Godzilla Month

Final Thoughts and a List

2009-07-31T23:31:00.004-04:00

So it's finally over.

All Godzilla movies (well, minus two, but one of those I'd seen before) watched and recorded. Honestly, had I not started this blog, I wouldn't have kept it up. It was an interesting exercise and one I plan to continue. Writing every day felt good. I was very rusty in that department, so it was nice to get some words out every day even if they were just about a monster movie.

The movies themselves were interesting as well, ranging from all time favorites to stuff I never want to see again. I had forgotten how good some of them were ("Destoroyah" was a revelation, "Gigan" was surprisingly fun) and overall they're pretty good. The whole project satisfied my thirst to see some of these movies again and opened my eyes to other classics I'd forgotten about. It's much easier to recommend Godzilla movies now to people with them fresh in my mind. If I do forget, this blog is here to remind me. I'm quite proud of the blog, actually.

I also am totally unaware of how many people are actually reading this, but some of them have spoken up and told me of their enjoyment of what I was doing, which was fantastic motivation to keep it up. So for any of my readers, both known and unknown, I thank you since you're the reason I kept it up.

Lastly, I want to leave you all with a list of my personal picks of Best and Worst Godzilla movies. It's ranked in that order, best at the top, worst at the bottom. It's totally subjective to my own viewings however so it's far from definitive. It's just a helpful suggestion from a fan.

Thanks for reading. :)

1. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
2. Mothra vs. Godzilla
3. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
4. Gojira
5. Godzilla vs. Mothra: The Battle for Earth
6. Godzilla vs. Gigan
7. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
8. Godzilla Tokyo SOS
9. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
10. Invasion of Astro-Monster
11. Godzilla Final Wars
12. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
13. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2
14. Godzilla Raids Again
15. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
16. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
17. Godzilla vs. Biollante
18. Godzilla vs. Sea Monster
19. Destroy All Monsters
20. Terror of Mechagodzilla
21. Godzilla 2000
22. Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla
23. King Kong vs. Godzilla
24. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
25. Son of Godzilla
26. All Monsters Attack

"Return of Godzilla" and "Godzilla vs. Megalon" are unranked due to me not being able to see them during the month.

Also, for future updates to anything I may do and to see what I'm eating for lunch, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/soedoica.

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

2009-07-30T21:54:00.003-04:00

Godzilla's anniversary is marked with a new director, but the resulting film, while being ultimately entertaining, is flawed and not the best way for Godzilla to go into "retirement".

The first thing you notice about this movie is its unique hyperkinetic style and that is due to director Ryuhei Kitamura, known most famously prior to this movie for "Versus". That movie was a heavily stylized martial arts action movie about zombies in the forest. While the zombies don't make the transition, the stylized action does. He does this in the form of the Earth Defense Force, a group composed of people who protect the Earth from all the monsters that roam it. While I don't necessarily hate the plot point, there ends up being almost too much emphasis on the humans, especially when this movie is supposed to be a big celebration/all out fight between monsters. Most of the monsters show up in the beginning, disappear for a long stretch of time and then show up in the climax. Also, Godzilla himself is missing for most of the first half. For a movie with Godzilla in the title, his presence is sorely missed for most of it. Once he does appear in a fantastic "hero" moment however, it's very welcome.

The overall plot, about aliens trying to take over the world, is as old to Godzilla as the monster himself. I can't be harsh on it when several movies in the franchise have already used it to decent effect, and since it actually hasn't been done in a while, it works. And mixed with the over-the-top action, it's actually entertaining. However, as said before, it puts a lot of the focus on the human story, which isn't why anyone watches these movies, especially one with this kind of billing. It does keep one's interest, it just doesn't stand out. And as Godzilla's swan song (for the moment), I had higher expectations for a more memorable plot and characters.

Despite this, when Kitamura does focus on the monster action, it's very well done. These monsters have never moved with this much grace and speed. The intro to all the monsters showing up, which happens in the first half hour, is basically nothing but one giant spectacular action sequence, and done well, if a bit over the top. The other problem is that nearly every fight is incredibly short and ultimately underwhelming. I'll admit it's a little weird seeing these monsters move so fast (both literally and figuratively), but as I said with my "GMK" impressions, this is only the second time they've hired a director to do what he does best rather than conform to a "Godzilla template". So it comes with Kitamura's territory. In the end, I like it, although I am glad it's only for this film. It would tire very quickly if this was the way every Godzilla movie was.

On the topic of monsters, this movie is marketed as a celebration of Godzilla's 50th anniversary and as such, there's tons and tons of monsters, more than any other Godzilla movie since "Destroy All Monsters". Even Zilla, the American Godzilla, makes an appearance (he is humorously dispatched by the "real" Godzilla in less than a minute). In that sense, if you have a favorite by this point, it's nearly guaranteed that it'll show up in some fashion in this movie. All my favorites (Ghidorah in a new form, Gigan in a fantastic redesign and Mothra) are all here so I'm happy.

The only monster action sequence work discussing is the final one, between Monster X, a second Gigan, Mothra and Godzilla. It mainly works because the pace of this scene slows the movie down considerably to great effect. You actually get time to enjoy what you're watching, rather than it being a fast moving scene that moves to the next one before you can blink. It intercuts with a human action sequence that's also entertaining, if not nearly as compelling. Monster X's transformation into Keizer Ghidorah, personally, is a highlight and his presence makes most of the flaws in the movie tolerable.

Also, who's idea was it to cast Don Frye in a major role?

Ultimately, while Kitamura's intentions may have been sound and what he does well succeeds, his focus on the human part of this story weakens it and it leaves the Godzilla franchise on a sour note. With Godzilla currently on "retirement" for the foreseeable future, having this interesting yet flawed movie be his swan song isn't the best way to go out. Hopefully, whenever he returns, the movies will reach the levels of "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah", "Mothra vs. Godzilla" and even "GMK".

Trailer (yes, that is Sum 41 playing over the opening):

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)

2009-07-29T22:59:00.002-04:00

Mothra returns, looking better than ever, in the first sequel in the Millennium series in a pretty solid and entertaining movie.

This movie is unique in the Millennium series in that it's a direct sequel to the previous film. The others in the series so far are basically considered sequels to the original 1954 movie, but this one takes place after the events of "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla". It seems to acknowledge Mothra existing as well, so I guess it's just selectively picking Showa series movies to reference. The plot isn't as simple as the previous movie either, which actually detracts, but only slightly. Part of "Against Mechagodzilla"'s appeal is how simple it was. By "complicating" it with Mothra's presence, it takes away some of the base appeal of the previous film. This movie remains solidly entertaining however, despite plot issues.

This being a Mothra movie, I seem to have higher expectations for it, since movies starring her have always been of a higher quality. The main problem is that Mothra is not the main antagonist like in the Showa and Heisei series. Here she's paired with Mechagodzilla and it lessens her impact and her character. The best Mothra movies are the ones where it's just her and Godzilla and this is not one of them. But to be fair, those movies are a very high bar to reach so it's understandable that this movie doesn't reach the heights of some of the best Godzilla movies.

However, due to contemporary special effects, Mothra has never looked better. Her wings actually flap rather than move back and forth robotically, her colors pop, everything about her looks amazing. Of all the monsters in the Millennium series thus far, this version of Mothra has gotten the biggest and best visual upgrade. If you're a fan of Mothra, it's almost worth watching just to see her in action.

The classic monster fight scenes are also impressive as well. This is probably the best these types of fights will ever look until another film is made, since "Godzilla Final Wars" takes a different, more action movie approach to the monster fights. This is classic Godzilla fighting other classic monsters and it's never looked better.

Overall, the film is quite good, arguably slightly better than "Against Mechagodzilla" due to its higher ambition and more impressive effects. I would still watch it after that film due to it being a direct sequel, but the lowlight that was "Megaguirus" is long forgotten by this point. The Millennium series started off incredibly slow, but the last 3 films have been worthy of the Godzilla name.

Trailer:

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

2009-07-28T23:13:00.002-04:00

A return to the (very) basics give way to what is possibly Mechagodzilla's best film.

The first thing to get noticed is that this is the return of Masaaki Tezuka, the director of the abysmal "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus". However, by having a simpler plot and a better antagonist, the film improves by leaps and bounds over his previous one. The story is essentially "Godzilla is back, we'll use old Godzilla bones to make Mechagodzilla to kill Godzilla, hijinks ensue". Coming from the plots of the most recent Godzilla movies, this is a breath of fresh air in its simplicity.

The battle scenes are entertaining as well, maintaining the increase in special effects the series is doing. This movie is only 7 years old at this point so the effects are up to par with any mid-budget movie from that era.

Honestly, there's not much to say about this movie aside from its huge step up in quality from the director's previous film. It is one of the simplest Godzilla movies as far as story goes and as such, doesn't lend itself to an in depth blog post. Despite my lack of words for it, it is actually a well made and entertaining Godzilla movie and the best of the Millennium series so far aside from "GMK".

Fan-made trailer, not official by any means and with a terrible framerate, but it's all I could find:

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

2009-07-27T23:12:00.005-04:00

An established director given creative freedom and some both major and minor changes to the franchise all add up to the greatest Godzilla movie since the original and arguably of all time.

The main reason this film works so much better than any other is due to the work of director Shusuke Kaneko. Most fans of Japanese film now might recognize him from the Death Note live action films, but prior to those and prior to this movie, he directed the Gamera trilogy. Those films are just as good as this one and gave him the experience to "move up" to the father of all kaiju in Godzilla. I'd argue that the Gamera trilogy is better than most Godzilla movies as well, because of Kaneko's work on them. He seems to understand on a fundamental level what works with these kinds of movies, just like Ishiro Honda and Takao Okawara before him.

One simple sequence in the film is a POV shot of what Godzilla sees, which is a first for the series. The subsequent shot is Godzilla charging his atomic blast, itself looking redone and better than ever. However, instead of showing the actual blast, they cut to a classroom, where in the distance they see an atomic cloud. It's a simple yet utterly effective sequence that shows the confidence Kaneko has on his subject matter.

Here's another scene from the same sequence, showing what Kaneko does best:

Coupled with his grasp on kaiju films are some of the best special effects in the series to date. Godzilla's suit is completely redesigned giving him a bit more heft and making his face completely terrifying. The simplest and most effective change was to make his eyes pupil-less, making him seem almost possessed. Storywise it actually makes sense and it is easily my favorite Godzilla look ever. Mothra as well has gone through a minor redesign, but nothing quite as drastic as Godzilla.

The biggest change, in both design and character, is to King Ghidorah. I've mentioned him before as the Joker to Godzilla's Batman and I still stand by it. This movie, however, makes him one of the heroes. And not an anti-hero, a true hero, one of the guardians here to protect us against the menace of Godzilla. He is also physically smaller, which is rare for Ghidorah as he usually towers over Godzilla. It's a weird transition for the character, but since these Millennium movies all take place in their own continuity, it feels more like a different interpretation rather than the definitive version or sequel to the original movie.

All these changes lead up to one of the greatest and most dramatic final confrontations in the entire series. It's the only sequence in the entire franchise I've actually gone back to watch just to enjoy the mix of effects and action it offers. It is a fitting cap to a perfectly paced and exciting movie.

The story, about a reincarnated Godzilla coming to wreak havoc and the awakening of three guardian monsters, is serviceable and believable enough. Specific plots are never the strong points of any of these movies and it's only secondary to why one would watch these movies. It works to keep things moving and interesting though, especially with the changes to the mythology of Godzilla and his rogues gallery.

The music, composed by Kow Otani, is also livelier and more memorable than it's been in years, since at least "Godzilla vs. Mothra" and probably since sometime in the Showa series. Godzilla's traditional theme is actually nowhere to be found until the end credits, but it's replaced with its own separate theme. I've been searching for the music from this film for years, distinctly remembering it even as my Godzilla movie watching continued. Gamers may recognize the name of the composer from "Shadow of the Colossus", itself a masterpiece in both music and gaming.

Here's a clip of the main theme, directly from the soundtrack:

One reason why this movie succeeds so much is that Toho let Shusuke Kaneko and his crew do whatever he likes within the Godzilla universe. This type of directorial freedom hasn't been done before with the franchise and it would only happen one more time, with "Godzilla Final Wars". This freedom approach is not unique to this film, as it is, I believe, one reason why the Harry Potter movies continue to be successful, to compare it to another long running and creatively successful franchise.

I literally cannot say enough about this film and how much I love it. I can trace my fandom of Godzilla to my initial viewing of this film, where before Godzilla was just a curiosity from the 60s and something to watch on Saturday afternoons. Here is where I realized Godzilla could work as true film and on a level more than just sheer eye candy. If you only watch one Godzilla movie in your life, I would implore you to seek this one out and make sure it's the one you see.

It is not only my favorite Godzilla movie, but one of my favorite movies ever.

Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)

2009-07-26T22:21:00.002-04:00

Even with the constantly improving special effects, this movie ends up being on par with the worst of the Showa series.

Just like most of the rest of the Millennium series, there's no connection to any other Godzilla movie except the original which is shown in the beginning of the film redone with the current Godzilla suit. It's a interesting change to standalone films coming from the heavy continuity of the Heisei series, but in some (future) cases it works for the better.

This film, however, is just plain boring. The story, about absorbing Godzilla into a man made black hole, is totally nonsensical. A child is a major character, which is always a negative with these movies and it's shown to be a correct constant here too. The villain, Megaguirus, is incredibly boring, especially when Godzilla has such a fantastic rogue's gallery already. There's no need, at this point, to be introducing B- and C-level villains.

Ultimately, having already seen the rest of the Millennium series prior, I can easily say this is the worst one of the bunch. The next few range from interesting to entertaining to spectacular. This one is merely average at best and boring at worst. It's a hard recommendation even for the fan.

Since I couldn't find the trailer, here's a clip of Godzilla finally taking out Megaguirus, saving you 106 mins of your life:

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

2009-07-25T22:20:00.003-04:00

A new look and a fresh start bring in the Millennium series, but this is hardly the welcome back Godzilla deserves.

The story of this reset isn't always interesting. It supposedly ignores every Godzilla movie except the original, yet there's no reference as to how Godzilla returned from the Oxygen Destroyer or why he's still around. He's so ubiquitous in this world, he even has amateurs chasing him around like tornado hunters. There's also a handful of comedic moments that feel out of place and forced. It's like they wanted to remind people that Godzilla was once a family franchise and added elements from the Showa series that had thankfully disappeared from the Heisei series. Coming after the tour-de-force that was "Destoroyah", this supposed "answer" to the American Godzilla comes off as a worst-of compilation of what the series was and is a terrible reintroduction to the classic Godzilla.

This film was directed by Takao Okawara, the director of the best of the Heisei series, yet here he brings none of the skills he employed so well in those films, especially "Destoroyah". It almost feels like that movie was his final statement on the character, yet he was either forced or took a paycheck to do this one. I can't speak for certain of course, but none of the passion or interest that he seemed to have during the Heisei era is here at all.

One positive that I keep harping on are the fantastic special effects, especially from the Heisei series on, but they just continue to improve with each film. The beginning of the Millennium series brings a redesigned Godzilla, with more spikes on his back and a different, more lizardlike face. Other than some of mid- to late-era Showa movies, none of the Godzilla suits have been really terrible and this one is just as good as previous ones. One scene of note is the use of CG to show a swimming Godzilla, which should be the first use of anything other than a man in a suit to show Godzilla. Considering the state of CG during the Heisei era, I'm pretty sure this is the first use of it.

In the pantheon of Godzilla films, this movie's only noteworthy item is that it begins the Millennium series and that it was billed as Toho's direct answer to the American Godzilla movie. Without those distinctions, it would fall into the merely average group of films alongside stuff like "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster". Decent if for nothing but the special effects, but ultimately forgettable.

Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

2009-07-24T23:48:00.002-04:00

Just when I thought it couldn't be done, the Heisei series goes out with the most bombastic, entertaining movie since "Godzilla vs. Gigan".

This movie starts off with a bang, with a lava-rash infected Godzilla stampeding over Hong Kong. "Godzilla's Theme" plays as well, but in a menacing remixed version which makes the events even more enjoyable to watch. Akira Ifubuke returns once again and if I haven't made it clear yet, "Godzilla's Theme" is key to making or breaking these movies sometimes. Here it makes it in spades.

The first 5 minutes of this movie alone are better than the entirety of "Spacegodzilla". A lot of that has to do with the return of Takao Okawara to the director's chair. He was at the helm of both "Godzilla vs. Mothra" and "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II", the two best Heisei movies prior to this one. He is easily the Ishiro Honda of the Heisei series, the one director that just understands Godzilla and what people want to see with the character. It's fitting that he, just like Honda did with the Showa series, directs the final Heisei movie.

The story is actually somewhat interesting, especially with the plentiful callbacks to the original 1954 film. Destoroyah is actually a product of the Oxygen Destroyer that was used to kill the original Godzilla in that film so the strength of continuity continues here, even to the point of recalling the Showa original (they even show clips from that film in this one). Godzilla's lava-rash is basically explained as a precursor to a nuclear heart attack and if it's not controlled, he could destroy the world. While it's hardly the greatest story in these films, it's interesting enough without being inane or complicated (as in "Spacegodzilla"), which makes it successful.

Destoroyah's smaller forms, as basically horse-sized crabthings, works to keep the human attacks focused. While having human-sized creatures doesn't always work, in this one it does, specifically in an attack on one of the characters while she's trapped in a car. A simple scene like this shows how deft Okawara is at directing creature action to make it interesting and scary. Later in the film Destoroyah goes Voltron and combines all the smaller versions of himself into one larger version. By the time he changes again into his final form (sounding more and more like Dragonball Z now that I think about it), the movie has been so entertaining, you forgive ludicrous shapeshifting moments like this.

The introduction of BabyGodzilla from two films ago, while at the time a terrible idea, actually pays off in this film as he is now fully grown and looks exactly like Godzilla, minus the lava-rash. If this was the idea all along (and given the continuity connections in the Heisei series, it just may as well have been), then I retract my previous BabyGodzilla statements and his presence is fully welcome. Due to his previous "cute" appearance, you actually root for him when he fends off Destoroyah and feel for him when he gets bashed in to near death by Final Destoroyah later.

All in all, the movie is fantastic and spectacularly grandiose in its action scenes and overall storytelling. From the constant callbacks to the original to the "last chapter" feeling that overwhelms the entire movie (research tells me this actually was supposed to be the final movie in the franchise, the poor reception to the American Godzilla film led to the rebooting of the franchise with "Godzilla 2000"), "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah" is very easy to recommend and is easily neck and neck with "Godzilla vs. Mothra" for the best Heisei movie, if not one of the best Godzilla films ever. "Mothra" is a more subdued movie, so for sheer entertainment value though, this film wins. Due to its final chapter nature, it shouldn't be the first movie you see, but it'll definitely be one of the best.

Trailer (apologies for the terrible quality, it's all I could find):

Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (1994)

2009-07-23T23:02:00.002-04:00

A complicated and ultimately boring plot doesn't save a cool looking villain from being in the worst Heisei movie thus far.

This movie overall is pretty lackluster. The pacing is off, stopping and starting in fits throughout. It's more noticeable here because the story is generally uninteresting. It hops all over the place and while it always makes basic sense, the details are convoluted and by the end, you don't even care anymore about the characters or what's happening.

BabyGodzilla returns, marring the movie. His appearance in this movie makes him even more so the Heisei version of Minilla. He does however manage to make Godzilla sympathetic, if only for a moment, so in that sense, he is a much more useful character than Minilla ever was. He also looks more like an actual baby Godzilla, not a gray turd with eyes.

On the other end of the monster spectrum, Spacegodzilla's design looks great, but that's one of the only positives of the entire movie. His origin specifically is ridiculous, if it is in line with series continuity. My guess is that trying to keep all these monster movies in check and in some sort of order is what caused the second reset of the franchise with "Godzilla 2000". It can only get more and more ludicrous to have these past few movies occur one after another and with one more movie left, it just might.

One thing of note that only now I've really noticed is a running theme of telepathy in the entire Heisei series. Nothing like this was there in the Showa series and all hints of it disappear in the Millennium series (as far as I recall, I'll remember for sure within the week). It's used to talk to Godzilla, to find out what's happening in other parts of the world (telepaths foreshadow both King Ghidorah's and Spacegodzilla's arrivals) and ultimately the telepath ends up being one of, if not the most important human character in the movie. There's never a clear indication why it's always so central to these movies, so my guess is that it's probably just a cultural artifact of the times.

Ultimately, the film is by far the weakest in the Heisei series. It's only entertaining to watch for the fight scenes and even those aren't the best the series has done. This is another one only for the fans.

Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

2009-07-22T22:25:00.002-04:00

The last of the classic antagonists returns in this entertaining but generally average film.

This movie seems more action oriented, even with the Heisei series' entire focus on action movie cliches. There are several action scenes in the movie and most of them last a good chunk of time so the pacing of the movie never seems to falter too much. Maybe it's an increase in quality in the action scenes or something else, but it seems like they're catching on to what makes those cliches good and using them properly. It'll be interesting to see how this evolution translates to the rest of the series.

The continuity in the series remains strong as well, as this one directly mentions the ending events of "vs. King Ghidorah" two movies ago. They use that technology to create Mechagodzilla, which actually is a better origin for Mechagodzilla than the original's. It also reverses the characters, as Mechagodzilla in the original was the bad guy, where here he is directly controlled by human characters and is the good guy. It shows again the refocusing of Godzilla as villain that the series took once the Showa movies ended.

Rodan returns to the series with surprisingly little fanfare. He almost feels like a easter egg tossed in for the fans. However, despite the film being overall entertaining, the jump-the-shark moment for this series has to be the birth of BabyGodzilla. (An aside: BabyGodzilla reminds me of Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend for some reason, despite it being bipedal.) It seems like introducing a child or baby version of Godzilla is the moment things go wrong, no matter what series. In the Showa series, it was "Son of Godzilla" where things took a turn for the worse and never really got back to its former glory, in Heisei it's right here and even in the American "Godzilla" movie, the moment Godzilla gives birth to a bunch of velociraptors is where that movie took a turn from average to terrible.

The movie ends up being generally entertaining if rather unremarkable, the exception being any of the BabyGodzilla scenes, which are cute in a way Godzilla movies shouldn't be. "Godzilla vs. Mothra" still has the edge for the best Heisei movie so far. If it wasn't for my complete adoration for King Ghidorah, it would possibly even rank above that film too due to the action scenes and quick pace. With only two left in the series though, the last few have a steep hill to climb to top "Mothra".

Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992)

2009-07-20T23:29:00.002-04:00

The return of yet another icon along with a fantastic score add up to the best Heisei movie so far.

Mothra, Godzilla's other iconic antagonist, is back in the movie, as the title suggests. While it may be nearly impossible to top "Mothra vs. Godzilla", this film does its damnedest to do so and in the process makes itself a very entertaining movie. Even without the introduction of Battra, who is a decent villain and great mirror to Mothra, the film would be fun to watch. This movie is by far the easiest of the Heisei series to recommend, especially with Mothra as a main character. Even non-Godzilla fans know Mothra.

Of particular note in this movie is the music, once again scored by Akira Ifubuke. With Mothra's return comes the return of her amazing theme and her song sung by the Cosmos. It's defining to her character and makes her return to the series instantly memorable. It's almost purely on the strength of the music alone (which includes the magnificent "Godzilla's Theme") that makes this movie so good.

The action movie cliches continue however, as the first part of the movie is very reminiscent of Indiana Jones and to a lesser extent Romancing the Stone, with the constant bickering of a divorced couple. So far, it seems like the entire Heisei series has been remakes of the previous Godzilla movies with current (at the time anyway) movie influences. At the time I assume it worked, but it almost dates the movies even more than the originals. The stories is what will make these movies hold up and so far they've been just above average, aside from arguably this movie.

I've said it already, but the special effects are such a huge improvement over the Showa series (which is natural, but still) that it's a treat to watch these movies even when they aren't firing on all cylinders. Mothra's emergence from her cocoon, for example, is a great non-action highlight of the fantastic effects. However, it makes the lackluster stories of most of the Heisei series stand out even more. While none of them have matched the lows of the worst Showa movies, they haven't reached the heights of the best either.

Despite my qualms with the Heisei series as a whole so far, this film is very easy to recommend, as it picks up in quality as the film progresses culminating in a 3 way fight between Godzilla, Mothra and Battra. Having the iconic Mothra as a co-star also lends itself to easy recommendation as her character is so well known. This is by far the best place to start your Heisei series journey.

Since I couldn't find a trailer to save my life, you get this weirdly fantastic music video that was apparently on the laserdisc for the movie. Enjoy?:

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

2009-07-19T23:14:00.004-04:00

Godzilla's greatest nemesis returns looking better than ever, but the film doesn't hold up quite as well as the updated special effects.

A quick note: while I ended up seeing the majority of the Showa series in Japanese, I've been stuck watching the Heisei series in dubbed English. It shouldn't affect my enjoyment of the movies, but it is something to be aware of. Original languages make a big difference.

This film also marks the return of sci-fi to the series. The basic plot, people from the future coming back to destroy Japan, is nothing but a modernization of the previous Showa series films that were about aliens trying to take over. It's a welcome return to the type of Godzilla story I enjoy watching, to go with Godzilla's greatest antagonist.

Yes, King Ghidorah is back and he looks probably the best he ever has thus far in this movie. The increasing modernization of special effects has made both Godzilla and specifically King Ghidorah look absolutely stunning and incredibly intimidating. This movie also gives Ghidorah a sort of origin, with the people from the future coming back with small Dorats that end up being exposed to the same radiation that created Godzilla. It's simple, but since he's not just a monster from outer space anymore, I guess a reasoning for this three headed beast needed to exist.

The other slight change from previous Heisei movies is the return of Godzilla as hero. The original timeline's Godzilla disappears but another is created (it's kind of a dumb story) to get rid of King Ghidorah. While no one in the film is necessarily cheering him on, and no one is happy about having Godzilla around again, there's a definite sense that he's there to help get rid of Ghidorah. It's more of an anti-hero stance but it works. Once he "defeats" King Ghidorah however, he returns to the villain of the previous films, so even this "hero" angle is only temporary.

An interesting observation of the Heisei series so far is the direct continuity of the films. This movie is essentially the fourth one in a complete series, with the original film being the first part. The Showa series was only very loosely connected at best, but these are all direct sequels, with this film specifically having references to Biollante and the events in 1954. Since the Showa series doesn't attempt this with any kind of structure and the Millennium series is, with one exception, a series of unrelated films, this kind of continuity is unique to the series and it'll be interesting to see how it continues.

There's a few problems with the pacing and acting, but the acting issue I'd blame more on the dub than the actual acting. The pacing picks up once King Ghidorah shows up, but that could also just be my excitement in seeing this fantastic character again with modern special effects. There's also a lot of action movie cliches in this film as well, including a car chase and a shootout. It unfortunately makes the movie feel even more dated than the older films, but it is still watchable. As a fan of Ghidorah specifically, I'd recommend it just to see him. He's never looked better and even in the Millennium series film with him, he isn't quite this menacing. This is supervillain King Ghidorah at his finest and it's worth a watch just to see that.

One last selling point? Mecha-King Ghidorah. Yeah, I said it.

German Trailer (it's all I could find):

Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

2009-07-18T23:44:00.003-04:00

Godzilla comes in the modern era of film with a very interesting if slight first step away from the Showa series.

The one thing that comes to mind with certain Godzilla movies is the tone, and this one is no different. This film's tone is much more serious than the last few Showa series movies, save for possibly "Terror of Mechagodzilla". If anything, that movie, watching these films now, was foreshadowing the style of movie the Heisei (and Millennium) series would be. There are no large shifts in tone from this movie, no "All Monsters Attack"-style children's movies, no "Hedorah"-style dance sequences and animated interludes. The tone established here (actually, I assume it was established in "Return of Godzilla" but I haven't seen that one) is the basic tone and style of every Godzilla movie to follow, up until arguably "Godzilla Final Wars", which is more of a celebration of Godzilla as a character anyway so it's hard to fit it in. But that film is for later.

Godzilla as a character has also returned to the villain/anti-hero of the original films and this also remains in nearly all the subsequent films. He never is the savior of humanity or the hero to cheer on anymore, he is a danger to the city and a living menace, which is my personal preference. Godzilla as true hero just doesn't work, especially considering his origin story and the moments of sheer terror he inflicted on Tokyo in the original film. In comic book terms, he should be no less good or bad than someone like the Punisher. He is certainly no Superman.

There's a subtext of the pros and cons of genetic manipulation in the story, in the same way "Hedorah"'s subtext was anti-pollution. It shows up most obviously in the character of Biollante, and for the most part it's handled well. Some of the strongest Godzilla movies all have an underlying message about something that the filmmakers are attempting to get across, using the guise of seeing monsters blow stuff up to get people to listen. I'd argue that "Hedorah" has been the most obvious and most successful with these messages so far, but I know some later movies do a better job than even that film did. This film doesn't push the message part of the movie far enough to compete with "Hedorah".

Speaking of Biollante, her character seems to be a fan favorite, but she's never been a favorite of mine. As basically a giant genetically modified plant, there's not much to her design. Later on she evoles into more of a traditional monster, but it's still a weak design. It looks fantastic though, since the advent of modern special effects has made everything much more believable and much more spectacular. Godzilla doesn't move like a guy in a suit anymore, he moves like a giant lumbering beast like he's supposed to. The best part about the modernizing of Godzilla is the enhancing of the special effects and this (for my viewing anyway) is the first taste of it.

An interesting element is the action movie moments it has. The era it was made in is probably to blame, as it's during the height of movies like Die Hard, Predator and Aliens, and there's no doubt those movies were just as influential to filmmakers in Japan just as much as here. There's even a scene with a clock counting down to zero. It's all very cliche and it's interesting to see film trends of the time fit into Godzilla's world.

All in all, it's an above average Godzilla movie, despite flaws with the antagonists. It's hard to recommend this one as your first Heisei movie though, as the next three films in the series all star arguably his most popular antagonists and are easier to recommend for almost that reason alone. This one is best left to the enthusiasts.

Japanese Trailer:

Return of Godzilla (1984)

2009-07-17T14:42:00.002-04:00

This is the second Godzilla movie I was unable to acquire before I started this whole project, and as of now remains the single Godzilla movie I have yet to see at all. Therefore, even less than "Megalon", I am unable to comment on this movie, other than I really want to see it.

I leave you with the international trailer, which shows very well the return to seriousness this film was supposed to have. Maybe one day it'll fall on my lap. Till then, this is all I got.

International Trailer:

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

2009-07-16T23:22:00.002-04:00

The final film in the Showa series goes out with neither a bang or a whimper.

For this last Showa film, two key figures return to the franchise. Ishiro Honda, director of the original comes back to give his ultimately final statement on Godzilla. Akira Ifubuke also returns to compose the score, his presence immediately felt with Godzilla's Theme playing during the opening credits. Despite the return of these two icons to the franchise, the film can't keep up.

The story is a weird, dark tale of yet another alien race attempting to take over by remaking Mechagodzilla. It's another film in the franchise that might've worked just as well, if not better without the presence of Godzilla (the other being "All Monsters Attack" for those keeping score). The story is decent, if cliched and the monsters are just there to put Godzilla in the title.

The tone, to bring the Showa series full circle, is an anomaly in the series. It's dark, but not intensely serious like the original. There's no dancing, hardly any humor and even the music is very somber. There's moments of onscreen violence that, for a Godzilla film, are pretty intense, the tone making it more so. As the film progresses, the main thing that held my interest was the tone, which is again similar to the original. The film rises above dreck like "Son of Godzilla" and arguably "Sea Monster" due almost exclusively to its unique tone.

All in all, the Showa series ends with this rather interesting yet ultimately flawed experiment of a movie. The best thing to happen to Godzilla at this point was to take a break, returning with, appropriately enough, 1984's "Return of Godzilla" and the beginning of the Heisei series.

Japanese Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

2009-07-15T23:33:00.002-04:00

Diminishing returns and franchise exhaustion mar the first appearance of a classic villain.

It doesn't show in the beginning, but the movie is yet another sci-fi laced story about an alien race using monsters to take over the planet. Considering the track record and how many attempts there have been so far, I'm surprised no aliens have come by and just attempted to Unicron the entire thing and be done with it.

At this point, the plots of these movies seem to get more farfetched and ludicrous as the franchise goes on. The basic story about prophecies and mythic creatures coming to life is a new take, but it's not very successful. Given that the Godzilla movies have been getting made nearly once a year for 12 years straight at the time of this movie's original release, it stands to reason that story ideas are starting to run a little dry. Since there's only one more movie left in the Showa series before the franchise took a 9 year break, the producers seem to agree.

The Godzilla suit is again noteworthy as it is much improved yet again. It seems like the lows of the suit from "Son of Godzilla" will never return, especially with the Heisei series starting soon. Mechagodzilla's suit is alright, nothing that amazing. The later suits with the character are much better, I'll make note of them as I get to the films.

One thing of note is a spot of violence, with the disguised Mechagodzilla nearly ripping Anguirus' jaw off. Blood was first shown in the franchise with "Gigan" but this one stands out even more than that due to the blood literally leaking out of his mouth. In a franchise that's run the gamut from serious to made for children, a little blood and the way it's portrayed is still unique and new.

Mechagodzilla as a character is decently introduced but I know he's been in better films, so his first appearance is not as fun to watch as King Ghidorah's or even Gigan's. A foreshadowed King Caesar shows up in the last 20 minutes and is completely forgettable except for the song a woman sings to "awaken" him. As the title says, Mechagodzilla is the star of this show.

If you're a fan of the series, "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" is a decent watch, ranking somewhere between the fun madness of "Gigan" and the absolutely average "Sea Monster". To see Mechagodzilla's best moments though, it's best to check out some of the later films.

Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

2009-07-14T16:19:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately I was unable to acquire a copy of this movie before today, as it does not exist on Region 1 DVD and finding a VHS copy of it (which is how I saw it originally) would be near impossible nowadays. Therefore I can't really talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the movie, since I saw it years ago and I hardly remember a thing, other than Jet Jaguar's presence.

To compensate, I will leave you with what is probably Godzilla's most ludicrous moment, shown without explanation.

Also, a pretty fantastically awful Jet Jaguar theme song. The song begins about 1:15 into the video.

Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

2009-07-13T23:33:00.002-04:00

A return to traditional Godzilla storytelling and the introduction of a fantastic villain leads to the most entertaining Godzilla movie in years.

The first clue that this movie is a "traditional" Godzilla movie is the return of Godzilla's Theme. Every time it plays in the movies it makes them better and it makes the movies without it stick out and seem lesser by comparison. It's a fantastic, iconic piece of music that should be required for every Godzilla movie.

The other "return to form" is the lack of superfluous stuff. No children, no dancing montages, it's strictly about Godzilla and his monster story and the humans and their story. The human story is also a fantastic return to sci-fi, where it seems like Godzilla excels. So far the best movies have had at least a tinge of sci-fi to them and to remove it (by making it a children's movie, for example) is neutering to the film and the franchise. All credit to the success of this movie should go to Jun Fukuda, who has been slowly improving with each Godzilla movie he makes. With only two left on his resume, it's good that he's hit his stride and learned what makes Godzilla entertaining.

This movie is also the first mention of a Monster Island. There was a Monsterland talked about in "Destroy All Monsters" which could have been the same thing, but due to a probable garbage English translation, this movie is the first time I've seen it mentioned as Monster Island. Obviously, 12 films in, this world has to have become accustomed to having monsters everywhere, but it was never explained where they were when they weren't destroying cities and/or each other. It's a minor mention, but it's now a major plot point in the lore of Godzilla, so to see its mention is noteworthy.

Maybe it's due to his introduction alongside the baddest of the bad villains in King Ghidorah, maybe it's because he's the first monster to make Godzilla bleed, maybe it's because technically he's a giant robot. Whatever it may be, there's something about Gigan that makes his introduction fantastic and he feels just as worthy a villain as King Ghidorah. At Ghidorah's best (which is still to come), he is still the greatest villain ever, but Gigan is a very close second. Again, the better the villain is, the greater the movie seems to be.

The effects have also improved since the last few outings. They are nowhere near today's standards, of course, but they are a marked improvement from even the previous film and from the last few. They might even be the best of the Showa series, but with 3 more films left, I can't say for sure.

"Godzilla vs. Gigan" is a fantastic Godzilla movie and probably the first one to watch once you've seen the Mothra/Ghidorah/Astro-Monster group of movies. It's thoroughly entertaining and a solid, easily recommendable entry in the franchise.

Japanese Trailer:

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

2009-07-11T23:32:00.002-04:00

Now this is how to do a different take on Godzilla with more success.

This movie is a huge product of its time. The opening song alone cements its place in pop culture time, but the entire soundtrack gives it a late 60s/early 70s vibe. There's also some strange animated sequences that look just like anything you'd see on Schoolhouse Rock. I assume all of these changes are due to the change in director, Yoshimitsu Banno. It is his only Godzilla film so it remains its own oddball entity in the franchise.

I welcome this change, especially at this point in the franchise. The last film nearly killed all interest in Godzilla, but the oddball nature of this movie kept it interesting throughout its running time. Several musical interludes that do nothing but tell us "hey, we're in the 70s and we love it" are fun to watch, especially 30 years later. It's a much different Godzilla in tone than any other film, but it's for the better.

Speaking of tone, aside from the weird musical interludes, the overall tone of the movie is fairly dark. There's a heavy anti-pollution angle in the story (the alternate American title for the movie is "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster") which is a huge change from "All Monsters Attack". Godzilla movies haven't been this dark since the original and this weird ever. In every way you can make this movie different from the previous, this film has done it. And for me, it works as the previous movie I barely sat through.

The biggest flaw is Hedorah himself. He's easily the worst design for a monster yet, literally nothing but a giant black slop with eyes. It's lazy and weird looking and detracts from the enjoyment for me. It's arguable that his weird design works since the movie itself is weird as well, but I'm on the side that it doesn't.

The treatment of Godzilla as literal savior is interesting as well. The shift from destroyer of cities to savior of humanity has been interesting to watch in film alone, since the transition isn't obvious. A lot of it comes from audience reaction, accidentally rooting for the villain (as you would the Joker in a Batman movie, despite him being the obvious antagonist) and the filmmakers taking that reaction and shifting Godzilla's character from a villain to a hero. It'll be interesting to watch him shift back into a villain role in some of the later films.

Would I recommend this movie? Only if you're somewhat versed in Godzilla films. It's too oddball to recommend blind and the change in tone and story are only noticeable if you've been following the films. It's one I would recommend for a fan who wanted to go deeper into Godzilla films. It's certainly a huge step up in quality from "All Monsters Attack". That alone makes it worth a watch.

Trailer:

All Monsters Attack (1969)

2009-07-10T16:40:00.006-04:00

A child's story with only an ancillary connection to Godzilla leads to a barely decent kids movie but a completely inessential Godzilla film.

The main story of the movie is about a latch-key kid who dreams of going to Monster Island to hang out with Minilla (the Son of Godzilla, who apparently has learned how to speak Japanese and is also able to change sizes) and the other monsters there. The story isn't as terrible as it seems on first glance, but its connection to Godzilla is so loose it may as well not even be a Godzilla movie.

As the star of the movie is a kid, and the movie, even more so than Son of Godzilla, is squarely aimed at children, this movie couldn't be of less interest to me. Even as a Godzilla movie it fails, as the fights that are shown are merely recycled footage from the previous films.

Even with the amazingly terrible retro theme song and soundtrack, this movie is easily the most inessential Godzilla movie and isn't worth watching unless you're attempting to complete a collection, like me.

Trailer:

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

2009-07-09T23:33:00.002-04:00

Even with 11 monsters and a Ghidorah-starring finale, this movie never rises above average.

Quick note off the top: I watched the American dubbed version, since that's all ADV has ever released in Region 1. It doesn't seem significantly different than the original (according to Wikipedia, source of all human knowledge ever) but it would still be worth seeing the original somehow.

Another quick note: the Godzilla suit is a marked improvement over the last film. It's honestly only worth mentioning because the previous suit was just that terrible.

Ishiro Honda is at the helm of this movie again after taking a two movie break. And with his return follows the return of the sci-fi elements to the story. Some of the characters begin on a spaceship, the main human antagonists are aliens, etc. Even with the reintroduction of these elements, the story feels lackluster. You would think a movie starring so many monsters would be better, but because of the lack of screen time afforded to each monster, it ends up feeling rushed and unfinished. The later "Godzilla Final Wars", the last Godzilla movie thus far, also falls into this trap, but I'll get into that when that movie comes up.

For the majority of the movie, the story focuses on the human characters, which makes the movie less interesting. The movie is made and marketed as an all out fight between monsters, but most of it is humans arguing about the aliens who are trying to take over the planet. Granted, a true movie being nothing but fights wouldn't be very compelling either, but there has to be some way to have all these monsters around and still make it an interesting movie. The irony is that the movie picks up a little steam once the monsters are let loose around the major cities of the world, but the intercut human story keeps dragging it down.

Something I noticed about the attacks on the cities is that the later video games, specifically the Atari-published games starting with Destroy All Monster Melee, seem directly influenced by this movie. It's one of the few films I can recall of the Showa series being set in cities rather than a random island in the middle of nowhere. The look of the sets also seem to have been carried over to the games as well.

The movie, on a personal level, picks up the most once King Ghidorah shows up. He's so badass that it takes upwards of 8 monsters to finally bring him down, but not before he takes a few of them down in the process. Moments like these in the movies are what establish Ghidorah as the ultimate villain (everyone else in the movie is shown as a hero by the end of the film except for Ghidorah) and the major reason why I love him as a character. His presence alone brings up the finale of the film.

Overall the movie is just about average. Despite the presence of so many monsters, the complicated and ultimately boring human story brings the movie down since so much of the movie is focused on it. The finale picks up a bit once it becomes monsters fighting and once Ghidorah shows up, but not enough to push it above average. An interesting failed experiment in making a "greatest hits" monster movie.

Trailer:

Son of Godzilla (1967)

2009-07-08T23:36:00.002-04:00

A silly tone with a silly character leads to the worst Godzilla movie thus far.

First thing of note nearly immediately after starting the movie: Godzilla appears fairly quickly, albeit briefly, but his suit is terrible. Easily the worst looking suit so far in the series, intensified by the trailers of the Millennium series of DVDs that played before the movie started (which is to say the Millennium series suits are fantastic looking). The cheap look of the film continues later on, with some of the sets looking like the actual stage sets they are. Some of this is confusing as they obviously filmed a good chunk of the movie on location so it's odd that some scenes are clearly filmed on a set.

One thing of interest was a subtext about loving nature. The experiment that the scientists on the island are doing is to preserve food by weather control, the female lead is a daughter of an explorer who's apparently been living off the island for years, a flaw in the experiment sends radiation onto the island, causing the mantis villain Kamacuras, a red liquid in a river is a medicine for ailing scientists later in the film, etc. It's an interesting subtext to a movie that seemingly isn't anything but Godzilla and his adopted son fighting some monsters.

Speaking of Minilla, the titular Son of Godzilla, he is never fully explained. The mantis characters dig out an egg that was seemingly already there and Minilla hatches out of it. Godzilla appears to defend him and Minilla starts following Godzilla around, and hijinks ensue. The appearance of the egg is never explained and it's never shown why Godzilla would even adopt this creature. It's another shift in his character that doesn't seem to fit.

Minilla is also easily the worst character introduced thus far. Granted, I realize I may not be the target audience for him, as he very clearly seems to be aimed at children, but that coupled with the comedic family adventure film tone just means the audience for this movie is not the one who enjoyed the original film or even something like "Mothra vs. Godzilla". The tone and story and characters are just completely unappealing to what I enjoy about Godzilla.

Is there room for a family comedy/adventure film in Godzilla's filmography? To me as a fan of the terrifying destructive Godzilla of the original and later films, a movie like this one feels out of place and out of character. To bring up the other franchise I adore again, it's like someone made a kid's version of Friday the 13th. As ludicrous as that sounds is as ludicrous as this movie is. It attempts something different with a character that doesn't need anything different to be done. As I said with my "Mothra" impressions, a simple, smart story is all that's needed to make Godzilla work, not a shift in target audience.

Japanese Trailer:

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)

2009-07-07T23:34:00.001-04:00

An average movie with an average antagonist ends up being unremarkable and forgettable.

This movie is easily the most lighthearted Godzilla movie to date, mainly due to the change of directors. Jun Fukuda takes over the helm after a string of Ishiro Honda movies and while not completely making the movie his own, it does have a different feel to it. The heroic Godzilla, established in prior films, is in full force here, to the point where in the finale the human characters are actively hoping Godzilla escapes an exploding island.

The plot is some sort of insane, as it takes all sorts of leaps of faith and coincidence to make it work, which, expectations tempered, it does. The movie feels much more cartoonish than previous movies and some sequences are completely unique to the series thus far. A quick highlight is an attack on Godzilla by a group of fighter planes set to surf music. It's telling of the time the movie was made in, but years later, it plays as a strange curio.

Godzilla's reappearance is some sort of oddball fantastic as well. Using a sword the characters found while escaping the people chasing them, they manage to use the sword as a lightning rod to awaken Godzilla with the lightning. The only other movie I can recall with such an absurd awakening sequence is (yes, again) Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. That movie opens up with a similar series of events which I won't spoil as I find Part VI to be one of the better films of that series. But the entire idea is ridiculous which continues to show the downward direction of quality these movies employ.

As for the other monsters, Ebirah (the titular Sea Monster) is easily the weakest and laughable of all Godzilla's foes thus far. Internet trivia has told me that this film was meant to be a King Kong movie, but when the rights fell through, it shifted to a Godzilla movie, which explains the shift away from the sci-fi leanings of the previous two movies and the shoehorning in of Mothra. Her appearance is teased the entire movie and yet she only truly appears in the last 10 minutes and only to rescue the human characters from the aforementioned exploding island.

An aside: is it ever explained why she has two 8 inch twin females as her ambassadors?

Honestly, the entire film is just completely unremarkable. It is truly an average Godzilla movie in every sense of the word. It doesn't come close to the heights of the best films, but it doesn't crash land like some of the worst. Maybe it's due to me knowing what to expect of a Godzilla movie at this point, maybe it's because I've seen all these movies already and I remembered this one not being all that great to begin with, who knows. This is probably one of the last Godzilla movies I would recommend, as the best movies are actually fantastic films and the worst ones are amazing comedy fodder.

As I couldn't find a proper trailer for the movie, the best I could find is the first fight between Godzilla and Ebirah. You can see how terrible Ebirah really is and how the quality of special effects is actually lessening as the movies go on.

Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

2009-07-06T23:44:00.003-04:00

A slow start doesn't detract from what is ultimately one of the more entertaining Godzilla films of the Showa series.

More than any other film up to this point, this movie screams sci-fi. It begins with a trip to outer space to a newly discovered mystery planet behind Jupiter. On that planet is a whole race of seemingly benevolent aliens who all look like Japanese people with visors on. The movie, and the entire series, is true science fiction now and by embracing the genre where nearly anything is possible, the movies from this point on do exactly that.

The plot, however, is less adventurous, at least in the first half. Before the obvious twist that occurs about an hour in, the story is seemingly a big convoluted reason to see the same monsters from the previous movie, minus Mothra, together and fighting again. Rehashing this shows that the Godzilla formula has been solidified by this point, being lazily introduced in "King Kong vs. Godzilla" and molded to a gem in "Mothra vs. Godzilla". Every subsequent movie from this point on is nothing but a weird excuse to see a bunch of monsters fight. The best of the bunch give just as much importance to the human story and attempt to connect it to the monsters (some later films do this even better than "Mothra vs. Godzilla", I will highlight them as I get to them) but most of them are just monsters fighting. Your memories and recollections of watching Godzilla on Saturday afternoons are these series of films.

Back to the plot, once the twist occurs, the monster story becomes almost insignificant and boring compared to the human story, which becomes interesting and fun to watch. By making the aliens conspiring villains who've been playing the humans the entire movie, the plot picks up steam and becomes much more watchable. This movie is not attempting to be "important" by any stretch, but for entertainment purposes, this is the third act of a trilogy of movies starting with the excellent "Mothra vs. Godzilla" that I would recommend people to watch if they want to see why the Showa series is beloved to this day.

One huge occurrence is Godzilla's victory dance, which is basically the exact moment that Godzilla becomes a cartoon character and is no longer the terrifying force of nature from the original. It's shown below just to show how, even in the middle of a fairly entertaining movie, there are things that you cannot take seriously. Being legitimately afraid of Godzilla's presence for the movie characters wouldn't return until the mid-80s with "Return of Godzilla". Until then, we get a lot of this:

One personal note is seeing Ghidorah again. He is the titular Astro-Monster, also called Monster Zero in the film. Here he gets an entire planet to basically lay waste to, which he does with such aplomb the aliens are forced to bring Godzilla and Rodan to their planet just to stop him. Later on when the aliens invade Earth with all three monsters in tow, seeing Ghidorah fly over the cityscape destroying buildings, it reminds me why I adore Ghidorah as a design (those wings are amazingly impressive, no matter the quality of suit) and as a character. Plus Godzilla is much more interesting himself with a proper villain to play off of.

All in all, despite the extremely slow start, the movie picks up substantially in the final stretch, to the point where you forgive the slow pace of the opening acts. Again, between "Mothra vs. Godzilla", "Ghidorah" and this film, those are the best films to get a sense of the best (and with the victory dance, the worst) the Showa series of movies has to offer.

Japanese Trailer:

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

2009-07-05T22:14:00.003-04:00

The first "Godzilla as hero" movie is also the beginning of the drop in quality of the Showa series, but it's also the introduction to the greatest kaiju villain of all time.

From the get-go, this movie feels more "sci-fi" than any previous Godzilla movie. Technically speaking, Godzilla has always been sci-fi but this movie makes it more explicit. Lots of references to Venus and its destruction by the space monster Ghidorah and just a general futuristic aesthetic throw it into the true science fiction realm. The other noticeable aspect of this movie in particular is the pace, which is pretty fast in the beginning. You're bombarded with lots of information, lots of characters and different settings with relatively basic information to go on. No Godzilla movie thus far has been this frontloaded with exposition.

Because of that, the story isn't nearly as interesting, oddly enough. Godzilla movies do not demand complex stories, which "Mothra vs. Godzilla" showed perfectly. By adding so many factors to the story, with the princess missing, the princess being possibly Venusian but more likely possessed by some spirit, the people chasing the princess, the people chasing the people chasing the princess and that's not to mention any of the monsters, the story becomes overly complicated for this type of movie. As compared to what would be considered a "complex" story nowadays however, it's actually not, but it's more than a Godzilla movie would ever need.

Rodan also appears in this movie for the first time in the Godzilla franchise. Before this movie was released, Rodan had a few solo movies of his own (similar to Mothra in the previous film, who also appears in this movie) so this again would be considered a crossover. At this point in Toho's films, it's less about making sense or making a point and more about "which monsters do people want to see and how can we get them together?" Comic books, among other media, have always had issues like this, where it becomes strictly fan service to put characters together, regardless of what sense it would make. (My previously stated love for the Friday the 13th franchise bears this out with "Freddy vs. Jason".) Again, you either accept what the movies are now and have become or just get out of the way.

Because of this shift in focus (which is arguable at this point, since only one movie so far has been shown to be "important", the others are all just monsters fighting), the emphasis of the later half of the movie becomes the monsters and their fight. And what a cheesy fight it is. While not nearly as bad as later movies will get ("Godzilla vs. Megalon" is a low point with his dropkick), the fights in this one are the first indication of the way the rest of the series turns into childish entertainment. You end up laughing at some of the oddities that occur in this sequence, which is a 180 degree turn from the attack on Tokyo in the original film. Again, to compare every subsequent movie to the original is unfair to both films, as they each have different goals, but since they are so fresh in my mind, it's all I can do.

The true highlight of this film for me and the best reason I would recommend it regardless of any issues I may have with it would be the first appearance of King Ghidorah. Easily my favorite kaiju by a longshot, being able to see his first appearance again is fantastic, and his entrance in the movie is nothing short of a spectacle.

Ghidorah's presence in the movie forces the other monsters to team up to get rid of Ghidorah. It took something more powerful and destructive than even Godzilla to "turn" Godzilla good. In later films he's established as the main archenemy to Godzilla and in that sense, he is to Godzilla what the Joker is to Batman. He becomes the truest enemy, the signature villain and the one that is able to show the best aspects of the hero and what we like about him, in this case Godzilla.

If for nothing else, this movie is recommended to see the first appearance of the greatest kaiju villain in cinema. King Ghidorah is a marvel and to miss his arrival due to comparisons to previous movies is unfair to a great villain.

Japanese Trailer:

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

2009-07-04T23:05:00.008-04:00

A sense of focus and a good story (!) make this one of, if not the best of the Showa series of Godzilla films.

From the moment you begin to watch it, the movie feels like the truest sequel to the original, mainly due to the use of Godzilla's Theme. The piece of music is so strong and so important to Godzilla and the films, the movies without it (like the previous two which were missing it) feel like lesser works. I would easily compare its impact to the Star Wars theme or the Indiana Jones theme. The movies would feel incredibly awkward without the theme playing and Godzilla's Theme is of no less importance to this franchise as those songs are to their respective movies.

On the topic of themes, Mothra also gets her own theme. This stands out as well, as it makes Mothra instantly more memorable than Anguirus ever was. Having the two small women sing Mothra's song is just as beautiful as it ever was. The cinematography is also a step up all previous movies, being the best looking Godzilla movie so far by a long shot. The success of previous Godzillas and of movies like this show that some money was put behind the making of this one and it shows up on screen to everyone's benefit.

The plot of this movie is also much better than all previous movies and the human aspect of the story, so forgettable in the previous movies, is actually quite compelling. The biggest difference is that the monster's plot and human's plot are tied together. Without Mothra's egg showing up on the beach, there would be no human plot. In the others, it felt like Godzilla was intruding on a story being told, be it a buddy story or a love triangle. There's no such disconnect here, which makes the moments without either monster on screen just as interesting as the final confrontation.

One part of the plot that stuck out was the first mentions of Mothra. No one seemed surprised at her existence, almost accepting the fact that there's lots of monsters floating around this world. Some quick research shows that Mothra had her own movie a few years prior to this one, which would explain the lack of backstory to her appearance. Still, this world these characters inhabit is one that is full of creatures like Godzilla and his ilk. You either accept that they are around or get out of the way. It's a big change from the shock and surprise of the original movie, but it works as a pure entertainment franchise, which this clearly is by now.

The atomic bomb angle is touched upon a bit in this movie, but with more subtlety than the first movie and with much less awkwardness than "Godzilla Raids Again". It doesn't intrude on the story or the appeal of the movie as a whole, which is the best way to do it. At the end of the day, though, at this point, these movies are about nothing but monsters fighting each other. Godzilla was only one of many monsters with film franchises at this point in Japanese film, so audiences were watching them for different reasons than they were 10 years ago when "Gojira" was released. It's pure entertainment now, and in that sense, it works its charms admirably.

The best current analog I have to the appeal of this movie is JJ Abrams' recent "Star Trek". Just like that movie, this one never insults the intelligence of the audience, it knows full well why you enjoy the franchise and gives you everything you'd want in this type of movie. The pace is always moving, there aren't nearly the lulls of previous movies and overall, it's a standout film in a long running franchise.

If you want to see the best of the classic Godzilla movies, look no further.

Japanese Trailer:

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

2009-07-03T22:26:00.003-04:00

A seven year break between films ends with this essentially forgettable movie, but the beginning of an era.

One thing to note of my impressions is that I watched the American edited version, which is substantially different than the original Japanese cut. Since the only version available on DVD in Region 1 is that American cut, I make due with what I have. The American edit is very obvious, with basically a narrator in a planning room taking us from place to place. His role is to smooth out the odd transitions that occur due to the heavy edits. For the most part it actually works, but it would still be great to see the original edit.

The mixing of franchises is a little odd, but ultimately works due to each monster's original stories taking place in distinct locations, Godzilla in Japan and King Kong in New York. It's not impossible to believe that both of these monsters exist in the same place so the meeting of the two works well enough, considering what it is. I've certainly seen worse crossovers.

One quick note is the actual look of Godzilla. It's easily the best suit yet and bests even suits from later films in the series. I'm not sure just yet, but it may be one of the better suits of the Showa era of Godzilla. The Kong suit, however, is another world of terrible. Considering the previous Kong movies were done with stop motion, it's somewhat understandable, but still. It's pretty bad.

This movie is also the very obvious beginning of the Vs. trend that would basically define Godzilla for nearly every movie from this point on. From the title to every event in the movie, the whole idea is to show these two monsters tussle to see who would win. All pretense of Godzilla being a menace to Tokyo and a harbinger of the atomic age is nowhere to be found. The idea is, let's get these two together and have at it.

With that mindset, the movie becomes supremely disappointing since they don't even actually meet until nearly an hour in, and the actual fight occurs in the last 10 minutes of the movie. When I say the movie is ultimately forgettable, it's because the other 80 minutes are just that. It reminds me of another franchise I adore, Friday the 13th. Part VIII of those movies leads Jason to Manhattan, so says the title. However, Jason doesn't actually arrive in Manhattan until the last 15 minutes and pretty much nothing occurs when he does get there, making the whole movie somewhat pointless. It's a lesser entry in that franchise and, similarly, this is a lesser entry in the Godzilla franchise.

Trailer:

To save you the trouble, I managed to find a decent compliation of the fight between Godzilla and King Kong. Save yourself the 90 minutes of watching the complete movie and watch the only part of the film that somewhat redeemable. Enjoy the cheesy monster fighting. You are welcome.

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

2009-07-02T23:57:00.004-04:00

Coming just a year after the original, Godzilla Raids Again falls into sequel trappings that plague movies even today.

The biggest issue is the reappearance of Godzilla himself, when he is seemingly evaporated in the final minutes of the first movie. Granted, this was semi-explained in the last line of dialogue of the original, but it was never explicitly explained as to how he became to exist again, much less bring along another monster, Anguirus. The lack of real explanation (there's a scene where they once again blame the hydrogen bomb, but that's not enough, I think) gives the whole movie an air of "the first was successful, let's make another" that movies today still do. Even with this issue, it had its moments.

Godzilla is still treated as a force of nature. Having yet to transform into the "hero" of the later films, he is legitimately feared when he shows up. In this film, he decides to focus his hatred on Osaka, which leads to my favorite sequence in the movie. It is explained in the previous film and this one that light attracts Godzilla, which is why he seems to attack at night, when all the city's lights are on. It also explains why he attacks Tokyo all the time, as it's the biggest city in the country, therefore it would be the brightest. However, in this movie, as he threatens Osaka, a blackout is called for the entire city, plunging the city into darkness. A group of planes heads out to sea to set off flares to distract Godzilla. It seemingly works for a moment.

Just that moment alone was creative and the highlight of the movie, as it shows that Godzilla is seemingly a part of their lives now. Why else would they have a plan in place in case of his arrival? The force of nature aspect of Godzilla is enhanced here, as he's treated as you would a hurricane: have a plan in place and hope the damage isn't too bad.

However, right after that the film falls apart again, as Anguirus shows up, due to the flares. It then becomes a monster fight in Osaka, which breaks from the tone of the film (it was attempting serious like the original) and shows the beginnings of future movies that are nothing but monsters fighting each other.

Keep in mind that I don't expect every Godzilla movie to have a serious tone like the first movie. I greatly enjoyed 2004's Godzilla Final Wars and that's nothing but a bunch of monsters fighting for 2 hours. But that movie knew what it was going to be from the beginning. This one shows the strains of keeping true to the first movie and introducing a new aspect in another monster. It just doesn't coalesce into anything.

I mainly would put blame on the change of director. Ishiro Honda directed the first film, and the subsequent 4 in a row, but this one was directed by Motoyoshi Oda and it's the only Godzilla movie done by him. For the most part, the early movies are Ishiro Honda's babies and this one is the odd man out.

One thing that has been consistent is the forgettable human characters. In the first, there was a weak, underdeveloped love triangle that I was barely aware of most of the movie. In this one, there's two friends that are the first to discover Godzilla and help out in dealing with him. The buddy friendship works much stronger than the love triangle did in the first movie. It leads to a moment near the end that's sorta touching, but ultimately it's forgettable.

Without a strong sequence like the original's attack on Tokyo or the over-the-top fights of later movies, this movie quickly becomes forgettable in the canon of Godzilla movies. It's definitely a necessary movie in the evolution of the franchise, but it's not pretty to look at.

A quick footnote: the final attack on Godzilla at the ice island was strangely reminiscent of the attack on King Kong at the Empire State Building in the original King Kong. I only bring it up as ironic since the next movie in the series is King Kong vs. Godzilla. Foreshadowing, perhaps.

Japanese Trailer:

Gojira (1954)

2009-07-02T23:01:00.001-04:00

For the purposes of these impressions, I'm not planning on giving out detailed plot descriptions. Hopefully they'll read just fine without having seen the films, but they'll read best with the knowledge of the film in mind. And yes, these are all films.

The first thing of note about the original Godzilla is the tone. Unlike the later films which became campy and aimed at children, this one is played completely straight. Coming only 9 years after the dropping of the atomic bombs (for a reference point, next year will be 9 years since 9/11), it plays heavily on that angle, but mainly as a storytelling device. No one but Godzilla was affected by radiation, so it never feels exploitative about the events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Godzilla is always shown as something fearful, something to behold and something to be afraid of. While the pacing of the first hour drags a bit, with lots of "what is it", "how did it come to be" and so on, the movie picks up and basically doesn't let go once Godzilla reaches Tokyo. In a special effects marvel of the time, there is a 15 minute attack on Tokyo that is shown to be absolutely devastating. One moment shows a mother with her three children as Godzilla approaches. She tells the children not to worry, "we'll be with father soon enough." The entire sequence is just as brutal. In today's action movies with large scale destruction and little thought given to aftermath, it's amazing to see a 55 year old movie one-up movies of today in that aspect.

The ultimate story of the film is honestly fairly lightweight, despite the masterpiece sequence of the attack. A scientist creates an Oxygen Destroyer, which takes all the oxygen out of water and kills anything around. It's demonstrated in a fish tank earlier in the film (in a somewhat laughable sequence) and it's ultimately used in the climax of the movie. Despite the story, the mood of the movie post-destruction never becomes upbeat again, even after they use the Oxygen Destroyer to kill Godzilla. The last line of the film is a warning that with more bombs, Godzilla just may come back again, which of course, he does.

One thing that sticks out is the music, composed by Akira Ifukube. It's amazing that the music created for this movie has lasted all these years, most prominently Godzilla's Theme. That piece of music has become so well known and iconic, Cloverfield's only piece of music, "Roar", feels like a Godzilla outtake, in a good way.

Moreso than anything else about the movie, the tone of it is what struck me watching it a second time. It's the sole reason the movie remains watchable to this day, as most of the acting is old fashioned and wooden, the effects don't hold up to cable access of today and it's all shot in black and white. Despite the setbacks, it still remains watchable, and lays the foundation for a franchise that has lasted for 55 years. It's one of the few Godzilla movies I would recommend to someone who was not a fan, so long as they have an appreciation of film.

There's a reason Godzilla has been around so long. This film is that reason.

Japanese Trailer:

Where to begin?

2009-07-02T22:57:00.000-04:00

So this blog's sole purpose is to record my impressions and thoughts of all the Godzilla movies as I watch them, in order, throughout the month of July. The idea behind this comes out of a desire to rewatch these movies (I had previously seen all but 2 of the Godzilla movies) and to watch them in the created order. And, well, I just like the Godzilla franchise, so why not?

I'll post every day once I've seen the movies. First up are impressions from yesterday's movie, the original "Gojira".