It’s time to put my revisiting of my favorite movie monster to bed (it was a helpful part of my Godzilla twelve-step program) with a review of the final, and most bad ass Godzilla movie of all time!  Godzilla Final Wars is the final film of the Millennium series and the 28^th film in the entire Godzilla franchise.  Despite its title, this is not the last Godzilla movie, but rather a time for Toho to “temporarily retire” the character for a period of time.  The latest Godzilla gossip has his probably return in 2013 or 14 for the 50^th anniversary of the king of monsters.  

Before we look at this film, I need to spend some time talking about the Millennium series of Godzilla films.  Unlike the Heisei-era of films, the storyline in these movies do not extend beyond the picture itself.  Many times we even see a reinventing of the Godzilla lore in order to tell the story.  The only exception is the Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla III and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. where the stories do actually tie together.  I chose to skip these two movies because Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla III is not available for streaming, and it’s even more Power Rangers than MechaGodzilla II.  (Personally I kinda dig the Power Rangers, but don’t tell DJI…)  If you are going to check out any other Millennium series movies, be sure to rent Godzilla 2000.  Here we see Godzilla’s new look, and the new look and feel of the series as a whole.  Toho released this film right after Sony’s lame version of Godzilla here in the U.S.  Here we are reminded of what a true Godzilla movie should be like.  You can still tell it’s a guy in a suit, but its so much more polished that it’s easier to suspend your disbelief.  The only things that is really lacking in the film is the truly awful English dub. 

Godzilla: Final Wars was released as part of the 50^th anniversary of the Godzilla franchise.  Many of the actors and monsters from the previous films made appearances as major characters or cameos in the film.  Some of the monsters had not been seen on the silver screen in more than thirty years!  Another awesome cameo in the film is the space combat vehicle Gotengo.  The Gotengo (or the Atragon) is a submarine battleship that has appeared in several Toho Studio films starting with the movie Atragon in 1963.  The ship is heavily armored and has a giant drill on the bow of the ship.  If you have ever been up late and caught a Japanese sci-fi film from the 1960s or 70s, you’ve probably seen this ship.  Seeing the Gotengo in the film sent my geek hairs on edge. Truly epic.
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Godzilla vs. Destroyah (or Destroyer as it was released in the west) is the seventh and final film in the Heisei-era Godzilla films, but not the last of the Toho Godzilla films (more on them next week).  Godzilla vs. Destroyah was released in the US in a twin DVD along with Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla.  Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla is a pretty fun movie, but ultimately it didn’t live up to its potential.  One bit of cool Godzilla trivia from the Space Godzilla film is the return of the battle robot Moguera.  Script writers originally called for MechaGodzilla to return in this film and fight along side Godzilla in the final battle.  But after realizing that Godzilla AND the one and only creature to ever kill him as a tag team would simply be too much for our antagonist to handle.  So they resurrected Moguera, a drilling robot first seen in the 1957 classic “The Mysterians.”  But enough of that, let’s look at this classic film.

The film starts out with shots of Big G doing what he does best, plundering the countryside and destroying Japanese architecture.  However, one this is perfectly clear, all is not well with our favorite lizard.  Patches of his skin now glow a bright red and scientists suspect that Godzilla has absorbed too much atomic energy and is having a nuclear heart attack.  Now this is both good and bad news.  It’s good because Japan would finally be rid of this terrible menace.  It’s bad news because his death would trigger an atomic explosion that would take Japan and most of the Earth with him.  G-Force (gotta love that…Thanks Japan) deploys their new Super X III combat vehicle that is equipped with cold weapons to stall the big Godzilla boom.  

Meanwhile, strange life forms begin to appear where the original Godzilla from 1954 died.  These creatures are nicked named Destroyah after the oxygen destroyer machine first used to kill Godzilla.  Eventually these baddies mutate and grow beyond the means of the Japanese defense forces and scientists are forced to call on Godzilla, and his son (now much bigger and named Junior) to destroy this new foe.  The monster known as Destroyah is a unique one as he takes several forms throughout the movie.  Even the larger version of himself can split into smaller Destroyah and wreak havoc on our hero.

There are several reasons why you should check out Godzilla vs. Destroyah.  The first being that the movie itself has a much more grown up look to it.  It’s not quite as cheesy ,or goofy as fuck, as the other Godzilla movies in the series.  The acting is more than passable, especially from the monsters.  Yes I said the monsters.  There are emotional scenes here from Godzilla as he deals with his own demise and the perils his son faces in combat.  Secondly, this is a passing of the torch from a very successful Heisei-era film series to the new Millennium series of Godzilla.  In the Millennium series, Godzilla gets yet another makeover, and the storyline is far less linear.  In order to accomplish this, Godzilla would need to perish once more, and his son would become the new king of monsters.  Finally, we see the culmination of some recurring Godzilla characters, mainly psychic Miki Saegusa who was in every Heisei-era film after Godzilla vs. Biollante.  Saegusa has come to look at Godzilla as more than just a monster, but rather a creature with emotions and feelings just as we have.  In the end she is one of many who say farewell to Godzilla.  

Godzilla fans will definitely enjoy this film, and non fans may appreciate the honest and real approach to dealing with the end of my favorite series of monster movies ever!

The second film in the Heisei-era of Godzilla films is the classic Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II.  I’ve chosen to skip the Godzilla vs. Mothra or Godzilla and Mothra: Battle for the Earth because it’s hard to find and the only noteworthy part of the film is the introduction of Mothra’s evil twin Battra.  For those unfamiliar with Godzilla lore, Mothra is a giant Moth and defender of nature.  Two fairies (no seriously) have the power to summon him whenever Godzilla or some other walking disaster threatens the Earth.  Mothra has his own line of successful films in Japan and they are mainly aimed at children.  They are kinda cool, but after awhile, the screaming kids just get to you and you wanna chuck something at your TV.  And if you’re like me, you just got a new TV so why go through all of that?  So we’ll leave Mothra for another time and deal with this killer movie.

In the Showa-era, MechaGodzilla was this bad ass robot created by the Simians (a powerful alien race that look like apes…damn dirty apes!).  He had a laser in his mouth and missiles on his fingers and toes.  Generally speaking, you didn’t wanna fuck with him.  He masqueraded as Godzilla, and when he was found out, proceeded to kick Godzilla all over Tokyo…until Godzilla teamed up with his buddy King Ceasar and ripped his head off.  He would later appear in subsequent films, but always as a menacing force controlled by an alien race.  As a kid, I loved MechaGodzilla because he was cool.  He had all the strength and fighting abilities as Godzilla, but with added weapons.  But I hated that he was controlled by aliens, as they would inevitably do something stupid and that would be the demise of the character.  Luckily for us, this Heisei-era film takes all that I loved about MechaGodzilla and turns it upside down for a very modern approach to the character.

The film starts out as leaders from the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) surveying the wreckage of Mecha King Ghidorah.  They decide to take the knowledge left from this future beast and create the ultimate weapon to use against Godzilla, MechaGodzilla.  This giant robot has an impressive and varied arsenal built only to destroy Godzilla.  Mechagodzilla is protected by an armor plating made from an alloy called NT-1, which is coated in a layer of artificial diamond that allows it to absorb energy from Godzilla’s atomic breath and transfer a plasma grenade, located on its abdomen.  The robot also has laser cannons in its eyes, a mega buster in its mouth with, tranquilizer missiles in its hips, paralysis missiles from the shoulders, and shock anchor cables from its wrists which deliver a powerful electrical surge into its opponent.  In short, he’s super bad ass! 

Not everyone is happy about this new ultimate weapon, a back up pilot named Kazuma Aoki believes that his prototype airship The Garuda is the real savior for the Earth against Godzilla.  Meanwhile on a mission to an island in the Pacific, a Japanese team discovers a dinosaur egg.  The decide to take the egg back to Japan to study it, thus attracting Godzilla and Fire Rodan who begin fighting over it.  The scientists escape with the egg and it hatches into another Godillasaur who is quickly dubbed BabyGodzilla.  Of course Godzilla appears to rescue the tiny creature and that’s when the showdown begins.  MechaGodzilla and Garuda are sent to intercept while the scientists study BabyGodzilla to determine if there is any weakness that they could use against Godzilla. 

This movie is a ton a fun and was originally written to be the end of the Heisei-era of films.  However that end scenario would be put on hold for two years and used in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (to be reviewed later).  The fight scenes are well done and perhaps the best part is all the banter between the pilots and the UNGCC control center.  You get this Strategic Air Command feel complete with tons of computer shots of MechaGodzilla’s systems, as he battles giant monsters.  Granted, there is a ton of things going on (BabyGodzilla, Rodan, Garuda, merging robots, the kitchen sink, etc) but it’s well paced and things never seem to get out of control.  In fact I think that this is one Godzilla movie that uses the many plot elements to keep the movie interesting and fresh.  My only complaint is that the ending seemed kind of cheap to me, but after learning their desire to continue the series, I’m ok with their choice in direction. 

So be sure to check this movie out.  It’s available on Netflix Instant View and well worth your time. Or better yet, a group of your Godzilla-loving, Chromehounds-missing friends to enjoy!

Hi my name is Ryker and … sigh… and I love Godzilla movies… 

Luckily for me, some of my favorite Godzilla films have hit Netflix on Xbox Live and are definitely worthy of individual viewing or (better yet) while in a party with your friends.  

Ever since I was a kid, my brothers and I would watch the giant grey lizard destroy Tokyo and kick monster ass every chance we could.  Occasionally, local theaters would run a Godzilla flick and we would drag my Dad to go and see it.  My Dad was quite the trooper as he sat through every one of them, even when we insisted on sitting right up front.  Of course this was during the infamous Showa series of the films that were filmed in the 1960s and 70s.  There were a total of 15 Showa-era films, accounting for over half of the library of work devoted to Godzilla, and probably the work that you are most familiar with. 

In the Showa series, Godzilla starts out as a menacing freak of nature; a warning to mankind for their abuse of nuclear power.  Then, in the fifth film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla took the role of a hero. From that point onto the end of the Showa series, Godzilla stayed a hero, protecting Japan against attacks from other monsters, aliens, etc.

The Showa-era films can best be described as campy fun.  There were no deep plots, no character development, and the special effects were marginal at best.  You could tell that Godzilla was a guy in a suit, and nobody seemed to care about that.  In Godzilla vs Magalon (A true classic) Godzilla and Jet Jaguar (A Giant Ultraman like robot) tag team against Magalon and Gigan in what looks to be a poorly choreographed wrestling match.  Godzilla even does a flying drop kick on Gigan, a sight that made my father shake his head.    

For most of us, the Showa-era films are where our knowledge of Godzilla ends.  Oh true that Sony and Mathew Broderick made a monster movie that they called Godzilla, but this was no Godzilla my friends…no sir!  The next two series of films were quite different, and where I will be making my movie recommendations from as they don’t get much play here in the U.S. 

 The Heisei-era Godzilla films were the second of the film series. In total, there were seven Heisei-era films, making them amount to one fourth the total Godzilla movies in existence.  The Heisei-era films differed drastically from the Showa-era films in a variety of ways.  The most prominent difference is that the Godzilla outfit was changed to look much more intimidating than previous suits, and Toho did away with Godzilla being the hero of the films.  While occasionally Godzilla would take the role of an antihero, he was consistently portrayed as a menace to humanity throughout the films.  Perhaps the biggest change we see in the Heisei-era is the plotline.  Each movie happened in some sort of sequence, and generally referenced previous movies to further the plot of the series.  If Godzilla was defeated at the base of Mt. Fuji in one film, he would be spotted again near Mt. Fuji at the beginning of the next.  Characters such as the head of the Tokyo military and several scientists reprise their roles in each film.  It’s like a giant lizard geek soap opera!

It is the Heisei-era where we will begin our dive into modern Godzilla lore, as we look at Godzilla vs King Ghidorah.  This movie was made in 1991 and is the third film in the series.  The first two films were the reboot of Godzilla at the time, and while good they don’t really advance any cannon for Godzilla.  Godzilla fans are quite familiar with King Ghidorah, the three headed, winged beast that often got the best of our hero.  The aliens in the Showa series would often pull King Ghidorah out as a mind-controlled heavy hitter, the Ivan Drago to our beloved Godzilla.  As a kid we would always whisper HOLY SHIT whenever the winged menace showed up because we knew things were gonna get crazy!  

In this movie, King Ghidorah is the catalyst for several changes in the modern Godzilla universe.  The story is kinda goofy, but nonetheless cool.  Time travellers from the 23rd century return to 1992 to warn Japan that Godzilla will cause a catastrophic nuclear incident in the 21st century and suggest a way to rid the world of him forever. They intend to go back to 1944, to where a dinosaur was exposed to radiation from the H-Bomb test and became Godzilla. If they kill the dinosaur, Godzilla would cease to be.  Upon completion of this task, King Ghidorah appears and the visitors’ true plan is discovered; they wish to destroy Japan so it will not become the dominant economic force.  Who will save Japan now? 

This movie is important for a couple of reasons.  First, the movie got panned for anti-American sentiment throughout the film.  The time travelers are from North America so there is a ton of hate on them; and there is a scene where the dinosaur (named a Godzillasuarus) saves Japanese troops during an American attack in WWII.  This makes it an interesting watch for us Yanks.  Secondly, this is the film where Godzilla get’s his make over and becomes a bigger badass then before.  They explain how he gets his new looks and strength, and the appearance is strikingly different.  Finally, this movie sets up some important cannon in the Godzilla universe and sets the ball in motion for some kick ass movies to come.  I won’t spoil the ending, but suffice to say that a reviewer’s quote on Amazon of  “Godzilla…Terminator style,” was quite accurate.

So if you’re like me, and you are a closet Godzilla fan, be sure to check this film out.  If you’re not, but you are looking for some sci-fi fun, get some friends together and have a Godzilla party.  You won’t regret it.