UserWiki:SuperZillaRealms: Difference between revisions

From Wikizilla, the kaiju encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Line 258: Line 258:
====''[[Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster]]''====
====''[[Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster]]''====
[[File:Ghidorah1-1.jpg|thumb|left|100px]]
[[File:Ghidorah1-1.jpg|thumb|left|100px]]
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was a huge game changer in the Godzilla series. From a symbol of nuclear destruction to a protector of the Earth, all it took was the introduction of a three-headed golden dragon called Ghidorah. The plot itself is strange as it involves the spirit of an alien from Venus who warns the Earth of multiple things such as Godzilla returning, Rodan erupting from the volcano and worse of all, an alien dragon called King Ghidorah is coming to Earth to destroy it. there are assassins that are trying to kill the princess but fail each time, it builds up neat action scenes when the monsters aren’t around.
Ghidorah, the Three headed monster was a huge game changer in the Godzilla series, he went from a metaphor of nuclear destruction to defender of planet Earth. And that is because it introduces one of Godzilla’s most popular villains, Ghidorah, a three headed golden space dragon that shoot lightning, he has become a recurring villain in the series and I can totally see why. As mentioned before, Ghidorah comes from outer space and has brought multiple civilizations to extinction including Mars and intends to do the same to Earth. Martians who escaped Ghidorahs wrath fled towards Earth and integrated with humans however with each generation, the Martians grow weaker losing their abilities except for a psychic linkage that the Martians use to warn the people of Earth about the upcoming monster crisis.


Eventually Godzilla does indeed return and Rodan erupting from a volcano. Both monsters fight but gets halted by one of Mothra’s larvae. Ghidorah then appears and just starts destroying everything in his way but eventually all three monsters drive him off. The human again were taking a back seat when it came to the monsters but we did get one silly scene when the Shobijin were translating what the monsters were saying “Oh Godzilla what terrible language”. That always cracked me up.
However the person that the Martian is inhabiting is being targeted by assassins, so it does makes thing difficult especially when the Martian is making her go public. Godzilla and Rodan show up but they immediately start fighting each other and one of Mothra’s larvae is sent to be some sort of peacekeeper for the monsters. I should also note that in between films the other larvae somehow died and it isn’t explained when or how this occurred. There is this one scene where we see the monsters perspective of things, with Godzilla and Rodan agreeing that the humans are “bullies”.  


Overall, this was a very enjoyable movie. It introduces on of Godzilla’s greatest villains and even became his ultimate nemesis. The inclusion of Mothra and Rodan also made this enjoyable, while the human plot was a little bit strange it was still fun and interesting. 4.4/5
But Mothra is unable to make Godzilla and Rodan cooperate and faces the newly awoken Ghidorah, and it doesn’t so well for her. But you know what they say '''''”four monsters are better than two”-,Cinemassare''''', so Godzilla and Rodan join the fight in a royal rumble against King Ghidorah, there are some good moments, my favourite is when Mothra spews hers webs at King Ghidorah while riding on Rodan’s back. Unlike past films, none of the monster die, King Ghidorah retreats when he’s overwhelmed by earth’s monsters.
 
 
Overall, I loved the change of direction in the series, this does indicate that the Godzilla series is now leading towards a younger audience. The fights were really good with some memorable moments, it does show that sometimes size doesn’t matter but sometimes, big numbers can. King Ghidorah was awesome and you know what they say “two heads are better than one, but three heads are better then two”. 4.4/5


====''[[Invasion of Astro-Monster]]''====
====''[[Invasion of Astro-Monster]]''====

Revision as of 19:36, 26 November 2019

SuperZillaRealms trademark icon
SuperZillaRealms
SuperZillaRealms
Alternate names KaijuOfTheElements, Shin, SuperZilla1975
Species Human
Allies AlphaRper
Enemies Stupid People (Most Customers)

Who Am I?

My Life As A Godzilla Fan

2005

At a young age most kids are first introduced into the world of Superhumans from the likes of Marvel and DC comics. I however was not one of them, instead of me being introduced to a world full of Superheroes, I was introduced into a world of Titans. And what sparked that interest was the 1993 film we all know and love, Jurassic Park. I loved how massive and realistic these creatures were. This also introduced me into Mythical creatures from the likes of dragons, cryptids like Bigfoot or the Chupacabra and cheap monster movies. One I do remember watching was Dinocroc.

2006

I don’t really remember that much from that day (as it was over 13 years ago). My mom came home with 4 specific movies which introduced me into the world of Godzilla. These movies were the following, Mothra Vs Godzilla, Godzilla 2000, GODZILLA (1998) and my all time favourite, Terror Of Mechagodzilla. She assumed I would like them because the covers included a giant dinosaur of some sort. As you can tell I loved them all, but my opinion on some of these films have changed.

2007

Since then, Blockbuster (R.I.P BlockBuster) became my favourite store to visit as they provided tons of Godzilla films many of which were from the Millennium series (Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All Out Attack, Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S. and Godzilla Final Wars) and some were from the Showa series (Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster, Godzilla Vs Hedorah, Godzilla Vs Gigan and Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla). I would use these little dinosaurs to act as the monster while playing, I specifically remember using a green Compsognathus to act as Godzilla. One day on Christmas, I received a gift from my aunt, I was honestly surprised when I found out it was a Godzilla figure (Bandai Creations Godzilla 1954 Wave 1 in case your wondering). It was the happiest moment in my life as I had an actual figurine of my favourite hero but that didn’t last long.

2008

In less of a year, I lost the figure. And the thing is, I don’t know where I left it. I was incredibly sad about this but luckily that didn’t last long as my mom got me another Godzilla figure (Bandai Creations Godzilla 2001). I would take that thing in the bathtub with me but the downside of it was that water would get in the figure, so I would have to remove the tail to drain it. It was a pain in the ass to get it back on. But unfortunately I lost it but it didn’t bother me this time. On Christmas Eve my brother got me another Godzilla figure (Bandai Creations Godzilla 2004) and promised myself not to lose it (Funfact: Its still on my shelf to this day but in bad condition).


2009-2010

Of course being a Godzilla fan, it did leave me a few options in terms of friends with the same interests, at least where I was. My mom applied me for a camp called “Camp Cheerful” and that is where I met my best friend AlphaRper who also had an interest in Godzilla. We spent the whole summer together and we even kept in touch by giving me his moms phone number. We would schedule get togethers from time to time, and my mom became good friends with his mom so my mom got her email address. I even went back next summer however there was sudden rift between us and I don’t even know what caused that. That rift caused us to lose contact with one another for 5 years. This rift also changed my interests entirely, I suddenly wasn’t interested in Godzilla anymore and that gap was slowly filled up with LEGO.

2012-2015

One day, my mom called me down and showed me a trailer and was shocked to see that it was for an upcoming American reboot of Godzilla. That reignited my love for Godzilla and that caused me to look for my Godzilla 2004 figure for the next hour and I slowly got into collecting figures eventually getting into the SH Monsterarts line in 2015. Anyways May 16, came around and I came out of the theatre smiling like an idiot. My mom informed me that she had AphaRpers mom’s email address and I could talk to AlphaRper again. We both got Skype and kept in contact ever since.

2017-2018

It wasn’t long before I would see AlphaRper in person again as we both planned to go to Chicago for G-Fext XXIV and it was an amazing time. We both met one of the Directors (Shinji Higuchi) of Shin Godzilla and got my Shin Godzilla figures tag signed by him. And Alpha did the same. I even went back next year for G-Fests 25th anniversary and got my Hedorah figure signed by Kenpachiro Satsuma but this time Alpha couldn’t make it.

2019

Since then, I have a great collection of figures, own almost all the movies and even got into the Ultraman and Gamera series. Personal favourite Gamera film would include Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, as for Ultraman its Ultraman Geed. I’ve been watching so many monster films so much (including the ones you see on SyFy) that I’ve understood and accepted each film despite its flaws, no movie is perfect. Love or hate these films but one thing that we agree on is that giant monsters are f*cking awesome, nothing is going to change that. The G-community is a bit derisive when it comes to “which Godzilla movie is the best” or “which is the strongest incarnation”, honestly I don’t care about that stuff. I have my opinions and they have theirs, so we should respect that.

Quotes

The Bigger They Are, The Harder I Fight
Shut Up, Otherwise I'll Beat The Skreeonk Out Of You
Fusion Rise, Legendary Godzilla! Shin Godzilla! Primal Godzilla!

My Collection

Figures

Video/Board Games

Movies

Posters

Books/Comics

Medalions

My Favourite Godzilla Films

Reviews

Godzilla Series

Godzilla (1954)

Gojira 1954 Japanese poster.jpg

Godzilla is one of the great granddaddies of most giant monster films, it gave birth to “Tokusatsu” which would involve miniature sets and rubber suits and is still used to this day in most Japanese media including Ultraman. This movie was made by people who witnessed and lived through the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and it shows, it reflects the horrors of what occurred after the bombings and its sad to watch. This isn’t really about a giant monster knocking over buildings, this shows that it was meant to be a disaster movie.

It’s important to note that I never saw the original until I was 16, it was probably for the best as it is really dark tone wise and depressing as in it should be Rated R. Whenever someone gets trampled or passes away its very sad, there is one scene that I’ll never forget and that is when a little girl cries after sees her mom pass away when Godzilla attacked Tokyo. The characterization was really good, I enjoyed the love triangle between Serizawa, Emiko and Ogata, but it doesn’t really go into much depth. The soundtrack was done by Akira Ifukube, one of my favourite themes is “Prayers For Peace” and of course the classic Godzilla theme (which started as a military march).

Just like King Kong before hand, the monsters are meant to be sympathetic as it was mankind’s recklessness that gave birth to Godzilla, it makes you question who the real monsters are. When both monsters are killed there isn’t any celebrations, cheering or anything like that, its meant to be sad despite Godzilla being a symbol for the destruction of nuclear weapons. I recently saw the American cut of the film and it most of it was cut down and new scenes were filmed, not only that, its message about nuclear weapons was watered down. Needless to say I prefer the original (1954) compared to the American re-cut (1956).

Overall, Godzilla (1954) is a cinematic masterpiece that takes inspiration from previous films like the original King Kong movie and has a fantastic message on the horrors of nuclear weapons. I would highly recommend seeing this film for a mature audience, but as for younger viewers I would stay away at least until they’re older. 4.3/5

Godzilla Raids Again

Godzilla Raids Again Poster A.png

When I first saw this film it really isn’t great, unfortunately that hasn’t changed. Within a few short minutes, it lost its dark tone that the original had. Godzilla this time doesn’t destroy Tokyo, he destroys Osaka. He isn’t alone this time, a new monster is discovered in the form of Anguirus a giant ankylosaur-like monster and Godzilla fighting another monster became one of the many staples in the series. In the movie, it is said that both species of monsters have been rivals for a long time. The pacing in this movie is off by tenfold, and when Godzilla and Anguirus fight, the footage is speed up which ruins the illusion of these monsters being gigantic. The fight itself is decent but I wished that the footage was slowed down as It looked like a kid was bashing two dinosaur toys together.

It felt like this film had less of a budget due to the fight in Osaka and the avalanche scene. What I mean is that there is this neat aerial shot of Godzilla from a helicopter but isn’t moving. The movie ends with a very neat scene where fighter jets fire at a glacier to seal Godzilla in ice but one complaint is that it was a bit anti-climatic, there was no proper buildup and nothing was played over it. Ironically Godzilla would be hibernating for the next 7 years as Toho would be making more monster movies from the likes of Mothra, Varan and the Mysterians.

Overall, Godzilla Raids Again losts its dark tone in favour of giant monster battle. While it still has heart but not as much as the original did. I do consider it to be one of the worst but not THE worst Godzilla movie. Anguirus was a really neat add in and was utilized well but falls to easily. 2.9/5

King Kong vs. Godzilla

King Kong vs. Godzilla Poster A.png

King Kong vs. Godzilla is one of the greatest matchups of all time. It was East Vs West, the American monster vs the Japanese monster. Well by comparing Kong to Godzilla, Kong is an ant so they did have to increase Kong’s height in order for him to face Godzilla and since Godzilla has the atomic breath, Kong has electric based powers to balance things out. Originally it was going to be Frankenstein but was scrapped which would explain Kong’s electric powers but an electric monkey looks unrealistic but then again giant monsters aren’t realistic in the first place.

The characters mostly stand by and watch the whole thing, only getting between the monsters when transporting Kong to face Godzilla but that’s probably a wise choice given the fact both monsters can kill you. The fight itself is entertaining but sometimes its get a bit goofy, in fact, Kong is pounded into the ground very easily until Kong turns the tides after getting struck by lightning. The fights mostly happen in the mountains and the forests only one building gets destroyed. When pitting two of the most iconic movie monsters of all time, I do expect them to fight in a city but that doesn’t happen. The aftermath of the fight doesn’t give us a clear winner but it was confirmed by Toho that Kong won.

There is also another monster called the Giant Octopus played by an actual octopus which was grilled later on (R.I.P Octopus) but loses easily. In fact the Giant Octopus was the inspiration for Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Overall, King Kong vs. Godzilla is a fun movie with an entertaining battle. But the human characters do take a back seat when it comes to the monster action only interfering when relocating Kong or rescuing someone from Kong’s grasp. The story itself is good but most parts do drag, I would like to see a modern interpretation of the movie but luckily, 2020 is around the corner. 3.9/5

Mothra vs. Godzilla

Mothra vs. Godzilla Poster A.png

Another crossover, Mothra originally came from a novel of the same name and was adopted in the film which was successful. The film has a great message on greed which only upset not one but two giant monsters. A giant egg washed up on shore and a bunch of greedy businessmen buy it from the village and plan to use it as a tourist attraction. To be honest these are probably the dumbest characters in the series, it seemed that it didn’t come to mind that whatever layed that egg, it wants it back. It gets worse, radiation levels were detected at a beach and of course greedy businessmen step in and accidentally wake up Godzilla.

The movie does lose track sometimes focusing more on its message on greed then anything else. Anyways Godzilla is very clumsy in this film, he’s gets his tail stuck and falls into a ditch, that happens because the suit actor was located in the neck of the suit and couldn’t see anything. The fight between Godzilla and Mothra is decent but all that happens is that Mothra is beating her wings and drags Godzilla around but unfortunately dies. The egg hatches and reveal two larvae who in case Godzilla in a cocoon and fall into the ocean.

Overall, it has a great message on greed but focuses too much on it. There was once scene where part of Infant island is practically dead due to nuclear weapons, so there’s a bit of a message of nuclear weapons as well but wasn’t focused on as greed was the main message of the story. The casting of Mothra vs. Godzilla was excellent but some parts do drag. I wouldn’t mind seeing this cast agin in the future. 3.4/5

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

Ghidorah1-1.jpg

Ghidorah, the Three headed monster was a huge game changer in the Godzilla series, he went from a metaphor of nuclear destruction to defender of planet Earth. And that is because it introduces one of Godzilla’s most popular villains, Ghidorah, a three headed golden space dragon that shoot lightning, he has become a recurring villain in the series and I can totally see why. As mentioned before, Ghidorah comes from outer space and has brought multiple civilizations to extinction including Mars and intends to do the same to Earth. Martians who escaped Ghidorahs wrath fled towards Earth and integrated with humans however with each generation, the Martians grow weaker losing their abilities except for a psychic linkage that the Martians use to warn the people of Earth about the upcoming monster crisis.

However the person that the Martian is inhabiting is being targeted by assassins, so it does makes thing difficult especially when the Martian is making her go public. Godzilla and Rodan show up but they immediately start fighting each other and one of Mothra’s larvae is sent to be some sort of peacekeeper for the monsters. I should also note that in between films the other larvae somehow died and it isn’t explained when or how this occurred. There is this one scene where we see the monsters perspective of things, with Godzilla and Rodan agreeing that the humans are “bullies”.

But Mothra is unable to make Godzilla and Rodan cooperate and faces the newly awoken Ghidorah, and it doesn’t so well for her. But you know what they say ”four monsters are better than two”-,Cinemassare, so Godzilla and Rodan join the fight in a royal rumble against King Ghidorah, there are some good moments, my favourite is when Mothra spews hers webs at King Ghidorah while riding on Rodan’s back. Unlike past films, none of the monster die, King Ghidorah retreats when he’s overwhelmed by earth’s monsters.


Overall, I loved the change of direction in the series, this does indicate that the Godzilla series is now leading towards a younger audience. The fights were really good with some memorable moments, it does show that sometimes size doesn’t matter but sometimes, big numbers can. King Ghidorah was awesome and you know what they say “two heads are better than one, but three heads are better then two”. 4.4/5

Invasion of Astro-Monster

Invasion of Astro-Monster Poster A.png

Despite the last film giving introduction to alien life (Ghidorah), Invasion of Astro-Monster was the film that introduced the series in the space genre. Its starts out with the discovery of a new planet behind Jupiter called Planet X that is inhabited by an alien race called the Xiliens. There planet has been threatened by an extraterrestrial monster called Monster Zero who turns out to be Ghidorah. With Earth’s permission, the Xiliens took Godzilla and Rodan to fight Ghidorah as they were the ones who drove off Ghidorah (what about Mothra though) and in return the Xiliens will give humanity the cure for cancer which turns out to be a scam. Ghidorah was under the Xiliens control this entire time and their leader is some sort of computer.

Now Godzilla and Rodan are under mind control and put under stationary, and if the Earth doesn’t surrender in 24 hours, the monsters will destroy the world. Turns out the Xiliens weakness is some sort of noise that also freed the monsters from mind control. The Xiliens were destroyed, Ghidorah was drove off once more and Godzilla and Rodan plummeted in the ocean below.

Overall, Invasion of Astro-Monster is a fun film with its own goofy and serious moments. Ghidorah makes a return which I am happy about (favourite villain). The human story was really good and getting involved around the monsters especially when they freed them from mins control. But unfortunately I still like Ghidorah, the Three-Headed monster more. 4.3/5

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

Godzilla vs sea monster poster 01.jpg

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep also known as Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster was meant to be a King Kong movie as Toho still had the rights to the character during that time. The movie takes place on an island which is home to a terrorist group called the Red Bamboo that manufactures nuclear weapons and in doing so created the Giant Condor and a giant lobster named Ebirah. Red Bamboo has also been kidnapping the inhabitants of Infant Island as slaves to produce a yellow liquid that comes from the fruits of the island that keeps Ebirah away. Unknown to them, Godzilla is sleeping in a cave under the island.

Throughout the movie, its mostly the Red Bamboo chasing a group of three men throughout the island, those scenes are fun but it gets old rather quickly. There is a spy-like tone in the film as there is a lot of sneaking around. When Godzilla and Ebirah fight, they basically play volleyball with a rock. Mothra is included in the film but only gets a minor role and only appears in the third act. One thing I absolutely loved the movie was that Godzilla ripped both of Ebirah’s claws off during their final confrontation.

Overall, I liked the island setting for this film, its a nice location to make some fun chase scenes with a fun soundtrack that plays over it. The monsters didn’t blow me away as much like Ghidorah did, but it was fun to have them around. Except for the Giant Condor which could possibly the worst fight I’ve ever seen in a Godzilla film. As mentioned before, this was originally going to star King Kong but was scrapped for Godzilla. This is shown that there are many of Kong’s traits that doesn’t fit Godzilla. Its a very weak entry in the series with lazy script changes but to fun to watch. 2.9/5

Son of Godzilla

434px-Son of Godzilla 1967.jpg

Son of Godzilla yet again takes place on an island, however instead of it being home to a terrorist group. Its home to a group of scientists that are testing out a new device that controls the weather. A news reporter find out about this an comes to the island uninvited. He acts like a little kid when he doesn’t get what he wants, he basically wants a juicy story like all news reporters in real life. The island is infested with giant praying mantises, a giant spider named Kumonga and Godzilla’s non-biological son Minilla whose name is never mentioned in the film.

The film basically focuses on both the human story and the monster story evenly. Unfortunately it was poorly executed. While it does have an interesting human story the monster story sucks. Godzilla first doesn’t acknowledge Minilla but eventually comes back for him. At first Godzilla is a bad parent by threatening to hit Minilla for not using his atomic breath. Eventually we learn that Godzilla does care for is son as they both embrace each other when the humans weather device works and creates a snowstorm.

Overall, it does have a good human story, the monster story not so much. Minilla is one of my least favourite monsters and I was dying to get back to the human story and normally that doesn’t happen with me when watching these films. One thing I did like in this movie was the use of a fully scaled model of Kumonga’s leg. One of my least favourites but its still a fun movie nonetheless. 2.6/5

Destroy All Monsters

Destroy all monsters.jpg

Destroy All Monsters was meant to be the last Godzilla film, but it did so well sequels were, some bad and some good. Anyways the movie takes place in the future and all of Earth’s monsters are contained on Monsterland. Every monster that has appear in a Godzilla movie is there, well except for Ebirah, Kamacuras and of course King Kong. Anyways despite the film having the title “Destroy All Monsters” there is actually less monsters in the movie with some of them basically getting cameos.

Despite this, its a amazing movie with a really good story. Aliens have invaded the Earth and are now using monsters to destroy the world and have brainwashed a few people. This creates a specific heaviness that reminds me of Pacific Rim’s tone. This creates a good human story, one I can get behind on. To make things better, King Ghidorah returns and faces all the monsters and even dies. Unfortunately there is a flaming space craft called the Fire Dragon and to be honest this felt like the movie was trying to add more action before the move ends, it was anti-climatic and personally the movie would be better without it.

Overall, Destroy All Monsters is an excellent film with a good human story and great monster scenes. Unfortunately its last few minutes doesn’t leave an impact as rest of the movie did. I was also upset that monsters like Varan and Manda were only in for cameos and didn’t join the final battle at Mt.Fuji. Despite these flaws this is one of the best Showa movies Ive ever seen. 4.3/5

All Monsters Attack

Godzilla's Revenge 1969.jpg

All Monsters Attack also known as Godzilla’s Revenge was a movie that completely took the franchise off of its tracks. Part of the Showa series was aimed towards children to get a bigger audience. Some work well but this isn’t one of them, the film has a message on bullying and the movie is centred around it. I own the English dubbing of the film and I’m not sure if it has the English subbing on it as well.

I saw the dubbing and it was GOD AWFUL, I know that the companies distributing the film is responsible for the dubbing and the subbing and not Toho’s. Anyways the movie mostly consists of a kid dreaming of him being on Monster Island and he made friends with a talking Minilla. The other part is when he is kidnapped by a group of bandits. The scenes constantly drag and each fight that Godzilla has, is recycled from previous films, the only fight that’s original is the fight between Godzilla and Gabara.

Overall, while the message was good it was poorly executed. The human scenes constantly dragged, I had to pause the movie multiple times and had to convince myself to finish watching. The first and second acts were extremely bad, however the third act was better but it wasn’t enough to redeem the movie. I saw this movie when I was much older, so do get that this was made for a younger audience. I would have enjoyed this when I was younger but right now.....not so much. 1.4/5

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

Godzilla vs Hedorah 1971.jpg

Godzilla vs. Hedorah is one of the many Godzilla films I saw as a child, I can describe this movie as weird, entertaining and scary. What I meant by weird was there were sometimes these short animations between scenes that doesn’t really do anything with the plot this would also include the infamous Godzilla flies scene. It is entertaining with its monster fights but Hedorah last long at least until the final fight. I even said that this movie was scary because of Hedorah, when he flies over you, people melt leaving nothing but bones and this always scared me this combined with its mostly creepy soundtrack and you get one very terrified child.

This movie carries a strong message of pollution with its monster Hedorah, an alien life form merged with all the pollution of Japan and Godzilla is the only creature able to stop it. Hedorah does prove to be a match for Godzilla and it took the combined efforts of humanity and Godzilla to finally kill Hedorah. The cast of the movie isn’t that great, its a step up from All Monsters Attack but it could have been better. The director wanted a sequel to the film where Godzilla faces another Hedorah in Brazil, but that didn’t happen. The 2014 film was originally going to be a short film featuring Godzilla facing a giant monster named Deathla.

Overall, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is a fun, weird and scary film. It introduces Hedorah who is one of my favourite monsters because he is the only monster that scared me as a child, heck not even the Xenomorph pulled that off. it introduced a really good message about pollution. It had some decent characters but Ill take them any day over the last films characters. I would like to see Hedorah return someday in a big role, not just a small cameo in Final Wars. 3.8/5

Godzilla vs. Gigan

Godzilla vs Gigan 1972.jpg

Godzilla vs Gigan is another strange film but not as strange as Godzilla vs Hedorah. I cant really say what the tone of the film really is because it constantly shifts throughout the movie. Not only that the pacing of the movie was slow and the story isn’t that special. It has the same premises as some Godzilla movies, aliens have a legion of monsters and try to use them to take over Earth. Unfortunately they didn’t give an explanation why they need Earth specifically. Oh and the aliens are cockroaches (basically unkillable aliens). Their base is located in Godzilla Tower an amusement parks landmark.

The story reintroduces King Ghidorah who previously died in Destroy All Monsters but the extended Showa series from Godzilla vs Hedorah to Terror Of Mechagodzilla are prequels to Destroy All Monsters. It also reintroduces Anguirus who hasn’t been seen chronologically since 1955, and it also introduces a new monster named Gigan who has blades for hands and a buzzsaw on his chest he is mostly famous for being the first monster to cause Godzilla to bleed. Anyways Godzilla and Anguirus somehow learned to talk and it sounds like a scratched record player, the tag team between the monsters is really good but the story itself wasn’t that good.

Overall, while this movie introduces and reintroduces other monsters it didn’t really make up for the inconsistent tone and the constant fast and slow pacing, it really throws you off. The movie also uses stock footage and unfortunately future movies have the same problem. The characters weren’t that memorable but they at least did something that moved the plot forward. The villains weren’t good and when watching a movie we do need to feel some sympathy for the villains to understand why they did this. 3/5

Godzilla vs. Megalon

Megalon-big.jpg

Godzilla vs Megalon despite it starring Godzilla, the main focus is a size changing robot named Jet Jaguar. The story is somewhat different from Godzilla vs Gigan actually, there are some elements that were from the last film, inconsistent tone, overuse of stock footage and another tag team battle in the third act. Despite the movie having the same flaws as the last one did, I did find this film much more enjoyable. I did understand the Seatopians motives were primary because of fear because of what happened to their capital, they even called the Space Hunter aliens to borrow Gigan to help their own monster Megalon, a giant beetle with drills for hands who is also worshipped as a deity.

Like previous films, the main characters take a back seat whenever the monsters are involved. The only time the humans really do anything is when two of our protagonists gets kidnapped and regain control of Jet Jaguar. Megalon is not a smart monster, he needed Jet Jaguar just to figure out where he’s going and when he’s gone he just goes on a confusing rampage, whenever Megalon battles the military stock footage from Godzilla vs Gigan is used, I get it that this is used to reduce the budget but I’m not used to seeing Gigans claw when Megalon is destroying the jets. Speaking of Gigan, he comes back to assist Megalon while Jet Jaguar teams up with Godzilla. But just like the last film Gigan flees leaving his teammate to deal with both monsters, Godzilla does this drop kick and is funny to watch, he does this a few more times before Megalon finally retreats. The movie does end on Jet Jaguar and plays this pretty dope song.

Overall, while retaining the flaws that Godzilla vs Gigan had, I found this film to be a bit more enjoyable. Godzilla isn’t really the main monster in the story despite being in the title, that honour goes to Jet Jaguar, actually Godzilla only appears in a major role in the third act. I don’t know that this was meant to be build up for the final battle but it didn’t feel like it. I did like the inclusion of two old and two new monsters, but some scenes like Megalon vs the military could have been better as it was mostly Megalon swinging his drills around and cutting to Gigans blade destroying the jet instead. 3.1/5

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 1974.jpg

Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla did bring Godzilla back on track while appealing to younger audiences, the movie brings in a small plot twist along with a pretty good story. The story involves a prophecy about a giant monster destroying civilization and trampling anyone that gets in its path, the only hope against this threat is a guardian named King Caesar. I should note I saw this film when I was little about 7-8 years old but I recently found a DVD release by TriStar in awesome condition for a great price on eBay for $20 despite the DVD’s rarity. The movie goes beyond just a prophecy about a giant monster destroying the planet, it involves a bit a spirituality while introducing sci-fi elements with the discovery of a new metal called Space Titanium.

It is believed that Godzilla is the monster that will destroy humanity but this is quickly proven wrong when Anguirus attacks Godzilla, knowing that he wouldn’t attack his friend and Godzilla doesn’t have metal under his skin. There is this really great fight between two Godzillas, one of them revealed to be a robotic doppelgänger dubbed Mechagodzilla that was built by a dying race of aliens that look like they came from Planet of the Apes, it’s explained that their home is about to be destroyed by a black hole that is slowly approaching their planet causing them to search for a new home, this introduces strong sympathy for the aliens which is something we don’t see that often, with their home literally on the brink of collapse they’ve become desperate to find a habitable planet in order to wipe it clean to make it a new home to themselves. The third act finally introduces King Caesar who was sleeping in a mountain this whole time, Godzilla soon returns to have a rematch with Mechagodzilla, even with their combined forces they are no match for Mechagodzilla, Mechagodzilla has an entire arsenal of weapons that causes Godzilla to bleed from finger missiles to laser beams. Mechagodzilla is soon destroyed when Godzilla turned himself into a giant magnet and twists Mechagodzilla’s head off.

Overall, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla is a movie that got Godzilla back on track while appealing to a more modern/younger audience. The plot is great, with strong villains and great monster action. The movie is colourful with a jazz-like soundtrack, however the only complaint I do have is that sometimes the pacing is off and some of special effects don’t look good (about 5%) while 95% of the effects are really good. 4/5

Terror of Mechagodzilla

Terror of MechaGodzilla 1975.jpg

First off Terror Of Mechagodzilla is the very film that got me into the Godzilla franchise, it has a darker tone than the last film, and while all the monster action happens in the third act, it is actually really good build up for the final battle. I wasn’t able to see Terror Of Mechagodzilla for at least over 10 years since 2006, mainly because the disc got scratched, but eventually I found a Toho Master Collection of the DVD and I still loved every second of it despite me maturing during that time. It also introduces a new monster named Titanosaurus who is under the control of the Black Hole Aliens from the last film along with Dr.Mafune who was kicked out of the science institution because of his colleagues mocking him about the existence of Titanosaurus and wants revenge.


However one thing I cant get over is that there is this plot hole where he said “they came 15 years to late”, so assuming that he was kicked out in the year 1960, before that time, Godzilla appeared in 1954 and another one returned in 1955 along with Anguirus then giant insects along with Rodan a giant pteranodon appeared in 1956. So they saw giant radioactive monsters wreaking havoc upon Japan but somehow don’t believe that a giant aquatic dinosaur lives on the ocean floor. Anyways the aliens were using Titanosaurus to scavenge the remains of Mechagodzilla in order for it to be rebuilt but this time more powerful and more destructive, Godzilla doesn’t appear until halfway through the second act but I expected that as it is a common occurrence in the series and this time he faces two monsters with no backup this time, this makes really good and fun fight scenes in the movie. The special effects are as good as the previous films however somehow Titanosaurus is bigger than a mountain but its something minor and not a big deal over.

Overall, Terror Of Mechagodzilla is a really good film and from what I’ve seen its a fan favourite despite it doing poorly in the box office. While the plot hole in the film does uncover a major flaw in universe, it doesn’t ruin the movie. It has memorable characters such as Dr.Mafune and Katsura, Titanosaurus was also sympathetic as he was forced to do the aliens bidding. While it does start off a bit slow but it is totally worth it 4.7/5

The Return of Godzilla

The Return of Godzilla Poster Japan 1.png

The Return of Godzilla is a soft reboot of the series basically ignoring the entire Showa series except the original and brought Godzilla back his roots, a force of nuclear destruction. About 30 years have passed since the first Godzilla attacked Tokyo in 1954 and being killed by the Oxygen Destroyer, its also important to note that this takes place during the Cold War as this is the movies message. It all starts with a boat being attack by mutated sea lice and the survivor claiming he saw a giant creature which is later revealed as another Godzilla which is kept under wraps by the government to prevent a panic, this new Godzilla has been sinking nuclear submarines from Russia and blame it on the Americans. To prevent another war, the government had to come clean about another Godzilla, and both nations pressurize Japan’s government for the permission of nuclear weapons but refused even if Godzilla attacks Japan’s mainland.

The first time we see Godzilla is when he attacks a nuclear power plant as a source of food, Godzilla is terrifying in this film which was something I was happy to see. Anyways it is later discovered that Godzilla follows the Earth’s magnetic field (a little nod that birds are close relatives to dinosaurs) similar to birds and a plan is set into motion to lure Godzilla to a volcano and trap him in with a controlled eruption. There is a new weapon introduced into the movie called the Super X that was built in secret to prepare for another attack, its main weapons are cadmium missiles which are used to control nuclear reactors and does take down Godzilla but is only revitalized after the Russians accidentally launch a nuclear missile towards the heart of the city only to be intercepted by a missile that the Americans fired. Godzilla is eventually lured with a magnetic transmitter and falls into the volcano, however he lets out a blood curdling scream before falling in and is incredibly sad basically telling us who the real monsters are.

Overall, The Return of Godzilla had a great message of the Cold War which is a slight adaptation of the dangers of nuclear weapons from the first film. One moment I did like was when Prime Minister was under the pressure of the Russians and Americans about the usage of nuclear weapons but goes with his convictions, if I was him I would’ve broke very easily. Godzilla is terrifying but some closeups on him do look dumb on certain camera angles, he acts more animal-like in this movie but still has the impression of a giant monster but also being sympathetic in some ways. It is a good movie but it doesn’t live up to the original film despite it carrying a similar tone and message. 4.2/5

Godzilla vs. Biollante

Godzilla vs. Biollante Poster Japan 2.png

Godzilla vs. Biollante takes place 5 years after the second Godzilla’s attack in 1984, the plot centres around a terrorist group, a Sandarian agent, a dead girl and Godzilla’s cells. The terrorist group is called Bio-Major and what they want with the G-cells is unclear as it was never mentioned, while a Sandarian agent wants them as an attempt to create a tropical plant that can withstand the desert heat as they only sold oil. Unfortunately the lab was bombed by Bio Major, the cells were destroyed and the scientists daughter died, to keep her “alive” he spliced her daughters DNA with that of a rose bush and after an earthquake that almost killed the roses, he joined the ANEB project and combined Godzilla cells with the rose and as we all learned from these types of movies, this was a bad idea. The rose mutates and grows into a giant monster named Biollante, during this time Godzilla is stirring inside of the volcano and the terrorist group threatens to release Godzilla if they don’t hand over the G-cells. But after a gun fight between SSS9, Bio Major and others, Godzilla is released once more.

I should point out that this movie does drag a bit for things to get interesting, despite the story being really good it drags in the first act but it does improve in the next two acts mainly because now all the drama is centred around Godzilla and Biollante, After resurfacing in Osaka, Godzilla attacks Biollante and evaporates into spores. The ANEB is recovered but unfortunately it has no effect on Godzilla as it is only activated to high temperatures, the military is sent to raise Godzilla’s body temperature for the ANEB to take full effect, a newly modled Super X II is sent but unlike the first one, it loses. Biollante returns in her beast form and looks gorgeous, the fight between the two behemoths evolves a lot of tooth, claw and vine but embrace it while we can because for the next 5 movies it will be mainly beam spams. Because of Biollante’s acid spray, the ANEB finally takes effect and takes Godzilla down, Biollante evaporates into spores and flies into space while Godzilla walks back into the ocean and isn’t seen for the next 2 years.

Overall, Godzilla vs. Biollante has a great story and message on the warnings of genetic engineering, unfortunately the tone of the movie was executed poorly especially when it was trying to be serious. Both monster designs were gorgeous and loved the tooth and claw fight scenes they had, unfortunately we wouldn’t be seeing this throughout the rest of the Heisei series because of the suit limitations for each suit. 3.3/5

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

Gvskg01.jpg

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is another film that introduced the franchise into more sci-fi elements such as time travel. Anyways a group of people travel back to 1992 to warn Japan of Godzilla’s return. They travel back to the year 1944 to prevent a dinosaur called the Godzillasaurus from turning into Godzilla. However by doing this, they accidentally created the Heisei Godzilla that attacked Japan two films prior. So if they hadn’t gone back in time, there wouldn’t be a Heisei Godzilla. I don’t know, time travel is confusing in general especially on what Avengers Endgame did with it. Turns out everything was a scam and in Godzilla’s place, they replaced him with Dorats which then merged into King Ghidorah because of the radiation.

I’m not a big fan of this origin, it takes his extraterrestrial origins away and turns him into a genetic experiment gone amok. As mentioned before neither Godzillas were erased from history, and only need to expose him to more radiation in order for him to fight King Ghidorah. To their surprised Godzilla is still alive and sinks a nuclear sub that was sent to revitalize him, because of this the ANEB is gone and Godzilla increases in height. Godzilla does triump over King Ghidorah but unfortunately Godzilla’s back and goes on another rampage, so they decided to travel back to the 30th century and bring King Ghidorah back to fight Godzilla, however this time he’s cybernized and is now Mecha-King Ghidorah.

He has a vast amount of weaponry and the fight is honestly pretty awesome despite both monsters spamming the beam button. Mecha-King Ghidorah then grabs Godzilla with theses giant claws made to restrain him and flys off, but Godzilla lands one final attack in the air and both plummet into the ocean.

Overall, Godzilla vs, King Ghidorah is a very fun movie, it has really good fight scenes despite most of it being beam spams. And despite the time travel plot, it fits nicely in the Heisei timeline. If I only have one complaint is that I didn’t like King Ghidorahs new origin, however in an early script, the Dorats were created from the remains of King Ghidorah found on Jupiter, a sequel titled “The Return of King Ghidorah” was planned but never saw the light. Mecha-King Ghidorah would have a role in creating another monster in 1993 but for now I’m just going to leave it at that. 3.9/5

Godzilla vs. Mothra

Gvm.jpg

Before the movie was set into production, Toho had a voting contest and Mothra won out because she is the most popular monster amount women. Godzilla vs. Mothra also has the repeated message about protecting the environment just like Godzilla vs. Hedorah before hand, but unfortunately this was poorly executed due to multiple reasons. One reason is because that it was brought up in almost every scene, we always hear about “mankind’s destruction” upon the Earth, it feels like the movie was trying to force it down your throat with no breaks in between. To make things worse, the message of the movie doesn’t correlate within the events of the movie basically making the message worthless and I don’t think this hasn’t happened before in any movie I’ve seen.

The plot of the movie is basically a repeat of Mothra vs. Godzilla with slight changes, the most noticeable change is the inclusion of Battra which I can only describe as an anti-Mothra character wise. Mothra is usually a benevolent monster that doesn’t usually attack humans unless you threaten her followers but Battra is the exact opposite, he seeks to destroy humanity and I don’t blame him. Godzilla is of course the bad guy again along with Battra who then teams up with Mothra to defeat Godzilla, it took the combined efforts of Mothra and Battra to beat Godzilla but sadly Battra is killed after Godzilla bites his neck.

Overall, while Godzilla vs. Mothra tried to have a good message on protecting the environment, it was unfortunately poorly executed actually now that I think about it, it wasn’t even executed at all heck it didn’t have any proper correlation throughout the film. Battra was a cool monster to include, it feels like he’s a yin to Mothra’s yang but Mothra wasn’t the center of attention in the first two acts despite being in the title. The fight scenes were good but It did have a major lack of fisticuffs and just plain beam-spams which is common throughout the Heisei series but there is one good scene where Battra uses a Ferris wheel to knock down Godzilla. I haven’t talked about the human characters at all but one I just hated just because she always brings up mankind’s destruction. 2.7/5

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla-movie-poster-1020433270.jpg

Despite the title saying Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, this is the third time they fought in the whole series...during that time. This Mechagodzilla is built by humans rather than alien in this timeline, the Japanese government recovered the mechanical remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah that was sunk by Godzilla back in 1991 and used that technology to build Mechagodzilla. There is also another weapon called the Garuda that was previously built to kill Godzilla but failed, it does have a big role but it really gets to shine in the third act. To make things more interesting, there are two more monsters in the film, Rodan with his new form Fire Rodan, Baby Godzilla and Mechagodzilla’s form called Super Mechagodzilla who is extremely powerful

Baby Godzilla is adorable, and honestly extremely better than Minilla in the Showa series and is one of my favourite things about this movie. Rodan looks good but he doesn’t do well against other monsters even when he gets a power up, he still gets his tail whipped. The characters in this film are really good, I loved the interaction between Azusa and Baby Godzilla it adds a lot of depth nd development for the chapter in this movie. In fact Baby Godzilla is the reason that Godzilla turns into some sort of anti-hero despite causing one major destruction but its important for the next two movies, actually this movie was meant to the film where this Godzilla dies and the story would continue with his son but that was saved for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.

Overall, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla has a really good story that ties in extremely well with Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. The characters were really good and as mentioned before I loved the interaction with Azusa and Baby Godzilla it makes really good scenes that makes me warm and cuddly. The monster action was good but just like previous films had a lot of beam-spams, but the final battle was really good with Super Mechagodzilla and Godzilla using the Red Spiral Ray. I should mention that the soundtrack featured the return of one of my favourite Godzilla films and that is Prayers Of Peace. 3.9/5

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla Poster B.png

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla is an underrated movie, it first introduces a new mech called M.O.G.U.E.R.A who is supposed to be an improved Mechagodzilla which is quickly proven to be false. Anyways a space monster is quickly approaching the earth and M.O.G.U.E.R.A is sent to stop it but loses very quickly. The space monster resembles Godzilla and it turns out the space monster is a clone of Godzilla, because of this the space monster is named SpaceGodzilla , it is said that the cells came from Biollante while it is said that somehow the cells ended up on Mothra. The story itself is complicated as it does merge multiple story element in one movie and the pacing is all over the place.

The characters are underdeveloped but are pretty good compared to some future characters. The monster SpaceGodzilla is designed very well and does hold his own against Godzilla and that I mean he keeps on using his crystal shield to reflect his atomic breath. Speaking of, this movie has a lot of beam battles in each confrontation, I don’t know I just like it when its up close it makes things more entertaining. Baby Godzilla makes another appearance but this time, he’s grown up into Little Godzilla and looks even cuter but is imprisoned by SpaceGodzilla, yeah that’s how evil he is.

Overall, the film does merged multiple story elements and because of this the pacing is off which is a similar problem in Avengers: Infinity War. The monsters were good but M.O.G.U.E.R.A sucked he doesn’t even win an single fight and just looks dumb in general, compared to the original, I like the original more. The music was good but forgettable except for SpaceGodzilla’s theme, the tone is off as well compared to the previous Heisei films probably because most of the music in the Heisei series was done by Akira Ifukube. 3.2/5

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

Godzilla.jp - 22 - Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.jpg

This is the final Godzilla film of the second series and they sent off our favourite monster it’s a bang, literally. Godzilla first appears at Hong Kong and is glowing orange, Godzilla’s heart is like a reactor and is melting down and if anything isn’t done to stop it, he’ll explode and will destroy the Earth. During this time, strange microscopic creatures were found in Tokyo Bay, the location where the Oxygen Destroyer was first detonated. Godzilla appears and the problem is, they can physically attack him because they run the risk of him exploding and decide to go with a chemical approach. So the newly built Super X III is sent to cool Godzilla down, literally and succeeded

New crustacean-like creature then emerge from the ocean and they look like a mixture of scorpions, crabs and even the Xenomorph and go on a rampage. Turns out the creatures are weak to extreme cold and use this against them, but unfortunately the creatures then merge into one and is now named Destoroyah. Little Godzilla returns but now he looks like Godzilla and is now named Godzilla JR who does beat Destoroyah. Godzilla and JR have a short but sweet reunion, only to be interrupted by the adult Destoroyah who looks like the devil himself and kills JR. This is when we see Godzilla show grief and sadness something we really haven’t seen in a long time, Godzilla then fights Destoroyah and both go left and right, claws, teeth, horns and beams.

But in the end, the military gets the kill shot on Destoroyah, in the original ending, the combination of the military firing freeze rays and Godzilla’s increasing heat would’ve turned Destoroyah into mist but Toho believed that it took the focus from Godzilla’s death which is the highlight of the movie. Anyways Godzilla starts to meltdown and the amount of radiation he emits causes Tokyo to be uninhabitable, Godzilla literally melts and the radiation disappears for unknown reasons. It turns out Godzilla JR was revived by the radiation emitted by Godzilla becoming the new Godzilla for the new era.

Overall, a very great and emotional ending to the Heisei series, the characters were great with all the major characters throughout the films completing their arcs. The monster action was really good and it got horrifying at times when Destoroyah was killing the fish. Losing Godzilla JR was extremely sad when I first watched it but in the end I was feeling a lot better. 4.5/5

GODZILLA (1998)

1998godzilla-1266293297.jpg

Back in 1992, TriStar obtained the rights to produce a Godzilla film however the script was completed in 1994 by Terry Rossio. When directors Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin came aboard, they rewrote the entire script and changed Godzilla’s design, was that for the best, probably not. Anyways the film starts out with a really good introduction of atomic testing but not from the Americans, its from the French, it did feel like Roland Emmerich wanted to shift blame but turns out this really did happen in real life. Ships in the South Pacific haven been disappearing leaving one survivor who claims it was “Gojira”, and ancient sea monster from Japanese folklore which was a nice nod to Godzilla originating from Japan.

I’ve read some reviews online with someone complaining there there was too much rain, I honestly don’t mind because its just there to create the mood. Speaking of characters, we are introduced to Dr.Nick Tatopoulos a scientist that study’s the effects that radiation has on worms, Audrey a reporter who wants a good story but the actress that plays her does an extremely terrible job, a Frenchmen named Philipe who is probably the films best character but he still does some pretty dumb things that makes me cringe. Enough with the characters, Godzilla is the one I wanted to talk about the most, I saw this film when I was young so I did like it but I did not love it. Godzilla looks too much like a T-Rex in this movie and even acts more like a giant animal rather than a giant monster in-fact, the military does more damage to the city than Godzilla does, I should also note that Godzilla in this movie lacked his atomic breath and wasn’t immune to conventional weaponry.

There are some pretty neat moments in the film but some are heavily based on Jurassic Park even though it wasn’t intentional, what I mean by that is that this Godzilla can reproduce asexually and his young can overrun the world making him a worldwide threat. The baby are quickly killed by an air strike and this pisses Godzilla off causing his to be lured to the Brooklyn Bridge, get trapped in the cables and shot down with missiles. This was suppose to be an emotional scene just like how King Kong died but it doesn’t even work at all. One baby did survive the air strike and it went to star in the 1998 animated series which in my opinion is so much better.

Overall, while this does make a good monster movie, it doesn’t make it a good Godzilla movie. The characters were pretty bad especially Audrey, in-fact the actress won the award for worst supporting actress. Godzilla didn't really feel like Godzilla and felt like a giant animal trying to find food, I did enjoy the soundtrack, my personal favourite being the introduction. Despite what some say, the film didn’t flop it just didn't do so well at the box office. 2.95/5

Godzilla 2000: Millennium

Godzilla 2000 poster 01.jpg

Godzilla 2000 was immediately released after the last film, and to be honest I wish this was the film we saw and not the 1998 film, I now I’m sounding a bit harsh but its true. Anyways this was the first Godzilla film to be released theatrically in the U.S since 1985 with The Return of Godzilla. The plot focuses on a family consisting of a father and his daughter dedicated to tracking Godzilla and to study him, a reporter comes along but just to get a story for her article luckily this reporter is more likeable than Audrey in the last film. Anyways like the Heisei series, this is another timeline, a soft reboot of the series to appeal to a new generation of moviegoers, including myself.

There are some scenes in the movie where Godzilla is portrayed using CGI mainly used underwater and to be honest, it doesn’t look good its just better when there’s something in front of the camera. When there’s a remake of a Godzilla movie, he’s usually the only monster in the movie but not his time, his opponent is first a UFO incased in rock but after the UFO absorbs some of Godzillas DNA it becomes Orga who is possibly one of best monsters of the Millennium series. Speaking of monsters, Godzilla looks incredible, he looks different but still kept the impression of who or what Godzilla is, his atomic breath is orange this time and is a nice touch. There are some pretty good action scenes between Godzilla, the military and Orga himself and is very well balanced.

Overall, Godzilla: 2000 is a fantastic start to the Millennium series, it has really good characters and I did like the drama between the GPN and the CCI about their beliefs on what to do with Godzilla. The action in this movie was well done and well balanced and was built up perfectly. If I do have some complaints, its that the CGI is pretty bad at some scenes and does takes a bit for tings to get interesting and to be honest, this movie may have the best dubbing I’ve seen in a Godzilla film. 4.1/5

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

Godzilla vs megaguirus poster 02.jpg

When the Millennium series kick off, I thought there going be be consecutive sequels but it’s turns out, its another remake, ignoring all the previous films except for the original, this is going to be consistent throughout the Millennium series. However the events of the original are retconned, this takes place in an alternate timeline where Godzilla attacked Japan and the Oxygen Destroyer was never used to kill him, so Godzilla just appears over and over again for the next few decades. The reason is because Godzilla is attracted to nuclear reactors, so the government founded a science institute and created plasma energy but unfortunately, Godzilla went after that as well. A new anti-Godzilla weapon is created in the form of the Dimension Tide, a satellite that can fire a concentrated black hole however when its first tested it accidentally mutates a dragonfly and turns into a Meganulon.

I should also note that the Meganulons first appeared in Rodan (1956), it was nice to see a return of these giant insects. Just like Godzilla 2000, Godzilla is portrayed using CGI underwater and it looks awful however there is one neat scene where a pilot climbs onto Godzilla’s back and fires a tracer on him. Godzilla’s opponent is a giant dragonfly named Megaguirus and it is said to be the most dangerous creature during its time, during the fight, Godzilla leaps in the air and does a body slam WWE style. Dimension Tide does succeed in trapping Godzilla however in an after credit scene, its show that he escaped.

Overall, probably not the best Godzilla film in terms of the plot, it may sound interesting but it was poorly executed. The soundtrack was ok, but it doesn’t really stand out like previous OSTs. I did like the fight between Godzilla and Megaguirus but it does take a bit to build. 2.7/5

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

2001 gmk theatrical poster.jpg

GMK is another remake, ignoring previous films except for the first one. The film has a spiritual like tone to it, with its message, guardians and spirits involved with the plot. Its message is “to never forget those who sacrificed their lives” which is executed perfectly with the new Godzilla who is revived by the enraged spirits of World War II. Mothra and King Ghidorah are present in the film, but there is also Baragon who is one of my personal favourite monsters but unfortunately gets beaten pretty easily but does put up a good fight.

The characters themselves are really good, compared to the past Millennium Godzilla films, this movie has a much darker tone and combined with the AMAZING soundtrack composed by Kow Otani. Mothra does look pretty good but I like the 2004-2019 incarnations more, King Ghidorah is the good guy in the movie this time. This role reversal is ok with me, I know some G-fans didn't like this change but its an alternate reality in a Godzilla multiverse. But what I loved most about it, was that it made Godzilla scary again and this is possibly the evilest incarnation ever, not only that he’s paranormal in nature, considering he was revived by enrage souls.

Overall, this movie is definitely the best of the Millennium series, the characters are great. It has a great dark/spiritual tone that correlates with its message, as mentioned before I love the soundtrack and is probably one of the best OST’s in the entire series. While it does take a bit to get things going, in the end its worth it. I should also mention I hav this little tradition where I watch GMK on Remembrance Day which is fitting. 4.5/5

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

Ef gxmg.jpg

Godzilla X Mechagodzilla is another reboot of the series ignoring all the previous films except for the original, I don’t know why Toho kept on doing this, it was probably because they wanted to avoid a stale audience by introducing fresh-new ideas to the series. Like Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, GxMG is retconned, what I mean by that is that in the original film, when the Oxygen Destroy was deployed it erased every single trace of Godzilla, including his bones. However in this new timeline, only Godzilla’s bone remained, why I’m mentioning this is because it’s important to the story later on. Like previous films, a second Godzilla appears and starts causing destruction, and it turns out since the event of Gojira, Japan has suffered attacks from other giant monsters from the likes of Mothra, the Gargantuas and other giant monsters.

This is possibly the only Godzilla timeline in the Millennium series to have a strong continuity between films spanning from the original to 2003. Because of this new Godzillas return, the Japanese government recovers the skeleton of the original Godzilla and to use to create a bio-robot named Kiryu otherwise known as Mechagodzilla in order to combat Godzilla, if you’ve seen Jurassic Park, then you know its a bad idea simply because the spirit of the original Godzilla is still attached to his bones and takes over Kiryu on some occasions. Kiryu himself has a ton of weapons that makes the fights more interesting, my favourite is the Absolute Zero Cannon which does a whole lot more than just freeze its target.

The main character is Akane Yashiro who I can relate to any anime protagonists, Akane is considered to be one of the franchises best characters and I do agree on that. I will say that the film does take its time when building up, there is one brief fight with Godzilla and Mechagodzilla in the second act before the final battle in the third act of the film.

Overall, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is a satisfying entry in the Millennium series, it did so well that there was an actual sequel in 2003, Akane was a really good character and can relate too. The soundtrack was good and fits within the context of the film. The action scenes were good, not only that this Mechagodzilla can be considered to be A unique incarnation due its development which is something we don’t usually see in monster movies. 4/5

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

Gmmg-poster2.jpg

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is probably the most unique film of the Millennium series because its the only film that is an actual sequel to a previous movie. Not only is Godzilla and Mechagodzilla returning, Mothra joins in as well but not in a good way, The reason Mothra is involved is because mankind has disturbed the natural order between the living and the dead by removing the original Godzilla’s skeleton from the ocean. If mankind doesn’t return Godzilla’s bone to the ocean, shell wage war on humanity, but if they do comply Mothra will replace Mechagodzilla as Japan’s protector, but the problem is that Mothra previously attacked Japan in 1961 (which is the events of where the original Mothra took place) so they decline and have confidence that Kiryu will take of things.

Akane does return but does have a minor role, instead we are focused on the Chujo family which is another call back to the 1961 film. Unfortunately because of Kiryu’s previous battle with Godzilla, the Absolute Zero Cannon was damaged and it costs too much to repair it so they lost their greatest weapon to kill Godzilla but it gets replaced with a triple maser cannon. A Kamoebas washed up on shore after being killed by a larger predator, presumably Godzilla, who appears and is apparently being lured here because of Kiryu’s bones. I should also note that Kiryu ignoring kill commands because of the original Godzilla’s spirit inhabiting the robot.

Just like the last film, it does take a bit to build things up leading up to the final battle which is one of the great aspects of the movie, Mothra soon appears and fights Godzilla but uses her scales as a last resort against Godzilla, so the government launches Mechagodzilla into battle. Not only that, Mothra’s larvae make an appearance and web Godzilla up by the end of the movie which is a callback to Mothra vs. Godzilla. As mentioned Godzilla’s spirit takes over Kiryu and takes Godzilla back to the ocean and sinks with him basically restoring the balance between life and death.

Overall, this was a satisfying sequel to the previous film, while Akane has a minor role compared to the last film the Chujo family were good replacements. The action was really good and loved it how Mechagodzilla threw Godzilla over his shoulders. It had a good message between the boundaries of life and death. I do like it more than the previous film because it does finishes Kiryu’s character arc which was something I was looking forward to. 4.1/5

Godzilla: Final Wars

433248 1020 A.jpg

This movie marks the 50th anniversary of Godzilla, it’s like a remake of Destroy All Monsters, however some fans wanted a remake but to round up all the monsters to date. It wasn’t all the monsters but there was a lot of them, it wasn’t the ultimate battle royal/royal rumble we always hoped for but it was satisfying. The plot focuses around many classic monster appearing and wreaking havoc all over the world just like Destroy All Monsters. The movie itself doesn’t really focus on its plot as it is full on “balls to the walls” action, its literally all fighting.

It really does show some similarities to Destroy All Monsters in terms of the plot, aliens are involved but they are actually the good guys but that is proven to be a scam as they were the reasons why the monsters are wreaking havoc. The only monster that stands a chance against them is Godzilla who was previously sealed in Antarctica after fighting against the Gotengo, speaking of monsters, most of selection are monsters that were previously in the Showa series including Gigan and some new ones like Monster X who turns into Keizer Ghidorah which is one of the most memorable fights of the series. However if I do have some complaints is that Godzilla: Final Wars has a lots of elements from the Matrix, its alright if you are using it for inspiration as long as you’re not ripping it off.

There is a side story involving a father and his son traveling with Minilla who was found on Mt.Fuji, it does add some backstory to Godzilla and Minilla as it is explained why he hates humanity so much and it does lead to Godzilla’s character arc within the events of the film. The action was good, it does borrow some elect from Star Wars but the fights between the monsters are incredibly short, this was because of screen time and to show how strong this Godzilla is.

Overall, Godzilla: Final Wars is the second best Millennium just behind GMK. Some parts did feel rushed like the monster fights except for the final battle, I can describe this as a monster mash but the movie focuses way too much on action leaving little room for a story. The characters were good but when they jump around, it reminds me way too much of the Matrix. Despite these complaints it is a fun, entertaining and satisfying film. 4.2/5

Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla 2014 Poster.jpg

Godzilla (2014) is the second American reboot of the series, but instead of it being a meh Godzilla movie, this is great adaptation of Godzilla. The film starts out really good, it is similar to 1998 opening which is one of my favourite moments, it does imply that this incarnation wasn’t disturbed by mankind’s destruction. There is a monster hunting organization called MONARCH, they specialize in the hunt and study of Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms or MUTOs. The movie does start off pretty strong with a good story and implying some strong characterization for Bryan Cranston character Joe Brody.

But unfortunately he dies and are left with his son Ford Brody, and unfortunately he’s not a great character. He is basically a living piece of cardboard, lacking emotion and same thing with the other characters besides Dr.Serizawa who is the only good character. Anyways I love Godzilla’s new look but I do love his 2019 design more, he faces a new monsters called the MUTOs, they can emit an EMP which makes the military useless in the film but I do want to know why the MUTOs have an EMP because there was any tanks or any technology back then. There is an explanation in the novelization that the EMP interferes with Godzilla’s atomic breath but I’m not sure if that’s canon to the film.

I do like the directing of the film but unfortunately, its too dark. Godzilla (2014)’s colour scale is minimal and it is pretty hard to make things out because both monsters are black. When Godzilla first uses his atomic breath, is a really good moment and hows he kills the Female MUTO is awesome.

Overall, this is a great attempt at making an American adaptation to the monster king, but unfortunately while it does have a good story, most of the characters sucked and that caused a major drag in the film. The movie was shot with a grey/black colour scale for most of the film, while that did help with the tone, Ild like to see what is happening during a monster movie. 3.9/5

Shin Godzilla

Shin Gojira Theatrical Poster.jpg

Unlike past Japanese Godzilla films, Shin Godzilla is a full on reboot, ignoring previous films including the first one. When Shin Godzilla was being marketed, Toho was careful not to spoil too much of the film such as his new forms and footage of him using the atomic breath. And unlike past Godzilla films, this is a plot-driven, political satire film but some people still compare 2014 with Shin Godzilla even though both are different kinds of films and the only similarity they have with one another is the character Godzilla himself. The film was directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, who directed Neon Genesis Evangelion, the soundtrack was done by Shiro Sagisu who also composed for the Evangelion series.

Because of this, Shin Godzilla does have a similar tone to the Evangelion series but the reason the movie was made is to insult the Japanese government’s sluggish response to multiple disasters. Anyways enough ranting, the movie is meant to get back to Godzillas roots, that being a force of nuclear destruction just like the original and this does hold a candle when compared to the original. Godzilla himself starts out in multiple forms and over the course of the film, he evolves becoming bigger and stronger with each stage, this is to imply that we need to work as a species to stop an ever-evolving threat from taking down humanity. But when all of this is happening, there are multiple boardroom meetings, some Gfans have criticized about this because its “so boring” while I do understand that, its shows us what goes on behind the scenes when the government is handling a crisis.

There are lots of Easter eggs in the movie, some require a mass amount of knowledge of Toho films, which I do not (at least not yet). One of my favourite moments in the film would be when Godzilla first uses his atomic breath and to be honest this is the first time I’ve seen scared of a giant fire breathing lizard in a long time. I did like it when the Prime-Minister is left with two choices, to let the U.S drop a nuclear bomb that is many times more powerful than the one that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or to take a risk to immobilize Godzilla in order for less casualties. And I also loved the soundtrack, my personal favourite s Persecution Of The Masses and Who Will Know.

Overall, Shin Godzilla is a cinematic masterpiece of a film, while it does hold a candle to Gojira, I prefer Gojira more for multiple reasons. I do agree that the constant board meetings does make this movie drag but its still interesting. I loved the CGI in the film and it looked like something was in front of the camera which was something I missed in previous films. As of right now, Shin Godzilla has won 14 awards and for good reason. 4.3/5

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

GODZILLA Planet of the Monsters new poster.jpg

Shortly after the release of Shin Godzilla, Toho announced a partnership with Polygon Pictures to produce a Godzilla anime, technically this isn’t the first animated Godzilla we’ve seen over the years but it was exciting to see Godzilla getting the anime treatment. Before the events of the film play out, since 1999, humanity has been threatened with the appearance of giant monsters and things only get worse when Godzilla appears decimating city after city. There is a prequel novel called Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse and Godzilla: Project Mechagodzilla that goes into detail about those events but unfortunately there hasn’t been an official translation nor has there been any news about one. Even with the help of two alien races called the Exif and the Bilusaludo, they were unable to stop Godzilla and were forced to evacuate the planet, in hopes to find an inhabitable planet for humanity to flourish again.

Even without the events of the prequel novels in the film, this movie does have a great story that is executed well. After finding out the plant it uninhabitable, the United Earth were forced to use a space warp jump to travel back to Earth only to find out that 20,000 years on Earth has passed and the environment has gone over a drastic change that forms around Godzilla who lives up to the title “King of Destruction”. Our main character is Haruo Sakaki who hates Godzilla because apparently, he killed his parents at the launch of the Aratrum. This does deliver some character depth as it shows, he really, really hates Godzilla so much that he was the reason why the United Earth decided to abandon its mission to find another planet.

There are also new monsters that spawned from Godzilla’s cells called the Servum, basically winged Godzilla-like monsters which make great side villains. There are some great action scenes where the United Earth lure Godzilla into the cannon to trap him and inject him with EMP Probes which does cause him to explode, similar to what happened in GMK. But PLOT TWIST, that was a subspecies that looks like Godzilla and the real Godzilla (now 300 meters) shows up and with just one swing of his tail, he annihilates the entire fleet leaving some survivors. There is an after credit scene where Haruo wakes up in a strange hut right next to a girl in a mask.

Overall, this was a great start to the Godzilla anime, it has a really good story and I loved the role-reversal between Godzilla and humanity, usually humanity is on the defensive while Godzilla is on the offence but this time, its vice versa. One problem I do have with it is its characters, however it does leave room for future characterization. 3.6/5

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle

Godzilla Chapter 2 Poster 2.jpg

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle takes place immediately after the first one, after Godzilla Earth’s attack, Haruo and his group were scattered, after the United Earth learned of Godzilla Earth, they gave out a 48 hour time limit to remain in Earth’s orbit if there were any survivors. The film introduces us to a tribe of evolved human called the Houtua that worship a giant egg as their God. Not only that, the Houtua have arrow-tips that are made out of nanometal, automatous metal that was used to build Mechagodzilla, the ultimate anti-Godzilla weapon. It was presumed destroyed after Godzilla attacked Mt.Fuji 20,000 years ago but the metal itself survived and has been growing since then.

This is where the marketing lied to us, Mechagodzilla was advertised all over the place but it turns out Mechagodzilla doesn’t appear, well he does but in the form of a city called Mechagodzilla City. The first act and the second act of the film start off extremely slow and found myself looking at my phone a few times, there is a lot of talking and a bit of pointless dialogue however some does add depth and development. I should also note that the plot of the film is similar to the last one, heck even the new plan is similar to take down Godzilla, its just on a larger scale. Things do dramatically in the third act, where Haruo and two others use these mobile suits call Vultures to lure Godzilla to a trap.

Meanwhile this is happening, the Bilusaludo are assimilating themselves into the nanometal and there is a huge argument on keeping your humanity intact especially when fighting a monster, you don’t want to become the thing you’re trying to kill. Haruo is given this choice to rather sacrifice himself to the nanometal or to prevent the metal from consuming everything, it does add development to Haruo’s arc by the end of the series. Yet again there is another after credit scene where its a teaser for the nest film but what got G-fans stoked is the word we all know and love.......Ghidorah.

Overall, not the best sequel in the series as it does repeat the same story in the previous but on a different scale. The first and second act are incredibly slow and dull and I haven’t even talked about Godzilla who has two minutes of screen time in the whole film. When making a monster movie, its important to balance the human scenes and Kaiju scenes to make sure nothing overshadows the other. 2.7/5

Godzilla: The Planet Eater

GODZILLA The Planet Eater poster.jpg

The finale of the anime trilogy, Godzilla: The Planet Eater reintroduces King Ghidorah who despite his appearance is treated as an actual word destroyer or in this case, a world eater. Ghidorah is the Exif’s god and has been manipulating events all the way up to this moment. The film does start off strong with Haruo desperate and upset, and half of the United Earth wants him dead due to what happened in Mechagodzilla City. Haruo does go into hiding and he...uh.......”cuddles” with one of the Houtua girls (Ill just leave it at that), don’t know why that’s important to the story but it could be an excuse for rule 39.

Ghidorah is summoned and with him being in this plain of existence messes with space-time and destroys the Aratrum and that’s just one head. The moment where we see Godzilla and Ghidorah fight isn’t that good, the only thing that happens is that Godzilla fires his atomic breath at Ghidorah and he deflects that and latches onto Godzilla. It’s like that for the rest of the movie, Godzilla and Ghidorah just standing there doing nothing. The movie focuses on the character drama on Metphies and Haruo and to be honest, its done incredibly well. Mothra makes a small appearance but not a big role that I was hoping, better than nothing I suppose.

But after when Haruo destroys the stone in Metphies’ eye, Ghidorah pretty much becomes glass, evaporating after Godzilla hits him with one strike. The dining fo the film is pretty nice, one of the Vultures did survive, and knowing that Ghidorah would return if mankind return to its greedy ways decides it would be a good idea to kill himself, along with Yuko and the Vulture with the help of Godzilla and his atomic breath. Not the ending I was expecting but it does show that Haruo has matured during the events of all three films.

Overall, Godzilla: The Planet Eater delivers excellent character drama between Haruo and Metphies but was lacking in terms of monster action as this is considered to be a sci-fi/drama series. But I do wish we got a better fight between the two monsters, despite this complaint I really did like this incarnation of Ghidorah considering his can mimic space-time itself. Will this change peoples mind on the anime trilogy, probably not. 3.3/5

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla King of the Monsters Poster 2.jpg

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was one of the most highly anticipated films of 2019 among audiences and G-fans but unfortunately it didn't do so well at the box office, it wasn’t a flop but compare it to the 2014 film and you’ll see why. Anyways the American sequel captures a lot of aspects of the Showa and Heisei Godzilla films that we all love so much, from the monsters themselves to its music done by Bear McCreary. The characters themselves are more likeable and interesting, while some aren’t as good, they’re still fun to be around. You can tell that this film was made by a fan for the fans as Michael Dougherty has proven himself, multiple times that he’s a Godzilla fan from his cast and crew members.

The plot mainly centres around a device called the ORCA that emits sonar-like frequencies that can awaken, calm and possibly control the Titans. A band of eco-terrorists use the ORCA to awaken an ancient Alpha predator known as King Ghidorah by it turns out, King Ghidorah is an alien and is here to destroy the Earth and not to save it. Other Titans awaken as well, Rodan in Mexico where he is involved with an awesome aerial battle scene. I will say however, that the story does take a back seat in this movie, focusing on entertainment than anything else.

Mothra is really beautiful and was sad when she died near the end but Mothra never truly dies. I do love the Easter eggs and nods to previous films but luckily it doesn’t overcrowd anything. There are some scenes with questionable CGI one involving Roan flying over head, I don’t know that scene does bother me a little. I’ve seen some complaints that some people wanted to see Godzilla fight in the day time and not in the dark, but it does help make the tone of the movie and I do love it when King Ghidorah can make its own storm by just flying around.

Overall, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a better American Godzilla film from its characters to the monsters. The story does take a back seat this time around, but for me, I love the movie the way it is. The main reason its in my top 10 is because it reminds me of the early Showa era that I loved and grew up with. 4.5/5