Heisei series . . . kinda sucked

I realize I'm late to the party here, so I really won't be able to respond to the nuance of all the points provided here w/out writing a book. 

What I will say, is that a lot of the 'problems' listed with the Heisei series here, are not exclusive to the Heisei films. In my opinion, several Showa films had similar inconsistencies, plot problems, and weak characters depending on the film. 

I also think it's fair to say that if you made a list of the top 5 WORST Godzilla movies of all time, the Showa series would be home to at least 2-3 of those no matter who was writing the list. The Heisei series would probably only contribute 1 film to that list depending on the author. 

I for one, really enjoyed how the Heisei series really returned Godzilla's status to that of a villian/anti-hero. I got tired of 'Godzilla the Good Guy' after awhile.

That all being said, I really do not enjoy the monster battles of the Heisei series. I understand they had technically better special effects and more 'realistic' combat.....but I felt the atomic breath was very subjective and over used when compared to the Showa era. It made the battles very repititive and hard to build up suspense, as Godzilla would just do the same attack over and over, but would arbitrarily be victorious once he fired a shot that hit the right spot or a shot that he 'really meant'. 

I understand that that the Heisei suit design made it hard to do the tooth n' claw battles and I know other movies have similar problems of not clearly defining the atomic breath ability, but at least there was more variance in Godzilla's fighting style.

That's actually why the Milennium Series is still my personal favorite to this day. They did the best job of combining Godzilla's anti-hero plot status with a combat style that I really enjoyed watching. 

Anyways, that's my 2 cents. 

I have to agree that after Godzilla vs. Biollante, the Heisei Series slowly went downhill. Space Godzilla being the worst film in the series. I read that Kawakita developed a drinking problem after Biollante bombed at the box office. Too bad, Biollante had great spfx with an interesting story and likeable characters. Biollante herself is beautiful and terrifying at the same time. What a shame. I wish the Japanese audience is more accepting about new exciting kaiju instead of re-using Mothra, King Ghidorah, and MechaGodzilla over and over again. One more thing I'd like to mention, The American cut of G85 is superior to the Japanese version.

I had never heard that Kawikata developed a drinking issue after vs. Biollante. That certainly explains a lot of things about the declining special effects in the series if true. Where did you read that information.

I disagree that the American cut of Godzilla 1984 was outright superior. I do think both the Japanesw and American cuts have strengths that, if aspects of both versions were edited together, might make the strongest version of the film. But between the two, I prefere the Japanese cut.

I read it somewhere on another forum long ago. Might have been Toho Kingdom. Perhaps Superior is a strong word. Let my rephrase that. The American cut is better mostly because of the editing. Yes, I will agree that if both versions combined into one, the film would be the best of both worlds.

I read it somewhere on another forum long ago. Might have been Toho Kingdom. Perhaps Superior is a strong word. Let my rephrase that. The American cut is better mostly because of the editing. Yes, I will agree that if both versions combined into one, the film would be the best of both worlds.

Interesting. I'm so curious about Kawikata's life during the 1990s right now. I'll have to do more digging about that. Certainly explains why he might think using Bandai Destroyah's was a good idea...

LOL! Let's not forget about the excessive use of Sparks! Seriously everytime a kaiju runs into another, sparks!! What's the obsession with sparks? Not very organic. In the scene where Rodan pecks at Godzilla's face you see the sparks fly and even hear a metallic sound. Is Godzilla made of titanium steel? :p

Yeah, sparks and glitter kind of became a visual staple of Kawikata as the Heisei series went on... I don't understand why he thought both were a good idea as they both became more prevelant as the movies continued.

The sparks especially bothered me in vs. MechaGodzilla II as well. When Godzilla and MechaGodzilla lock beams, both times, a spark explosion happens. I always found it anti-climatic and it really took me out of the movie. Shouldn't we be experiencing an actual explosion? The beam lock in the original Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla was far more brutal. Final Wars was also a much better example of that kind of thing.

It's a shame that Higuchi showed up Kawikata at almost every turn in the Gamera trilogy. I remember watching the first Gamera film a being truly wowed by the visual effects, the massive explosions, the way the shots were framed, the low angle photography to enhance the perception, the detail of the miniatures...etc... vs. Destroyah came out the same year and didn't stand a chance against those kind of visuals.

The question that sits for me is why did Kawikata let himself slip so far that his visual effects were, at times, inferior to the Showa series.

Yeah, the 90's Heisei Godzilla films can't compete with the Gamera Trilogy. The trilogy feels so cinematic unlike the 90's Godzilla films. Not to mention the Gamera trilogy had an even smaller budget to work with. Maybe all their film crew were sober? LOL. Seriously though, Kaneko had a very talented and creative team to work with. Shinji Higuchi is an amazingly talented artist. To work on a lower budget that forced them to become more inventive. Just incredible.

why does everyone rip on these movies? i know that they can't compete with shinji higuchi's special effects but lets not forget that the heisei godzilla films dominated the box office at that time.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen dominated the boxoffice. That doesn't make it a good movie. If boxoffice receipts were a reflection of quality, summer blockbusters would win best picture every year at the Oscars.

Honestly, Bigbadben, I really do enjoy the Heisei series. But in that enjoyment I realize they have a lot of issues and could've been written and directed with more care. And the special effects went on a nose dive-- which might have been a result of Kawakita's drinking habits.

Sydra, I recently discovered this information is from Guy Tucker's out-of-print book, Age of Gods. I'll have to swipe myself a digital copy somewhere...