorly managed since the idea of collecting three previous monsters to fight a more powerful one wasn't executed that well. The film has way too much going on from UFO enthusiasts watching an unusual meteor shower, scientists trying to discover why the weather has turned winter into summer, the tools of an expedition team being magnetized into one of the meteors, a princess who jumps out of a plane right before a bomb explodes, the two girls linked to Mothra conducting an interview in a television broadcast, and a five thousand year old being from Venus (or Mars in one version) that inhabits said princess to warn people of an impending danger that destroyed her world. That's all in the first 15 minutes! Meanwhile, there's an entire subplot between a group of individuals who interview and protect the Venusian. King Ghidorah sort of flashes above a cracked egg and goes on a rampage. The battle between Godzilla and Rodan is terrible as they push a boulder back-and-forth like some sort of volleyball game. Not only are their animations very human-like but how the little girls translate the dialogue from all the monsters reminds me of some kid's cartoon. To make matters worse, King Ghidorah just sort of flies away when things get too tough for him. I think the most amusing thing to note is how a woman had to shove her shoe on a button to activate the fire alarm for the entire building. Many of the actors in the previous films make an appearance in this one.
- 6/10 Rodan: While not necessarily linked to the Godzilla series, the 1956 debut of two pteranodons appearing is an interesting one. The film starts in the unique setting of a group of miners who investigate those dying in a flooded tunnel. The mystery of these deaths leads them to a giant Meganuron. Though the military brings out the machines guns, one man's action causes a cave-in and gains amnesia. After some time passes, he eventually remembers how a bird hatched out of an egg and began eating all the giant bugs. Meanwhile, there are reports of missing planes and cows that leads the military to an aerial chase with an unknown presence. The detrimental part of the film comes at its conclusion when the military opens fire on a mountain with a series of missiles for way too long until the volcano erupts. The birds meet their end after falling into the lava.
4/10 Invasion of Astro-Monster (6th Film): The aesthetics of this 1964 film might look familiar since 2001: Space Odyssey came out around the same time. Hopefully it's obvious that the monster they are referring to in the title is King Ghidorah. There is a long sequence of events where two astronauts fly beyond Jupiter to discover Xiliens hiding underground on Planet X. They ask to use Godzilla & Rodan to scare the monster away and in return provide a cure for cancer (or all diseases in another version). The story sort of falls apart when they play the tape and gets asked for their surrender or have all three monsters, now under the aliens' control, destroy everything. The plot reveals many threads about the invaders like how they were already on Earth, capable of replicating objects with ease, travel between worlds at light speed, obey a super computer that determines what's best for them, knew the exact location of each of the monsters, have no problem carrying objects of any size, can use mind control, and require water. At some point, you begin to question why they conversed with people in the first place if they could simply take what they need without asking. It is like the scheme was ripped directly from a James Bond film. Once one of the astronauts gets captured and imprisoned with a curious inventor who accidentally created an alarm system coincidentally set at the exact frequency that disrupts the mind link still in his pocket, the film quickly comes to a resolution. One interesting detail is how the Xiliens use an actual 24-hour clock instead of a 12-hour clock. Also, Godzilla performing the shie victory dance is a bit unexpected. The budget wasn't enough for Mothra to make an appearance.
- 4/10 Monster Zero: With so many different variants out there, it can be hard to pinpoint this 1970 American version. The title was also listed as Godzilla vs Monster Zero. This is a reference to how the Xiliens number the monsters as King Ghidorah as Monster Zero and Godzilla & Rodan as Monster Zero One and Monster Zero Two. The introductory music was changed from the monster march to the mysterious planet theme. What most people recommend is watching whatever version has the original Nick Adams English voice for Glenn over Goro Naya. Adding an American actor was Henry G. Saperstein's idea for the film to help market it in the United States.
3/10 Godzilla vs Gigan (12th Film): This 1972 film was their attempt on bringing back the fan-favorite of King Ghidorah while also adding a flashier space monster by the name of Gigan. The plot gets pretty crazy when you discover alien cockroaches, using images of dead people, are the only survivors with a similarly background history to Earth from their planet M Space Hunter Nebula. While it isn't quite clear what these "action signal tapes" are, playing one of them calls forth the space monsters and the second stolen one gets the attention of Godzilla and Anguirus. The rest of their schemes get rather ridiculous. They hide in the development of World Children's Land with their home base equipped with a giant laser inside Godzilla Tower. They hire a concept artist for the park that draws up a couple of the weirdest monsters: Shukra the Homework Monster and Mamagon the Strict-Mom Monster. A team of Scooby-doo investigators discover what is really going on and sends crates of TNT up the elevator to blow up their operation. Meanwhile, the monsters tag-team against each other in a giant wrestling pit. In the international version of Godzilla on Monster Island, they removed the speech bubbles for actual dialogue and the blood scenes to maintain a G-Rating. Then there's that weird song that plays at the end when the monsters swim back to Monster Island.
- 2/10 Godzilla vs Megalon (13th Film): The developmental history of this 1973 film is way more interesting than the film itself. Because of failing to make a proper copyright print on the English VHS version, the movie was accidentally marked to have entered public domain and reviewed by Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1991. Unfortunately, even they were unable to improve the quality of the film. It was a project built to cover over another cancelled film Godzilla vs Red Moon. There was no time to develop anything within the six months of production time from start to finish beyond a generic story and three weeks to shoot. They snuck in footage from previous films for exposition. The monster Megalon is actually a scrapped idea of a giant mole cricket called Gebara in All Monsters Attack and was quite difficult to have the strings hold him up since it was one of the heaviest costumes they ever made. Most of the film covers a robot by the name of Jet Jaguar that turns sentient and suddenly grows huge like some Power Rangers monster. The history of this mysterious robot originated from a children's contest, adapted for a scrapped script, renamed several times, made purposely uglier to set it apart from Ultraman, and modified so much that the kid was upset to see it no longer resembled his drawing. There are just so many odd things included the film from a convenient "rocket" that shoots out like 50 foot of rope to the Seatopians asking for the aliens in the previous film to send Gigan. A large portion is dedicated so much to cars chasing each other that I questioned whether it was the right movie. Though, the most memorable scenes have to be when Godzilla performs a dropkick twice and the Jet Jaguar Theme Song playing at the end.
4/10 Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (18th Film): Within this particular timeline, Godzilla has only battled against Biollante and in a weakened state. The producer felt that the previous film did poorly because people were more interested in the concept of time travel with the release of Back to the Future II that same year. They even made a homage to Spielberg when one of the officers says after seeing the spacecraft fly to the island that he can write about little green men. In response, this 1991 film develops a story of Futurians who want to go back in time to prevent Godzilla from ever being created. They investigate a finished book that a writer is in the process of making that expands on his research of Japanese fighters seeing a dinosaur (coined Godzillasaurus outside the film) that mutates after the Americans send nuclear bombs at Bikini Island (they really did use that location as a test site for years during that time period). After moving the dinosaur into the sea, they secretly leave three of their man-made pets Dorats on the island that later mutate and fuse together after the hydrogen bomb test in 1954 to make King Ghidorah. Back in the present day, they use their device to have their new monster attack until Japan agrees to surrender. Ironically, Godzilla still mutates bigger and stronger this time with the waste poured out from a submarine, still defeats King Ghidorah like originally predicted in the beginning of the film, but still fulfills their goal in destroying Japan. In doesn't do any good trying to wrap your head around why the villains made their presence known, invited their enemies to hitch a ride with them to the past, or never attempted a variety of other methods with their time machine. Eventually, one of the girls reprograms the android that can skate across the jungle and city at ridiculous speeds to assist in ruining every single one of their plans and even pilots a newly created Mecha-King Ghidorah to bring Godzilla down.
7/10 Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (25th Film): This 2001 modern adaptation diverts heavily away from the original films. However, there are plenty of homages from mentioning how Godzilla was destroyed by a scientist 50 years ago, the questionable attacks in New York, and the two girls cameo when Mothra flies overhead. The script underwent many different initial concepts from discussing what type of monsters should be in the film to having them fight against an astronaut that got turned into a monster. The kaiju that were included were greatly modified both in shape and the extent of their power. The story dives deep into the mythology of three Guardian Monsters that were hidden away. In the beginning of the film, there are several misleading scenes of retribution from an unknown creature towards rebellious youngsters smashing shrines, raiding stores, and other notorious acts. You'll see an image of an old man long gone who wakes up the guardians to fight against Godzilla. Baragon appears first on land but gets eviscerated by Godzilla's breath. This gives Mothra some time to hatch out of a cocoon and Ghidorah to break out of the ice. Meanwhile, the military takes their time waiting on confirmation of the monsters, deliberation from the cabinet, and attend meetings to decide on a plan of action. These monsters are so new to the people that they initially call one "Red Godzilla" until they decide on some names. Once Mothra falls in battle, the living essence transfers to Ghidorah for another fight underwater. The commander takes the remaining research submariner, goes inside Godzilla, and launches a drill missile into his side. The movie does a fantastic job showing what the monsters look like from a person's perspective and showing how hundreds of individuals are killed from their fight. It reverses the typical monster roles by having Godzilla made as the bad guy and King Ghidorah as Earth's defender.
- 5/10 Frankenstein vs Baragon: This 1965 film does a peculiar Japanese spin on the story of Frankenstein's monster. What would happen if Frankenstein's heart could never die, continuously grow, and highly resistant to radiation? You get a small waif (homeless boy) who kills animals for food and gets found by a pair of scientists. They do a series of experiments until he grows so large and escapes his cage. While the handy Nick Adams does play the star role, the script of Frankenstein battling Godzilla was kicked around for so long that they eventually created a brand new monster: Baragon. This monster is never named in the film and the American title Frankenstein Conquers the World excludes it entirely. In an alternate draft, they were going to have him fight a giant octopus. So, it is rather unusual to see this monster make an appearance in a film almost entirely focused on the parallel account of the original Frankenstein novel with people debating whether it is ethical to kill him or not. The giant human does defeat the burrowing creature in the end and winds up falling down a giant pit in the forest. Other than a tank that stumbles across a trap meant for a boar and the scientists using some special grenades, there is very little military involvement in this film.
8/10 Godzilla: King of Monsters (MonsterVerse): This 2019 film is perhaps the best representation of a monster movie. They do everything they can to make hundreds of references to the old films from the military using an Oxygen Destroyer to making King Ghidorah a monster from outer space. Even the music is beautifully redone and timed just right for each monster's introduction. They show the Monarch organization capable of establishing bunkers across the globe in charge of researching each individual Titan. If you look closely, the number on the outposts correspond with year each of the monster films released. They have skeleton blueprints, codenames, and locations for each one of them. The movie extends the lore by providing proper translations of some of the monster names and the theory of their origins beginning inside the hollow part of the planet. The military has Castle Bravo and USS Argo to organize a competent fleet that actually contributes in the fights. Each monster is gloriously catered and the battles are carefully choreographed. Watching Mothra, Rodan, Godzilla, and King Ghidorah have set matches with each other are the best I've ever seen. The biggest problem with the film is the human element. Kyle Candler moping around from 2005 King Kong and Millie Bobby Brown swearing a lot from Stranger Things can't hold the movie together. Even Bradley Whitford's sense of humor can get annoying at times. There is some metaphorical nonsense of watching a dysfunctional family deal with a loss by "creating a monster" and then only making it better through self-sacrifice. A woman develops ORCA that makes creatures aware of your presence by transmitting a frequency through sonar. She coordinates with a team of terriorists to release Monster Zero, the most important Titan as the only other alpha that can control the monsters (other than Godzilla and Mothra), instead of slowly releasing the more than dozen under surveillance at the outposts. I'm not really sure who is really in charge at this point. The military sends in a bomb that "kills" Godzilla but not King Ghidorah during the battle. The humans later develop a plan to release a nuke in the undersea temple to revive Godzilla's fighting spirit. Mothra barely manages to fight off Rodan and decides to transfer her essence into Godzilla (something that was ironically role reversed in All Out Attack). Godzilla's burning phase finally brings King Ghidorah down in the end. The credits reveal that "all is well" with deserted areas somehow being restored by radiation, a new Mothra egg is found, there is an investigation in Skull Island, and the terrorists get their hands on one of King Ghidorah's heads ripped off by Godzilla. The movie runs a lengthy 132 minutes compared to the 96 minutes the first film had.
Mechagodzilla
4/10 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (14th Film): This 1974 film does a decent job balancing the introduction of two completely opposite types of monsters. There is an extended amount of time revolved around a statue and a mysterious prophecy about two monsters fighting one. A group of investigators take the statue to their lab to translate the hieroglyphs only to realize that it needs to be placed at the castle to summon their guardian King Caesar. An alien race of apes that appear human until wounded from Black Hole Planet 3 send Agent R-1 to steal the statue but fail when members of Interpol intercept. Meanwhile, there is an entirely other section of the film dedicated to a new mean Godzilla attacking Japan. If the annoying screech doesn't make you immediately wonder what is wrong with this one, the sudden appearance of another Godzilla looking for a fight will. After a brutal match that causes both monsters to retreat, the aliens make the necessary repairs with a few improvements before sending him out again. A couple of smart plays in the film is how the protagonist secretly switches out the statue with a fake and how they notice how the car is rigged to explode before starting it. However, there are a couple of odd scene choices with how they implanted a recording onto the shot instead of organically playing them on the screen, the amount of blood squirting out of wounds is a bit excessive, and the idea of Godzilla becoming a monster magnet that pulls Mechagodzilla is a bit far-fetched. Amusingly, the English title Godzilla vs the Bionic Monster had to be renamed after being sued by The Bionic Woman to Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster.
- 3/10 Terror of Mechagodzilla (15th Film): This 1975 film is a direct sequel of the events of the previous film. There is a quick rehash of footage during the beginning credits. After Ocean Development Lab is unable to detect any space titanium from where Mechagodzilla fell in the ocean, Titanosauros creates a whirlpool and destroys the submarine. There is a very complex story around the scientist who originally discovers this sea creature, secretly builds a way to control him, and has her daughter undergo cybernetic surgery. Commander Mugar rebuilds Mechagodzilla 2 and implants the control device directly into the girl. They build a supersonic wave transmitter to counter Titanosauros and the lost of the cyborg leaves Mechagodzilla completely vulnerable. There are some incredibly large models of entire subdivisions uprooted by the robot's rotational missiles. There is a surprisingly amount of questionable content from seeing long scars on a man's neck showing where his vocal chords were ripped out, a realistic plastic mannequin with the woman's breasts shown during surgery, aliens being whipped by their commander, a man's rubber face being ripped off of one man, and a woman shooting herself. Several scenes of violence and nudity are only present in the Japanese and VHS versions.
6/10 Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (20th Film): This 1993 film introduces a lot of characters. First, they salvage Mecha-King Ghidorah and reverse engineer the advanced technology left behind from the time traveler in the previous film Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. They brief their G-Force team on the full details of how to fight Godzilla through training videos, how to fly the Garuda-1 through simulations, and how to pilot Mechagodzilla. Meanwhile, a group discovers a curious egg and stumbles into an awesome fight between Rodan and Godzilla. The way that blast appears from underwater is pretty neat too. A little later, they send Mechagodzilla to fight and seemed to do pretty good until his systems short circuit from electrical feedback. Godzilla essentially pushes it over and deems it unworthy of his time. Although the pterenadon and the egg respond to the power of the song, a Baby Godzilla hatches. By examining this small creature, they learn Godzilla has a second brain near his hips and come up with the G-Crusher Plan. Everything in this movie has official names and formations, including Super Mechagodzilla Formation when the plane attaches to the back of their giant robot. Even the computer in the background will tell you what mode your vessel is currently in. There is very little concern when it comes to property damage and there aren't many scenes of people trying to flee for their lives. After a long second fight and you think Godzilla is finally dead, Rodan comes back from the dead to the song "Baby" hears and... transfers his life force to revive Godzilla? After an energy storm appears that melts the armor plating of Mechagodzilla and a couple of blasts from Godzilla knocks his opponent out of commission, the two lizards finally get together and walk out to the ocean. The reason why the movie seems to deviate from a single theme is because of internal conflicts while producing the film. They wanted to honor Ishirō Honda's passing by having Godzilla die in one last film, but later had to arrange a sequence of alternate endings to continue the series. Despite the technical expertise in developing mecha contraptions and the objections made by the director, there was a push to appeal to the female audience by reintroducing Minilla as a new form of baby Godzilla. One interesting fact about this movie is that the English version matches the pronunciation of the Japanese version by saying Radon, instead of Rodan.
6/10 Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (26th Film): This 2002 reboot really wants the audience to connect with a female protagonist as she tries to fight off Godzilla. You'll first see her in one of those fancy military crafts they built to fight monsters over the years. The Defense Force decides to use one of their projects for rejuvenating a half-robot trilobyte into the skeleton of the original 1954 Godzilla (which has been remastered with a new animated Godzilla screaming before losing his flesh). Despite the little girl referencing the new machine as mechagodzilla, the new codename is Kiryu. In addition, there are three White Herons that fly with the machine. Unfortunately, Mechagodzilla I mean Kiryu with the DNA inside his bones decides to do what Godzilla would normally by attacking the city after hearing a single roar from the real deal. The military's only choice is to wait until it runs out of its two-hour energy battery. While they take it in for repairs, there is an entire "no storm in a teacup" situation when she talks to a little girl with some sleeping grass (that moves when you touch it) that represents the death of her pregnant mother. There's also quite a bit of political debate when people ask how they will be taxed for the new military weapon, who is responsible for the disasters, and the respect shown for chain of command. They decide to send Kiryu in again and shoot the Absolute Zero Gun multiple times. When the robot is out of power, they decide to microwave by shutting down Tokyo's power grid and rerouting the power through their old toys. While they might not have been able to permanently freeze Godzilla in that pillar of ice out in the ocean, they did manage to "expel" him. Make sure to stick around at the after credits scene for that special dinner invite. As a fun fact: they included a short scene of baseball star Hideki Matsui as a cameo of himself due to his nickname "Godzilla".
- 6/10 Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (27th Film): This 2003 sequel extends the events from the previous film quite a bit by continuing to show the repercussions of using Godzilla's bones as a foundation for their new toy (Japanese keeps the Kiryu name while the English version translates as Mechagodzilla). Since there isn't enough funding to create another synthetic diamond large enough to repair the Absolute Zero Cannon, they load up a new Hyper Maser into its chest instead. Meanwhile, they manage to modernize the 1964 Mothra vs Godzilla movie by reprising one of the original actors from the film 45 years ago. What's surprising is the director found all four story outlines Toho had
originally commissioned boring and wrote a completely new story overnight. The new design and animations of Mothra are really nice. I found the kid's idea to go outside and line up all the desks in the same symbol used to calm Mothra down in the original film to be a rather interesting concept. Like the previous film, two Mothra larvae hatch out of the egg and wrap Godzilla in their silk after Mothra literally goes out in a blaze of glory defending them from his breath. I love how they made the missiles launch towards Godzilla from multiple angles and around a large building. There is a funny line of dialogue where the group is somewhat relieved to know that the battle will take place over the city left in shambles from the previous film. During the finale, there are some interesting scenes with a mechanic discussing what needs to be repaired inside Mechagodzilla with the rest of the crew. Once back online, Mechagodzilla grabs hold of the now immobilzed Godzilla and takes both of them out to sea.
- 2/10 Space Amoeba: Very briefly during Tokyo S.O.S., a Kamoebas is seen washed-up on the beach. This and how stock footage referencing different types of monsters is sometimes used for a few seconds is why this 1970 film is added to the list. The pressure to minimize the budget for the script was so great that it reduced a story of space monsters attacking Earth to a series of creatures suddenly growing large on a small island. Steps were taken to rush the production and to reduce the power of labor unions. Certain animations were painted on, dolls were used for human scaling, synthesizers used for the first time in the score, and poor overlays were a few more noticeable things in the film. In addition to the mata mata (turtle), Gezora the cuttlefish and Ganimes the stone crabs are the monsters presented on Selgio Island. The American version was released as Yog: Monster From Space since it is the highly-developed presence that hitches a ride on the Helios-7 back to Earth and possesses a human to tell its story. People realize that the monster's freezing touch makes them weak to heat and bats, as well as porpoises, disrupt their presence with their ultrasonic frequencies. I still don't understand how a girl suddenly shows up, claims to be the lover of this man who can barely speak or react at all from the shock of the monster, suddenly decide to marry him, and the entire tribe deciding at that every moment after defeating the monster to make the preparations. Thankfully, there were enough bats not killed by the space man to confuse the two leftover monsters to fight over a volcano right before it erupts.
Several Monsters At Once
- 5/10 Astragon: Not many would know that this 1963 film actually has a kaiju in it. The story revolves around the Mu Empire at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, not to be confused with Atlantis at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. One day they suddenly feel like they can rule the world just because they have the power of the sun and conduct energy through their bodies. They use an abandoned A-403 submarine to cause mayhem that's so powerful that no other one is able to catch it. They warn the people of the world that they will be destroyed unless they surrender... and for some reason explicitly mentions stopping the production of the Astragon submarine, code-named Gotengo. There's a bit of odd espionage when the very suspicious-looking man turns out to be an agent to the empire and one of the men somehow manages to smuggle special dynamite in with him inside the jail cell. Once the captain pulls out the submarine, nothing stops him. Manda wraps around the submarine but gets shocked by the high tension current and the Cold Air Cannon with a temperature of absolute zero freezes him to the rock. The entire battle with the mammoth serpent lasts less than 15 minutes. Did I mention that the submarine can fly and also has a giant drill attached? The queen then fruitlessly swims out to the explosion when she sees her empire being destroyed.
- 2/10 King Kong Escapes: The only reason this 1967 film makes it into the list is because King Kong fights Gorosaurus (which is only named in later movies) and a water serpent. There are some outrageous plot points as it attempts to replicate a live-action version of the animated King Kong Show filled with spies and a mad scientist by the name of Dr. Who. A woman funds his work in an attempt to pull some untapped Element X out of North Pole to get ahead in the atomic race. This leads to a sequence of events: he builds a mechanized King Kong but it short circuits, he steals and hypnotizes the real King Kong but loses his control, he tries persuade the adored woman to convince the beast to continue digging, and finally has the robot do battle with the ape in Tokyo. Context in the voice work, setting, and plot are lost without knowing more of the original source material.
8/10 Godzilla: Final Wars (28th Film): I have no idea where to begin with this 2004 film. I felt rather old as the new sleek designs of everything in this 50th anniversary of the franchise and celebration for Godzilla's entry to the Hollywood Walk of Fame distinguishes it from anything released beforehand. The soundtrack is filled with hip new songs and there was a Sum 41 song We're All to Blame during the battle of Godzilla versus the only non-Japanese monster Zilla (Patrick Tatopoulos version from the 1998 film he was honored to see die rather quickly as long as it was part of the movie). If you can get by the flashy introduction of how Godzilla is buried in ice and the leading title sequence, you'll soon realize the overwhelming presence of how cool everyone wants to be running up walls, wearing leather jackets, moving motorcycles like weapons, and stopping bullets like the Matrix film that released in 1999. To squeeze in all the references, each kaiju is upgraded with a new costume, new abilities, and moves much quicker than their debut films. You'll see a remade battle between Gotengo and Manda from the Astragon film. There are a few new slick ships made entirely out of chrome like the Eclair and Karyu. There's a band of mutants from Organization M who will take down Ebirah. There are plenty of American impressions from Captain Gordon and other stereotypes when in New York. The girls from Infant Island make an appearance and a mini-adventure with Minilla will periodically interrupt the action until he stops Godzilla in the end similarly to baby Godzilla in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II. Other vague monsters are only shown in the beginning narration like Gezora from Space Amoeba. There's Gigan and his "upgraded" version with chainsaw hands. You'll get to see "Keizer" Ghidorah and his early Monster X version. The revised version of the Xiliens combines their introduction of the two space monsters in Invasion of Astro-Monster and the way they control everything with M-Base kind of like the Kilaaks from Destroy All Monsters. They add to the story by having them (1) discretly replace some humans, (2) have them discovered through multiple avenues: they don't blink, they don't have human blood, they don't know the personal preferences of the humans they replace, (3) have a feud among the ranks when the older one wants a peaceful option and the younger one wants to show power, (4) seek out to use the human race as "cattle" for their mitochondria to survive, and (5) adds a new "keizer" race with both mutant and human DNA that provides them further abilities like a Super Saiyan from Dragonball Z. The movie is the longest running Japanese Godzilla film clocking at 125 minutes.
6/10 Godzilla Singular Point (Anime): The 2021 series is beautifully rendered but the technical overload of information sometimes made my brain explode. They try to introduce these highly sophisticated concepts slowly throughout the series like Ashihara Cascade effect, Archetypes that exist in five dimensions, a Singular Point that creates a sort of paradox, Super Dimension Calculator that determines things that happen in the future, Orthogonal Diagonalizer that converts the dimensional red dust into something that exists, and the Catastrophe that ends everything. I don't even know if I got half of those right. There is an art form with how they narrate events through media, locations, and even through text messages. The monsters are completely redesigned with a style that clashes with the world around them. Jet Jaguar makes an appearance out of Godzilla vs Megalon that evolves through a series of forms: first controlled by someone inside the chassis, remote control, and then used by an AI. Rodan is reduced to a small pterodactyl that attacks in swarms like bees. Anguirus is slightly larger than a bear and gets defeated by Jet Jaguar even though he had the ability to reflect bullets. One of his thorns becomes a spear that gets used against a hive of spiders with some blue regenerative ooze that keeps them going. A group of Manda take to the seas while Godzilla evolves over a period of episodes. Meanwhile, a very intelligent girl who uses an AI shaped like a digital dog tries to evaluate the hidden message left behind through the SHIVA Consortium. I like how the girl eludes to the latest Godzilla movie by suggesting minus one be the number sent through time. The ending has Jet Jaguar finally realize that he was designed to stop Godzilla. There is a small teaser at the end regarding Mechagodzilla but there is no confirmation of a second season.
- 2/10 All Monsters Attack (10th Film): This 1969 film was another attempt at attracting the younger audience for the entire story revolves around latchkey kid (someone with parents who aren't usually at home). He daydreams of talking with Godzilla's son Minilla on Monster Island and watch monsters do battle. A lot of the film is the boy watching old footage pulled from previous films like Son of Godzilla and Ebirah. There are a few shots of various monsters from other films as well. Since he is bullied by the other kids, he imagines another monster by the name of Gabara. There is a subplot of the police chasing a couple of buffoons who stole a large sum of cash and a fun Toy Maker the kid befriends. I personally like the small reference to Frankenstein's hand in his shop. There's also some really unusual stop-frame action when the kid faces his bully at the end of the film.
5/10 Godzilla vs Hedorah (11th Film): This 1971 film is very hard to describe when there are scenes of psychological horror,
animated clips made for kids, shots of various galaxies from outer
space, and things that make you feel like you just took some
psychedelics. I'm not sure whether to laugh or to be terrified. Both the
Japanese and English versions are pretty well-done as you hear their
theme song "Return the Sun" or Save the Earth
played a few times throughout. Some parts are childlike as you see a
kid play with some Godzilla figures and a scene shows him riding a
roller coaster. I'm not sure what kind of parent would hand him a knife
big enough to require a holster. There are sections of the film where
they try to be hip and cool for teenagers by including a dance club, a
bunch of televisions with random things all happening at once, a crazy
moment where the young one hallucinates everybody having a head as a
fish, and some weird protest party around a campfire. The choice of
sounds are all over the place with a snazzy saxophone, flute, horns, and
a jaw harp.
There are some rapid light flashing and a few flashbacks of previous
scenes when things are being explained. Honestly, a part of me felt like
it was a very dramatic public service announcement about pollution when
you see the monster getting bigger after inhaling the smog coming out
of factories, a cat cover in sludge, faces slowly mutate with ugly
bulges, full-scale bodies chopped up, and skeletal remains. Once the kid
mentions "Hedorah is only sludge, we could dry him out" then a plan is
put into motion by the scientist. Although the experiment is put into
place by the military, it fails multiple times. Godzilla reluctantly
(with some gestures and a visible eye roll) ignites the plates, does the
most ridiculous thing by launching himself backwards with his breath
to catch up with the monster that can transform into flight mode
instantly, and bring him back to fry him again. While there were
multiple attempts in creating a sequel, the producer was never given the
right circumstances to make one.
5/10 Godzilla vs Biollante (17th Film): There are multiple facets interwoven in this film that come from an interesting history in the development process. I'm going to try and break down them one at a time. (1) There are several different factions that are interested in obtaining Godzilla's remains and research. Perhaps the reason why we see so many is because of the producer's desire in making a James Bond movie over a Godzilla one. Their involvement causes an explosion in the volcano that releases Godzilla and the death of the main scientist. (2) While its predecessor Return of Godzilla isn't required to watch this one, they improve on their hovercraft Super X2 by now controlling it remotely and equipping a synthetic diamond mirror that can repel Godzilla's breath. It does well in the field but the mirror couldn't withstand consecutive blasts and was ultimately sacrificed to move Godzilla into position. (3) A real life contest was held to determine the new monster in this film. To support the winner's story, a scientist who lost her daughter decides to slice Godzilla's cell with that of one of her plants. The monster fights Godzilla on a couple of occasions but is entirely outmatched by Godzilla's breath. (4) The introduction of psychics further builds the movie by teasing that Godzilla will return, alerting on his whereabouts, having a mental battle out in the ocean, and revealing that the scientist's daughter is somehow present in the new monster creation. (5) The primary goal of defeating Godzilla was ultimately dependent on forming a new bacteria that feeds on nuclear waste. They used a bazooka team inside the tall buildings that successfully insert three capsules into Godzilla: two by drills and one directly into his mouth. When the bacteria wasn't working straight away, the team realized that they needed heat and used a M-6000 TC system built with 100 generators and various mine field pressure points in a field. Other things noted is how terrible the English dialogue was, how the movie was the first of its kind to introduce CGI with 3D images, and the music most-definitely comes from a different time period.
5/10 Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla (21st Film): The theory how this version of Godzilla forms behind this 1994 film
is rather hard to believe. Somehow from previous films, his cells were
shot into space and birth this monstrosity when it went through a black
hole. However, the idea that he channels energy through these giant crystals on his back
is really cool to watch as white shards pierce through the ground and
slice up the landscape. Since Mechagodzilla can no longer be used, the
military comes up with M-Project with a giant robot called Mobile Operation Godzilla Expert Robot Aero-type (MOGERA) that shoots out Star Falcon and a land module. They also establish T-Project
using a psychic's telepathy to mind control Godzilla. If that wasn't
enough, they also rehash the Baby Godzilla concept from the previous
film with a new costume now called Little Godzilla. After a fairy
mothra appears in front of a psychic, two Cosmos girls appear to warn
of the coming disaster. They fail to sync with Godzilla and the hunter
on the island also fails when using his "Yuki Special" Blood Coagulation Bullets.
Much of the movie's runtime consists of the two Godzillas fighting each
other. There is a couple seconds of a man's bare bottom shown as he
showers outside near the beginning of the film.
- 2/10 The Mysterians: If the design of MOGERA looked a little weird, that's because the concept was pulled from this 1957 film. There are no kaiju present but it was one they produced right after Godzilla and Rodan. After investigating why there have been fires and landslides, people discover the ground has become radioactive. A giant robot so poorly designed that it looked like a kid wearing a series of cardboard boxes rampages through the area. The military sends everything from tanks to even men with flamethrowers. They ultimately defeat the robot by blowing up the bridge. These Mysterians who come from a Mysteriod somewhere between Mars and Saturn invite a cast of important members to attend a meeting with them. They speak in such a manner that puts all the blame on the humans. Amusingly, the scene afterwards has the Japanese essentially say, "Do they think we are idiots? They ask for land but they have already taken it. They say they are unstoppable but we destroyed their robot. And what was that part about taking our women?" The rest of the movie is a race on construction. After their two ships (that look like giant missiles) fail to take down the sphere base, the humans build an Electron Cannon and Markalite Unit. But the whole base is honestly taken down by a single random guy who enters through the back door to rescue the girls while another shoots down everything shiny.
3/10 Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (22nd Film): This 1995 film was designed as a farewell to the Godzilla series. The mighty nuclear disaster has gotten himself in a situation where his body is having a meltdown and the military is trying their best to make sure to cool it down with CryoMasers and Super X3 filled with cadnium missiles and cryogenic lasers. The little guy we've seen in the previous films has grown up to be Godzilla Junior. The story revolves around this new critter that grows out of the effects of the Oxygen Destroyer used to destroy the first Godzilla (there are even clips shown from the original film). These things are first really tiny and seen destroying fish at an aquarium. They grow to the size of a human and ravage a full battalion of police officers inside a building like some sort of cross between Alien and Predator. They use everything in their arsenal including guns, flamethrower, and rocket launcher. These things "merge" to become one giant monster and fights both Godzillas. Their design is decent but the way it moves around isn't that appealing. Godzilla kills it and revives Godzilla Junior before he dies.
5/10 Godzilla 2000 (23rd Film): To see Godzilla appear with a new design after being killed off in the previous (Japanese) film is pretty nice. There are some very nice shots of the military attempting to use their new concrete-piercing missiles and bring out an armada of tanks taking coordinated shots at the monster. There are two groups that are constantly feuding with each other: Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI) that has the big guns meant to destroy and the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) consisting of a father, daughter, and newly acquired reporter that record his movements. For the vast majority of the film, there will be a lot of curiosity dedicated to a rock that floats to the surface, stands upright, breaks apart, uses tentacles only seen through infrared to download data, and replicates the Regenerator G-1 (or Organizer G1 in Japanese). When the attempts to detonate the spaceship fail, Orga the Millennian (the name that is splashed on the computer screen) appears to fight Godzilla. Even though he has regenerative abilities and absorbs Godzilla's essence, a fire blast down his throat is enough to make sure he doesn't come back. The computer graphics have not aged well with many shots like the alien's initial form to be entirely awkward compared to using actual models. There's also a couple of weird moments like how the head of the company doesn't simply wait a few more minutes for his friend to exit the building or how he chooses to face down Godzilla with a smoke from his cigarette before falling to his doom.
5/10 Godzilla vs Megaguirus (24th Film): There seems to be a common new theme in these new monsters with the ability to evolve and absorb Godzilla's essence. The 2000 film shows footage from the 1954 film with the new Godzilla model and explains that his absence all these years are due to the replacement of nuclear power plants with cleaner forms of energy. In the meantime, they establish the Search-Godzilla System (SGS), the G-Grasper team that pilots the Fighter Griffon, and builds a Dimension Tide device that shoots a black hole from outer space. If the navy recruitment video vibes aren't enough, they bring along a smart fellow that has his personal micro-bots, a miniature underwater remote control vessel, a tracking device bullet, and a customized operating system with its own AI assistant. As cool as it was to see a black hole absorb a large building, their test creates a space-time distortion that invites a dragonfly from the Carboniferous period to lay a giant egg. What happens next is pretty hard to believe: a kid carries the egg to their new home in a box and throws it down the sewers. That egg was actually an accumulation of hundreds of smaller eggs that all hatch into Meganulons when the city floods and eventually evolve into Meganula. They have one fantastic shot of the little ship coasting underneath the water's surface down a replica of the flooded city. The team approaches the site in a small boat loaded with TNT in an attempt to destroy the eggs but soon realize they are too late as there are hundreds already hatching out of their larvae form on the side of one of the buildings. If you hate bugs, watching a giant swarm of them attack and absorb energy from Godzilla might be difficult. They transfer this energy to their queen Megaguirus and have one final monster showdown. In the end, the truth of a secret plasma energy project getting Godzilla's attention is revealed and the black hole gun fails to wipe him out for the second time.