With the new Godzilla movie quickly approaching, many questions come to mind. How much does Godzilla pee? How/why does Godzilla keep getting bigger? After how many Godzilla movies will my parents kick me out of their basement? I’ll allow smarter people to answer those questions. I will respond to a quite simpler one. Which of the 28 official Godzilla movies to date (yes, that’s more than James Bond) should I actually watch?
Here’s my top five(-ish) epically destructive Godzilla smash hits.
5. Godzilla: Final Wars/Destroy All Monsters
At five, I have a tie between two monster mash-ups. If you’re looking for nothing but pure city-crumbling mayhem then these are the movies you want. Forget story and characterization, these two films are about giant monsters punching each other in their ugly, ugly faces or face-like appendages. And really, if you’re watching a Godzilla movie, isn’t that what you’re really hoping to see?
The plot (term used loosely here) of both films involve aliens unleashing monsters to destroy Earth. Because… ALIENS.
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) is mostly an homage to previous Godzilla movies where Godzilla fights the entire TOHO monsters’ gallery. My favorite scene has Godzilla owning the American version of Godzilla (called ‘Zilla here) in mere seconds. Many fans of the Godzilla series like this film due to the fact it brings back so many favorite monsters, and for a Godzilla film, the special effects are pretty good-- again, the key phrase being “for a Godzilla film”. This film ended the third series (the Millenium era) of Godzilla movies.
Destroy All Monsters (1968) is fondly remembered by lovers of the first run of Godzilla movies as the first movie to incorporate all the favorite monsters up until that time. Before Final Wars, this was the must-see Godzilla film for pure monster-on-monster action. You’ll prefer this one to Final Wars if you dig the Godzilla films for their cheesiness and antiquated effects.
PWNED!
4. Godzilla Vs. Destroyah
Godzilla Vs. Destroyah is mostly notable for the fact that it contains the “death” of Godzilla. This movie ends the second series of Godzilla films, the Heisei era. In it, Godzilla has a condition in which he is ultimately going to combust due to an internal nuclear meltdown. And I thought kidney stones were bad…
Until the moment of Godzilla’s death, however, his powers become “super-charged” which conveniently allows for a set of skyscraper-flattening altercations with the man-made nightmare, Destroyah, which keeps mutating into worse and worse incarnations. What sets this movie apart is its willingness to actually “kill” Godzilla. There’s nothing quite like watching one of your childhood icons die after an act of self-sacrifice, even if he does die by disintegrating into glitter dust.
And now for a quick dance break...
3. Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah/ Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
Okay, so I cheated again by allowing a tie. Like my #5 ranking, it really depends on personal preference which of these films ones likes best.
Ghidorah, the Three Monster (1964) introduces Godzilla’s toughest opponent, a three-headed golden dragon who flies and spits lightning. Also, it’s an alien. This was the first film which allowed Godzilla to fight for the forces of good, or at least, not solely against mankind. In fact, it includes a conversation between Mothra, Rodan, and Godzilla (translated by Mothra’s tiny fairy twin-friends) in which Godzilla and Rodan agree they couldn’t care less which happens to humans. At one point during the translation, the twins exclaim, “Godzilla, what terrible language!” For some reason, the idea that Godzilla cusses like a sailor really appeals to me. Anyway, Mothra convinces the other monsters to agree to a truce, and the terrifying trio defeat Ghidorah in one of the most innovative and wild battles of the Godzilla series.
Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (1991) boasts better effects and an attempt to explain the origin of Godzilla. Also, it throws in time travel for good measure. Because… ALIENS. The film is interesting and different while still offering some sweet Godzilla/Ghidorah carnage. Because if there’s one thing better than Ghidorah, it’s Mecha-King Ghidorah. As a Godzilla fan, Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah is hard not to like and probably the best of the Heisei era films. Interesting side note, in the 1944 sequence young Godzilla only kills Americans, allowing the Japanese soldiers to escape. The scene led some to question if the film were anti-American, but the filmmakers claimed this was not the case.
Drop kick!
2. Mothra Vs. Godzilla
Mothra Vs. Godzilla (1968) was considered a special effects marvel at the time of its release. That’s a little hard to believe now, but compare it to pretty much any other sci-fi movie made in 1968 or before that time, and you can color yourself impressed.
Mothra attempts to stop the unstoppable force, to move the immovable object, that is Godzilla. This is more or less the plot of the entire movie. It is the special effects and decent performances from the human characters that tends to place this movie in the upper echelon of Godzilla films.
Another interesting aspect is that Mothra fails. Godzilla kills her, and it is Mothra’s children who hatch from her egg that finally topple Godzilla at the end of the film. It’s a bit like Psycho in that the character (in this case a giant moth and not Janet Leigh) whom you expect to be the hero actually dies halfway through the film. And that only makes me think about how amazing a Godzilla film directed by Alfred Hitchcock could have been!
1. Gojira
This is a no brainer. With Godzilla, the first is the best. Gojira was a frightening film at the time of its release and a surreal metaphor for the nuclear holocaust which Japan had experienced at the end of WWII. Gojira embodies everything man fears and that which man cannot control-- nature at its most savage; nature turning man’s hubris upon himself. Simply awesome in the truest sense of the word.
I think Godzilla said it best:
And now excuse me, but I must be going...
