My Godzilla Marathon

I don’t have Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs Megalon, or Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla. I was planning on renting them but due to complicated reasons it backfired. That’s why I haven’t been updating because I’ve been busy trying to buy these movies for a not outrageously large prize but I failed. So the next review is Destroy All Monsters.

Destroy All Monsters:

It has the same problem of boring characters and lack of monster action. Most of the monsters are robbed into cameos and the ones that do get more screen time don’t get that much. The main character is a stereotypical action hero who always has this kinda annoying stoic face. Ironically, both the girlfriend and the head of Monsterland had more personality when they became mindless automatons to the Kilaaks. I actually really liked the Kilaak leader. She had this really passive aggressive tone and some of the things she says are so psycho it’s laughable, like when she kills millions of people with the monsters “in order to create a new world, we have to make sacrifices.” I will say Godzilla’s design is a lot better now. It has a fierce and menacing tone, which is ironic since he’s the good guy at this point. Anguirus’s design is a huge step up from raids again. While their isn’t much monster action, the final battle is awesome. Each monster (the ones that actually participated in the fight at least) got a chance to shine and it was actually quite brutal. I almost felt sad for Ghidorah when he got brutally beat down, even though he’s a sadistic genocidal planet destroying monster. While a quite boring film in my opinion, the final fight is league above the rest of the movie and while no humans here are very interesting, none of them are “bad” in my opinion. I give this meh movie 3/5.

I’m not gonna review Godzilla’s Revenge cause you probably already know my opinion on the movie and everything about it has already been said. All you need to know is that a give it a 1/5.

Godzilla vs Hedorah: Ok, I realize this movie has a cult following and to be honest I’m not gonna give this movie any mercy, so if you like this movie IM NOT TRYING TO INSULT YOU. I’d like to begin by pointing  out that I love nature and the environment. Although I’m not an adult, I plan when I’m 18 to support charities, vote for politicians that care, and for the present  lower my carbon footprint as much as possible. Having said all that though, this movie just beats you over the head with it’s environmental message to the point you just don’t wanna hear it anymore. What I’ve learned over the past few months is that I shouldn’t criticize a movie for the message it’s spreading (see my Godzilla The Planet Eaters mind numbing message to see a more immature me), but how it is sent. This just proves my point, because I agree with the film that pollution is bad, yet I can’t stand how unsubtle, over the top, and preachy it is. None of the human characters are interesting, and are in fact quite annoying. The kid is your average Kaiju kid, being obsessed with Godzilla and knowing stuff he shouldn’t know. He has the added curse of always screaming “Papa!” or “Godzilla!” every five seconds. The movie is just full of weird scenes. The scene with the guy having a fishy acid trip at a rave comes to mind. Then there was the psychedelic scene with all the screens playing at once and blaring at you. And of course there is the infamous Godzilla flying scene. Also, why the cartoons. They were pointless and this is supposed to be a LIVE ACTION movie. The Monster scenes go nowhere and are mostly comprised of them either standing or walking. There is almost no music here and the songs that do play are severely overplayed. Also, Godzilla’s new theme make him sounds awful. I’m giving this trash heap a 1/5.

Wow. I don't agree with a lot of these. Both Monster Zero and Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster are easily top 10 movies and the characters/adventure scenario are by far some of the most intriguing things about them.

I agree Destroy All Monsters is fairly boring and I know I'm in the minority calling All Monsters Attack an underrated gem, but Godzilla vs. Hedorah trash? I don't know if you're missing the forest for the trees with these movies, but yikes.

Well, though I’m not ashamed of my opinion, I apologize for shocking you. But could you elaborate on what you mean missing the forest for the trees? Did you mean I missed the message of the movie? I think the message is pretty obvious, don’t pollute! The problem wasn’t that I disagreed with the message, I totally agree that pollution is bad! The problem was that it felt like I was having the message shoved down my throat. Even if for some weird reason I was pro-pollution I wouldn’t have judged the film based on its message cause I’ve learned since my ridiculous planet eater rant not to judge a movie on it’s message but on how it presents it. Or do you mean I missed a whole bunch of symbolism in the film? It’s obvious what Hedorah represents, but I guess a lot of the symbolism was in the stranger scenes like the fish acid trip and the multiple screens and the cartoons. Maybe I’m just stupid, but that’s just why I hated those scenes, I couldn’t understand what they represented. I’m not against symbolism, it’s one of the greatest tools in writing, but there has to be a balance between not being too unsubtle about who a character/thing represents, but also making sure your audience can understand what your thing represents. So in short maybe you could elaborate were you disagree with me? Also, I didn’t hate the characters in monster zero, they were likable, I just found them static.

"Both Monster Zero and Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster are easily top 10 movies"

That's on your list, not everyone else's! Just because someone doesn't agree with you or likes the same movies you do doesn't mean they're missing the forest for the trees. You and I happen to disagree about a great many movies, and as far as I'm concerned I'm no more lost in the forest than you are. Let the young man have his opinion.

KoldWarKid I actually wasn’t offended I just wanted to specific why he disagreed with me because I like to discuss.

^No prob. GMan and I don't always see eye to eye on these and other movies, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for him nonetheless. He does know his stuff. I will give him that, but he, like anyone else, has opinions about things. It doesn't mean he's right or wrong; it's just how he feels. We all have our favorites of everything, whether it's Godzilla movies, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. They're not always going to align with everyone else. I will never call out anyone for not liking something I like. My apologies. I know you can speak/argue for yourself!

KoldWarKid62,
I can also have the opinion that someone else's sucks. Just about everything stated here is opinion, that's a given. But if I don't agree with one and/or find it in error, I have every right to say so as much as others do.

Titan of Water,
I was referring more to Monster Zero and Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. But since we're on the topic of Godzilla vs. Hedorah, I agree you understood the basic anti-pollution message, but you clearly didn't see the experimental slant the movie had put on it.

Pollution in Japan was a borderline national crisis in the late 1960s and 70s. (In fact it hasn't exactly recovered to this day.) While the film presents this theme as text, rather than subtext, you can say the same for the 1954 film's themes. Nothing is hidden. It's pretty blatant what this is about and for good reason.

The difference is that, unlike Honda, Banno executes his film like a satirical, political documentary: The cartoons being used as chapter breaks - the news items and images forming an amalgam of chaos - people crying out for someone to do something, but no one can. The youth are depicted as morons, incapable of forming solid protests or making any difference. Authorities, police and military are incompetent and bumbling. Even Dr. Yanno's own invention doesn't work without Godzilla. In all of this mayhem the movie is cynical about the future, because no one can really succeed at anything.

This comes down to the post-human idea that humanity is at the mercy of their own mistakes. Those mistakes, both Hedorah and Godzilla, end up clashing regardless of what mankind does. It's a complete 180 of Sekizawa's screenplays from the 1960s. Those movies featured characters usually luring or using monsters to their advantage. Meanwhile, Banno presents a world where monsters, a representation of mankind's errors, will do as they desire regardless of man's attempt to intervene.

The idea that humanity is blindly bumbling in the dark, trying to intervene with gods at war, is further visualized by the movie's constant mutilation of eyes. Dr. Yanno grinds up a tadpole's eye for microscopic investigation, but he also loses his own to Hedorah. Godzilla's eye is burned away, but he rams his fist into Hedorah's eye, which is shut tight afterward.

Also take into account this is the first movie since the original to include consistent fish imagery--Important to a country in fear of losing one of its most lucrative industries at the time. Whereas the original film used the fall of Japan's fishing industry to herald Godzilla's rise, Godzilla vs. Hedorah sees it as borderline extinct. Rundown fishermen are seen unable to catch anything and hallucinations of fish in a dance club become a psychedelic nightmare of what no longer exists--Something that the country's economy once depended on.

Now, I agree the music doesn't fit and the characters, due to the post-human narrative, fall very flat. The half-baked character arcs weight the movie down. But the experimental tone and avant garde direction make this a movie tonally unique to the series and fascinating to pick through. The result of said direction give it many layers of visual nuance that goes beyond a mere, "pollution = bad" theme.

Titan of Water - It's good that you're getting to watch these movies, especially seeing them for the first time. I like that you've taken the time to give your thoughts on each one after you see it. I look forward to hearing your review, as well as everyone else's, of G:KOTM in three weeks.

I enjoy these reviews even though I don't agree with most of them. That's probably why I am enjoying them as much as I do.

I really have to get going on mine. I'm only two movies in but I'm only doing a small marathon basically just watching all of the movies up to Monster Zero. I might watch some favorites after that, but that's the main thing I'm focusing on. 

Gman: You bring up some good points,I still don’t like the movie but it was cool too see another side.

Titan of Water Yeah, Ebirah Horror of the Deep's not worth the time, but I still hold it in my heart because it was the first ever true Godzilla film that I ever saw, and this was back in mid-2014. [Because 1) the first one I ever saw was the 1998 film, but I didn't know it was "Godzilla" (quotes are for G.I.N.O) because it looked like a giant dinosaur, and 2) I missed out on seeing the 2014 movie in theaters or on DVD, and I didn't see that one until mid-2017 on rental.]

Godzilla vs Gigan:

This movie is sort of a mixed bag for me. None of the characters are very interesting, though I did get a few laughs out of the main character once and awhile. A big problem with the plot is that it’s already been done to death (another alien invasion) in the previous movies, and you could probably see the “twist” a mile away if you saw the previous movies. The movie also looks sadly cheap. There is A LOT of stock footage and the new models we see don’t look near as grand or detailed as previous ones. Ghidorah is incredibly stiff for a good chunk of the movie, and the Godzilla suit they’ve been using since Destroy All Monsters seems to be on it’s last legs. I did see some positives in this movie though. I honestly think they presented their anti-pollution message a lot better here. Unlike Godzilla vs Hedorah they don’t bombard you with it and it’s only in the movie for a couple minutes, but still gives audiences enough to chew on, or at least me. Though I will admit I kinda cringed when one of the characters spelled out the message at the very end like the audience is two years old and didn’t know the message. Though brutally beat up and worn from years of filming, the Godzilla suit used in this film still has a nice design and I put it on par with the MosuGoji suit, from its freshness in Destroy All Monsters to its wearing out in this movie. I honestly think Gigan was well done and is a very creative concept. Anguirus looks good too, though like Godzilla a bit worn since he was used in Destroy All Monsters a few years back. Ghidorah’s design was the only one I had a problem with. It looks like his suit from previous films was used in some shots but personally I think it looks a lot more worn and beaten down than the others. The monster fights scenes are pretty decent in my opinion. But really, it can quite boring most of the time and to me not really worth watching unless your a really devoted fan. I give it a 2/5

Update tomorrow.

Terror of MechaGodzilla: For a filmed that bombed at the box office, it sure is a good film. Ironically, the villains are more entertaining than the main character, who, as you’ve already probably guessed, is very bland. Katsura, though, is a very complex character. She’s goes through an emotional roller coaster, torn between her father and what is right. Add to the fact that she struggles to use free will cause the aliens keep on reprogramming her and manipulating her emotions. Dr Mafune, while he can seem like nothing more than a cliche evil scientist sometimes, he his moments. It seemed laughable to me that he went crazy cause no one believed his theory about a dinosaur, but then learning about his poverty and the death of his wife made me realize he was already a deeply broken man and the Titanosaurus incident was the straw that broke the camels back. While he certainly isn’t a good guy, he truly did love his daughter. You can really see it when breaks down sobbing after he finds out that the control for MechaGodzilla is inside her. The aliens are delightfully over the top evil and hammy. MechaGodzilla looks nice and so does Titanosaurus, though I found his roar a little annoying. Godzilla looks good and menacing, though his grimace can seem over the top and a little comedic at times. The monster action is very well done and the destruction scenes are almost apocalyptic with the combination of MechaGodzilla’s mass arsenal and Titanosaurus’ hurricane force winds from his fins.

I give this movie a 4/5.

I always felt Katsura was the main character: The movie opens with her, it's her journey we generally follow and it closes with her dead in someone's arms. She has the full arc in the film.

I suppose due to the Romeo & Juliet style nature of the story, it's easy to lump both characters as joint leads.

Gman: That very well might be the case.

The Return of Godzilla: We finally leave the campy kawaii Godzilla to go back to his dark and somber roots. Weirdly, Kraken gives a preface saying that the views expressed in this film don’t necessarily reflect theirs. I don’t get what was so offensive, I think not wanting to get nuked in a Soviet-American War is pretty reasonable to me. Some characters were good but other felt a little undercooked to me. The main character is interesting because he has somewhat of a grey morality. He’s certainly willing to help people, but at the same time he takes advantage of people and seems to care more about his job than anything else. The prime minister is by far my favorite character. He has great internal struggle over whether or not to use the atom bomb. In the end he choose his own convictions rather than give into the pressure of America and Russia. He was able to stay calm in very tense situations that I think would make most others crack. I know some people find him annoying, but I dig the hobo guy. Seeing him trash talk a monster that could easily step on him and probably didn’t know what he’s saying was just really funny to me. If we count both America and Soviet Russia as “characters”, I liked how neither side of the Cold War was really vilified. Both are sort of grey like the main character. Both pose a threat with the use of nuclear weapons and both use Japan for their own gains, but at the same time they do some good in the film as well. The Russian guy tried to stop the nuke from launching and America helped stop the nuke from destroying Tokyo. Other than that, no characters really stood out to me. Dr Hayashida was semi-interesting with his past history with Godzilla as well as the girl whose name I can’t remember when she is exploited by the main character, but other than that they feel kinda static to me. Another example of wasted development was the brother. They could have easily dove into the trauma he must be dealing with because of the horrific killings of his friends he witnessed by the sea louse, and they kinda did that a little bit but it’s barely shown and instead most of the time he pulls a Haruo and goes on about how he hates Godzilla. I’d like to point out that while some characters didn’t seem interesting to me, I though most of the actors acted pretty well, whether the character they were playing was interesting or not. The models are finally back to the high quality and must of took a lot of time and work. We also see the affect the destruction has on the people again and your left with the same grim feeling from 54. If I had one major complaint, it’s Godzilla’s appearance. I like the cybot Godzilla, it looks good, and the suit looks okay from some angles but at others he just looks awful. He looks incredibly derpy and looks like he got stoned or something. But besides that I really liked this film, I give it a 4/5.

Godzilla vs Biollante: This movie is probably the greatest of the Heisei series, it even kinda feels like a completely different movie than the others. The main character was interesting cause he seemed to be the only voice of reason through the film. We get a lot of deep talks about the ethics of genetic engineering through him. He kinda serves as a similar character to Serizawa. Both are afraid to use a weapon to kill Godzilla because it could fall into the wrong hands (the Oxygen Destroyer and ANEB), but both decide to use them anyway to protect their people. While not the main message of the movie, he learns a good lesson by the end of the film that no place in the world is perfect and he need to do with what he’s got. I actually think the romance is really good in this movie cause the main character dates a girl who’s father is in direct conflict with his ethics. The girlfriend also actually contributes to the plot, so that’s a plus. Dr. Shiragami is quite a complex person. He’s arrogant and has a scant regard for nature, but at the same time he loved his daughter and did everything to try to keep her alive, if in a really messed up way. After seeing the abomination he created, he slowly but surely realizes his fault , and the consequences of playing God. But in the end, even after realizing his fault, he still pays for his deed by getting killed. It kinda reminded me of a Shakespearean tragedy. Gondo is a really fun character. He actually WANTS Godzilla to come back cause he’s bored. He has a lot of great one-liners and a lot of great action scenes. He goes out like a boss by mocking the King of the Monsters himself, that takes balls! As for Miki Saegusa, I might get a lot of hate for this, but I didn’t think she was really interesting in this movie. She didn’t become interesting to me until Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 1993, then in SpaceGodzilla she was just really annoying, being really whiny and self-righteous. She became interesting and bearable for me again in Destoroyah. Here in Biollante, similar to the princess from Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, she seems to only be used for exposition and move the plot around. The Godzilla suit for this movie was really good, very fierce and menacing. It was so good they used the same basic design for the rest of the suits in the series! All the models and sets are high quality and  I was surprised with how detailed a lot of them were. This makes the destruction scenes even better and you’ll be left satisfied with them. Biollante looks amazing, she’s really an achievement for the special effects guys. She’s so huge I’m surprised they made he able to move. The fights between the two monsters  are actually pretty messy, ferocious, and violent for a Godzilla film, which is good to me cause it’s more realistic and varied. Better enjoy the tooth and claw while you can though, cause starting with Godzilla vs King Ghidorah the beam spamming begins. I give this film a 5/5.

Appreciate the love for Biollante and finding some good messages.

Empty H: Thank you, I was just about to do a review for Godzilla vs King Ghidorah!

Godzilla vs King Ghidorah: It’s an okay film, but I see it as a big downgrade from Biollante. The only two characters I found interesting were Shindo and Emmy. Shindo, like Dr. Shiragami, is a tragic character who pays for his warped views. He is extremely disillusioned about Godzilla, thinking of him as some kind of spiritual guardian of Japan just because it unintentionally saved his life long ago. But in the end, he is proved wrong right after Godzilla defeats King Ghidorah, when his “savior” continues the rampage his opponent started. Being responsible for leaving him for dead on the island which allowed the Futurians to send him to the bearing sea were he would be mutated, and causing him to be even more mutated by his nuclear sub, Shindo feels that the only way to atone for his deeds and disillusionment is death. Emmy was something of a grey Anti-Hero, which is interesting because that doesn’t seem to be the case for a lot of Godzilla characters. She is just as guilty of deceiving Japan as her partners, but instead of plotting on destroying Japan like her partners she only wanted to use King Ghidorah as a warning. In the end she chooses to help Japan, thereby allowing it to become at corrupt superpower, rather than live with the blood of millions of lives on her hands. That would be a hard choice since neither one would result in a happy ending. None of the others characters stood out to me, and honestly I think Emmy should have been the main character. I’d like to point out that King Ghidorah seemed a lot more sympathetic here than in previous movies. It’s never implied he was the sadistic genocidal monster of the Showa Era, but rather an innocent creature who was mind controlled to do his dark deeds. It feels sad when he meets his fate at the hands of Godzilla. Both Godzilla and King Ghidorah have good designs, but like many suits in the later Heisei era Ghidorah’s regular form and Mecha form are incredibly stiff because the suits were so heavy. As for the fight scenes, the first one is decent. There was a lot more beams than usual but still just enough physical attacks. The second fight to me is semi entertaining because Mecha King Ghidorah is an awesome concept but mediocre however, because it’s almost completely beam spamming. This movie loses two stars for lacking interesting characters and the interesting characters that are in the film have less screen time, and good but not as good as they could’ve been fight scenes. This movie is a lot better if you understand the time travel. If you want a really good explanation of how it worked, go to Wikizilla.com, they explain it really well. I give this movie 3/5.

13 days remain, or in other words, 13 movies remain..... Good luck man! Must be fun traveling through Godzilla history!

It is.

Godzilla vs Mothra: King Ghidorah was decent, but this one is just bad! Almost all the characters are extremely annoying and unlikable to me. The main character is a scumbag, the ex-wife is a bossy self-righteous know-it-all, the guy who works for the super-duper evil corporation is slimy and a hypocrite, and the little girl is just irritating. The only character I liked was the boss of the super-duper evil corporation because he was so over the top. While not as bad as Godzilla vs Hedorah, the extreme preachiness and shoving of messages down the viewers throat through the entire movie is pretty awful. If I had a drink for every time someone talks about the environment I would be dead. Mothra looks like a plush instead of an actual insect. The original movie was able to make her look cute but recognizable as an insect but they completely failed here. Battra looks way to over the top edgy. Both the imago puppets are so incredibly stiff it’s laughable. Godzilla’s suit is good but it doesn’t seem as expressive as the previous movies. Even the monster fights are boring. Look, I like a good beam attack EVERY ONCE AND AWHILE, but they use them so much cause the puppets can’t move and it becomes like watching paint dry. The plot feels way to disjointed. It seems to start as a original version plot (besides the painful Indiana Jones reference), but then it suddenly becomes a reboot of the original Mothra movie, then Godzilla and Battra are suddenly thrust back into the plot. Godzilla has very little screen time, and you know what, he shouldn’t even be in this movie. The title treats it like a Godzilla movie but it’s a Mothra movie. They should’ve just scraped him and made it Mothra vs Battra. For some positives, though not as good as the originals, the new renditions of the Mothra songs are very well done. All the models look decent and the first fight in the sea is just okay cause there are actually some physical attacks. But besides that, it’s a very skipable movie, even devoted fans will have a hard time keeping their eyes open. I give this movie a 2/5.

Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 1993: It’s better than Godzilla vs Mothra, but in the end it’s still just a meh movie. Let’s start with the positives. Miki Saegusa finally starts to become an interesting character when she has an internal struggle over killing Godzilla. Similar to Serizawa, she ends up begrudgingly attempting to kill Godzilla instead of following her own personal convictions. It’s a nice contrast, since many characters in the Heisei series ended up following their convictions rather than pressure from other people. I really liked the relationship between Azsuma and BabyGodzilla, I think it was well written and it gave me a Hiccup-Toothless vibe. The lead pilot of MechaGodzilla was entertaining because he was so over the top angry all the time. It was interesting to see Rodan become a somewhat more benevolent creature, being fiercely protective of his half-brother BabyGodzilla and giving his energy to Godzilla right before his death. BabyGodzilla looks so much better than Minya, and actually looks cute this time! Besides that, everything is just kind of meh. The main character is alright, but to me he just seems to be a generic goofball/loser/outcast type with not a lot of depth. My main complaints from the movie actually mostly stem from the monster scenes. Rodan’s puppet is extremely stiff like Mothra and his movements don’t look realistic at all. However, I actually liked his fight with Godzilla cause there were actually a lot of physical attacks. MechaGodzilla is the most stiff however. The effect guys need to stop making their suits so big, it can barely walk! Because of that, the beam spamming during the MechaGodzilla scenes are in full force, and it just becomes agonizing after awhile. And it may sound weird saying this, but I think they actually showed to much Godzilla. He’s on screen way to long and you start to lose that feeling of awe and dread when he’s usually on screen. It seems this movie is plagued with filler from the monster scenes cause they couldn’t figure out anything interesting for the human characters to do. However, if their is one thing that keep me going, it’s Akira Ifukube’s music. It’s just so good and it’s quality is way better than the rest of the movie. Overall, it’s just an boring okay film, which I give 3/5.

Kawakita's inability to convincingly show monsters flying doesn't improve. If there's a monster in-flight during the Heisei series, it looks like a stiff, slow prop.