A Decade of Godzilla: Our Top 5 Godzilla films of the last 10 years!

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5. Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle

4. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

3. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2. Shin Godzilla

1. Godzilla 2014

That's just me personally. The top three are constantly switching around and are very hard to compare (they're pretty different from one another), but that's what I've settled with.

This list is me in a nutshell in terms of favorites, although I haven't actually seen Shin or the Anime films in full yet.

Also...

"A sequel was one time considered, but Toho decided to scrap it in favor of building a massive Godzilla cinematic universe instead. As disappointed as we were to hear this news - we remain hopeful that Shin-Gojira will see the silver screen at least one more time in the next decade."

I actually think Shin works better as a standalone Godzilla film, but that's just me.

I have only seen two- 2014 and KOTM.

I found 2014 underwhelming but really enjoyed KOTM.

dk I loved 2014 when it first came out, but it kind of waned after I saw KOTM. I'm always going to remember it fondly, though; I'll never forget the feeling of seeing Godzilla show up at Honolulu, and it felt like I was seeing him for real for the first time in my life.

@JurassicKaiju14

I actually think Shin works better as a standalone Godzilla film, but that's just me.

I completely agree. Shin Godzilla is a political satire and it made it's point in one movie. I feel like a Shin 2 would be completely unnecessary. 

JurassicKaiju14 I enjoyed the bombast of Godzilla 2014 in all its glory but the rest was pretty boring to me. The characters were very forgettable.

I prefer the anime trilogy. Shin Godzilla is the best Godzilla film of the 2010s, Godzilla (2014) was decent for a Hollywood production, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters was just terrible.

dk Agreed. The only really memorable characters in 2014 were Joe Brody and Serizawa.

For all the problems that KOTM has, at least its characters felt like actual characters as opposed to people that the camera follows around.

It's kind of funny, too. Back when 2014 was released, I actually praised it for not having a Hollywood divorce couple, and I kind of rolled my eyes when I found out that would be a part of KOTM. But then I actually watched the movie and realized, as flawed as it was, I actually liked its story better.

The Hooded Figure I haven't seen the Anime trilogy yet (even though I do have Netflix, so I could watch it whenever I want) but given all that I've heard and read about it, I don't feel particularly inclined to do so. Godzilla being an electromagnetic metallic plant was a big turn-off for me, and I'm honestly surprised that nobody has started calling this one GINO 2.0.

I haven't seen Shin Godzilla either, but I have heard good things about it, and the clips I've seen of his two-minute atomic decimation of Tokyo gave me legitimate chills. I'm just unsure about the dragging political side of it, and I'm not too fond of Godzilla's design in the movie.

2014 was the movie that really cemented my love for Godzilla. It may not be my favorite anymore, but I'll never forget how much it made me feel like Godzilla was a real animal right before my eyes. It made me a G-fan.

As for KOTM...well, first off I do acknowledge that it is a very flawed movie. Taking a few courses in a Communications and Media Arts major helped me see that. Even when I was watching it I was like "Okay, I can definitely see where the critics are coming from. But c'mon, 'cinema is dead'? 'Worse than Russian bots'? 'Crawl is better because it has a cute dog'? For real, critics of the internet?" That being said, for all of the problems I acknowledge it has, I still love the living daylights out of KOTM. It really is more in line with the kind of Godzilla film I've always wanted to see. I for one am excited for Godzilla vs. Kong, and I hope the additional time between now and it's release will give the studio time to iron out the problems KOTM suffered from and give us an A+ movie.

“I haven't seen the Anime trilogy yet (even though I do have Netflix, so I could watch it whenever I want) but given all that I've heard and read about it, I don't feel particularly inclined to do so. Godzilla being an electromagnetic metallic plant was a big turn-off for me, and I'm honestly surprised that nobody has started calling this one GINO 2.0.

I haven't seen Shin Godzilla either, but I have heard good things about it, and the clips I've seen of his two-minute atomic decimation of Tokyo gave me legitimate chills. I'm just unsure about the dragging political side of it, and I'm not too fond of Godzilla's design in the movie”

You’re judging something before giving it a chance. It may be what some fans cater to, it may not be to others, but not watching it because of opinions and reviews from what others say, or the characteristics and themes prevalent in said films, is silly. I didn’t expect much from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and I continued lowering my expectations upon reading reviews regarding the film, but I watched it anyway and allowed myself to decide what I thought of the film.

It’s good that Godzilla (2014) helped to make you a Godzilla fan, but what’s the point of embracing as one if not allowing yourself to watch and experience other films of the franchise that contributes to the significance and representations of Godzilla and the occurring events? One never knows what they’re missing out on until they try.

Lulz. I clearly did not write this.

Given the history and sheer amount of movies, I have seen about 4 or 5 DVDs that I own and the rest were a blur on a marathon back in 2015 or 16 on Hulu- or stuff I saw on Creature Feature as a kid. I don't know which movies were in a specific series or timeline since everything was out of order. All I remember was the ones I really liked were the Toho ones. I just judge each movie on its own merits.

That said, I consider the Monsterversr as the only series I have seen all movies and am tracking so far.

And shouldn't a movie stand on its own anyway?

dk,
And they all largely do.

The Hooded Figure I do plan on seeing all of them eventually. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I don't particularly like listing, but my certainty is that Shin Godzilla was easily the best. King of the Monsters, the worst.

Though I think it might've been more interesting to look at the varied films from a stylistic perspective than ranking. The fact we got 6 Godzilla films this decade that are more varied than the Millennium series is quite a treat.

We definitely need a GMan version of this breakdown to contrast my list hahaha

It is sounding more and more like Shin is the one to see. 

@dk

Yes, Shin is a must see

KingSalomonMMIV I am looking to see if there is an English dubbed version since I would rather not deal with subtitles. Thank you.

@dk

I borrowed the movie from the library twice, and both times I watched it in the original Japanese language with English subtitles, but I never checked to see if there was an English dub. I did just google it, and I read that there is dub in both the blu-ray and dvd, so you should be able to see to see it in English no problem.

dk,
There is an English dub by the same voice actors FUNimation uses for their anime--So it's quite... "animated".

I can't deal with English dubs, but Shin Godzilla is very dialog heavy and just missing one line could potentially throw the entire movie off for you. On the other hand it's made it very rewatchable.

I found one on Amazon. I don't mind overdubs since most older Godzilla movies and other movies have had them. Some are pretty good while others are ridiculous. What I don't like is reading dialogue while action is happening. 

I don’t know whether to make my list based on enjoyment level or quality level, cause that choices will make a big difference where KOTM ends up.

Aw what they heck, why not both.

Based on enjoyment:

1. KOTM 

2. Shin Godzilla 

3. Godzilla 2014

4. Planet of the Monsters 

5. City on the Edge of Battle

6. Planet Eater 

Based on Quality:

1. Shin Godzilla 

2. Planet of the Monsters 

3. Planet Eater

4. Godzilla 2014

5. City on the Edge of Battle 

6. KOTM 

@Titan of Water

I know, KotM for me is the most rewatchable, but as far as quality goes, it's at the bottom of the list. 

Nice, this is staying remarkably civil for a ranking post. Guess I can toss my list in then.

5. Planet of the Monsters
4. The Planet Eater
3. Godzilla 2014
2. Shin Godzilla
1. KOTM

I'm not denying that Shin is a superior movie in terms of general quality, but KOTM has the top spot for the same reason Final Wars used to share no.1 with Shin: I like kaiju action, occasionally goofy, nonsensical, giant monster brawls. No amount of technically questionable plot or story decisions and character writing will change that. Same reason 2014 beats Planet Eater. Aside from Joe Brody the main characters of '14 were boring to watch, but when Godzilla and Co. were actually on screen it was glorious, whereas Planet Eater had the exact opposite problem. The plot and character drama actually got me intrigued and invested in PE, but aside from the initial epic entrance of Ghidorah the monster segments almost bored me to tears. That is inexcusable for a Kaiju film in my opinion.

Had the anime trilogy been its own thing I might have looked on it more fondly as an interesting twist on the kaiju formula, but with Godzilla's name and pantheon attached it's just disappointing. I still think the core new ideas are great and even cool for Godzilla, I just wish they had gone further with the kaiju's roles and action scenes.

I usually find any action, kaiju or otherwise, to be hopelessly boring if the story and characters don't justify it with high stakes. I suppose that's why The Planet Eater works for me where King of the Monsters does not. The Planet Eater set up the stakes where humanity was literally going extinct on-screen. King Ghidorah was such a nightmarish terror wiping out the remains of humanity that you couldn't help root for the few that were left. So as slight as the confrontation was, it had enough gravity to be exciting. Whereas King of the Monsters made me wonder why I was supposed to be rooting for Godzilla.

I can't quite fathom that mindset, the point of action is to be interesting, but I get the part about stakes. Again, Planet Eater had good stakes, and even a great introduction to Ghidorah showcasing just how unstoppable he was, but to then cut back from the high tension character moments to Godzilla slowly resisting barely moving space noodle necks would snap me out of it every time. Were it a wrestling match or Godzilla firing and flailing desperately it wouldn't have bothered me, what we got felt like cutting back to a statue every couple minutes.

I liked 2014 for the creature design and some sequences, but was pretty bored with most everything else- enough to shutting it off before the end. The characters bored me to tears and I simply didn't care about them.

I had initial misgivings for KOTM. For me, it seemed to have 3 parts regarding characters. 

The first part was all about the creatures while the human characters wee mostly insignificant save for the scientist and female military leader- can't remember the names.

The second part is where human characters developed while the monsters took a back seat. Fair enough since we knew about the monsters by now.

The third part was engaging for me since I knew most of everyone's motivations- humans and monsters.

I know KOTM doesn't list well with hardened fans, and that is fine. But for a casual fan, it drew me in and made me want to pay attention to what is coming next and maybe checking stuff out from the past- like Shin.

It should be remembered that the franchise needs to attempt satisfying old fans while attracting new ones. KOTM roped in a casual fan who is motivated to check out more. 

I will not kid anyone and say I will watch the entire catalog. I will continue forward with the current trilogy and likely back track to Shin since it gets such high praise on the Forum.

Gomi: Ninja Monster,
I disagree completely. The staging of action should be interesting, but action should compliment the stakes in some form. And while I'll concede the battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah wasn't particularly kinetic, there was a real sense of two gods in a suspended confrontation, literally looming over the fate of mankind's remnants.

Nothing about the climax of King of the Monsters struck me as particularly exciting or complimentary to the otherwise grating characters. In fact, I probably could've done with some shots trimmed out.

dk
You definitely made a mistake shutting off 2014 before it finished, all the actual monster stuff happens in the last quarter. I'd advise picking up where you left off so you don't have to sit through the parts you didn't like again.

G. H. (Gman)
Yes, but a well-constructed or bombastic fight scene can be a joy in and of itself, no preestablished stakes required. If Planet Eater had been two original kaiju I most likely would have felt differently, but it was Godzilla and Ghidorah battling, those names come with a long history of kinetic combat that I don't think should have been disregarded so quickly. The final battle felt like the producers finally giving us what we wanted out of an anime Godzilla in the first place, but in the least-fulfilling way possible that didn't utilize the limitlessness of animation in any way.

Aside from the human assistance KOTM's climax was Godzilla's fight with Ghidorah, not the human characters. Godzilla is facing off against his mortal enemy, the biggest and most enduring threat to his life and home that's been haunting him for millennia. If you switch POV I'd say that battle has some more stakes. Think of KOTM as Godzilla's movie that spends too long with the supporting cast. :P

G. H. (Gman),
But even switching over to "Godzilla's POV" has its drawbacks. I'm watching him battle a creature that the film already established he won against and literally put on ice. Their first battle ended with King Ghidorah retreating. Their second battle was interrupted with Godzilla clearly having the upper hand. (Made worse by Dougherty later confirming Godzilla would've won that round had the military not interfered.) The movie established the least threatening variation of the monster yet building with little or no suspense to the final battle. There was never a moment I thought, "how is he going to win this one?" Like Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster or The Planet Eater. It was just noise to me--I hate using this comparison, because it's overdone, but it reminded me of the exhausting, jumbled battles in Bay's Transformers movies. I just wanted it to end.

G. H. (Gman) I will admit that I was kinda annoyed at Ghidorah running off after getting attacked by the Monarch jets at Antarctica. If I was editing KOTM's script, I probably would have revised that scene so Ghidorah pushes Godzilla into the ice, brings a section of the wall crashing down on him so as to partially bury him, and then flies off. No interference from Monarch, just Godzilla and Ghidorah. In this scene I'd try to establish that Ghidorah isn't an instinct driven predator like the MUTOs, but a sadistic force that enjoys toying with his prey/enemies because he can. I'd probably also put a sort of kaiju boneyard around the Outpost 32 containment site as a way to further build up just how bad he really is; sort of implying that Godzilla wasn't the only monster responsible for putting him in ice, but he was the only one who came out unscathed. It'd make for some nice imagery, too, I think.

As for the Antarctica thing, I just figured that Ghidorah getting frozen was pure, dumb luck. A chance in a million, like the earthquake that trapped Godzilla in Final Wars. It worked then, but it won't work now.

JurassicKaiju14,
I just think the entire story needed to be reworked so King Ghidorah didn't appear until the climax. The movie paints him as a big bully, kicking someone and then running away.

Perhaps spending too much time with King Ghidorah takes away from him. Saving him for the ultimate threat, as if his return is a ticking time bomb, might've escalated how I feel about this version.