Kaiju Khristmas continues on!! Welcome everyone to Week 2 of the Marathon. From December 8th through December 14th, we have some stellar movies coming up!! And I can't wait to see them all!!
Week 1 Week 2 Week 4 Really good. I liked it more than Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla personally. I found the human plotline to be really compelling in this one. Particularly, the story of Katsura. She went through so much shit in that movie. I was really, really rooting for her. Her having to die to kill MechaGodzilla, was really reminiscent of Serizawa choosing to die to kill the original Godzilla, imo. That, and seeing Godzilla swim off into the sunset one final time was what made that a really good thematic ending to the Showa era imo.
It really encapsulated all of the best parts of the Showa era. Goofiness, with just the right amount of seriousness. A cool fight, with multiple different monsters. A compelling human plotline that ties very directly in with the Monsters on more than a surface level. And one final showdown between Godzilla and one of his greatest enemies.
Titanosaurus was also really unique and cool. Honestly probably one of the best costumes they've done in the Showa era. He had such a unique build to him.
Destroy All Monsters was an awesome movie. I can see how it makes a good send off for the Showa Era. It was really fun seeing all those Kaijus come back for one last hurrah. Even if there was a handful I've never seen before now.
The plot was pretty compelling. Yet another alien invasion, yet another alien invasion using Kaijus to destroy the world. I did like the angle this one was going for, where Kilaaks were using the Kaijus more like a threat to garner political power than anything. In a way, it kind of brings everything full circle. Nuclear weapons are used as threats of mutual destruction, and the kaijus in this movie are treated the same way by the Kilaaks. Which brings this whole series back to its original roots I think.
I also liked their plan in general. Attacking Monster Island, stealing and mind controlling all the workers and the Kaiju. It was pretty cool espionage stuff, but yeah I've seen it one too many times for it to REALLY wow me. Though, I will consider the fact that in terms of release, this movie actually came out before Gigan, Megalon, and MechaGodzilla. So in a way they were the ones ripping off the alien invasion plot from this movie. Again though, I wouldn't be so against it if it were the same aliens invading again. I like recurring villains, I don't like doing the same thing over and over again with a new name and calling it a new plot.
I enjoyed the cast. Particularly the crew of the SY-3. I couldn't tell you a single one of their names, but I liked how capable they were in their missions. They got shit done. And seeing them fly around in their spaceship was cool. Especially the scene where they were fleeing from Rodan.
The battle with King Ghidorah was awesome. Seeing all the main Showa Monsters (from the time) work together to take him down was sick..... Well, most of them anyways. A certain trio of Kaijus just stood in the background and watched.
I was NOT expecting Gorosaurus to be such a fucking chad in this movie though????? Like. Godzilla, Anguirus, and Gorosaurus were the main trio taking down King Ghidorah. It was sick. Maybe if Mothra wasnt a FUCKING LARVA AGAIN she could've done more damage too. Though I did like her and Kumonga teaming up to string him down.
Also its really fucking funny that Minilla did more damage than Varan, Baragon, and Manda.
Was debating whether I wanted to include Monsters like Gorosaurus, Minilla, Manda, and Kumonga on my Kaiju Ranking. Since they're in this movie, but I havent seen their main movie yet. But eh. Fuck it. Big list looks cool. Plus Gorosaurus was an absolute chad in the fight with King Ghidorah.
Movie Ranking
Kaiju Ranking:
This movie blew my mind. To start off with, its important to note that this is the first non-Showa era movie I've watched in the marathon. And to say it was a step up was an understatement. Its an aspect of this marathon that I didn't even think of at first. But really makes me glad I'm doing it as my introduction to Kaiju movies. The way the marathon is set up, gives me a bit of a glimpse into how people might've first experienced these movies. Going from the Showa movies to the Heisei ones is a breath of fresh air. The effects, the stories, the costumes, everything is a billion times better. Some of the scenes are absolutely breath taking, and only made even moreso by the way the marathon has presented the movies to me.
The story was alright. It was nothing super special compared to the other Kaiju movies I've seen so far. It was pretty standard fair. But where this movie really stood out was in its characters. I think my favorite was Mayumi. Though I also actually quite liked Asagi too, and her connection to Gamera as like her priestess or whatever.
Gamera himself was also really cool. Gamera makes a munch better hero than Godzilla does. Him flying around like a flying saucer was a cool looking effect. And his fight scenes were really cool in general. I also liked Gyaos a lot, simply based off his design. Because I think it was really cool.
Overall I can definitely see why people call the Heisei Gamera movies some of the best of the Heisei era. This movie absolutely blew me away from start to finish.
Return of Godzilla was a much better sequel than Raids Again was. I liked a lot of the ideas in this movie.
The giant wharf roaches that were living on Godzilla were a bit random, but I really like them as a concept. And they make a lot of sense too.
The idea of Godzilla having migratory instincts like dinosaurs and their descendants, birds, was very interesting too. Adds a bit of depth to his species.
I'm a big fan of political intrigue in movies, so I liked the stuff with the USA and USSR regarding how Godzilla should be handled. At first I thought everything with the accidental launching of the soviet missile just felt kind of random and pointless. I was very happy when it actually ended up being important to the mainplot, by wakign Godzilla up. LoL. I feel like that kind of random shit happened a lot in Showa.
Speaking of the big guy himself, it was so refreshing to see Godzilla be considered a threat again instead of a goofy superhero. The suit looked awesome (for the most part, for some reason his eyes looked weird in a few scenes) and for once his atomic breath actually felt powerful and not like a light spray of mist.
This felt like Godzilla. Like an actual giant Monster. I had fun with Showa Godzilla, but he moved and acted like a guy in a suit. Heisei Godzilla, so far, has felt like a real Monster. And a terrifying one at that.
Also Japan's weird little flying saucer (Weapon X? I cant remember what it was called. Something like that) was fun and cool. I bet a lot of kids wanted that and Godzilla for Christmas that year.
Movie Ranking
Kaiju Ranking:
Godzilla Vs. Biollante was a blast. I really enjoyed the three way struggle between the different bioengineering companies as the driving plot. It was interesting and exciting and pushed the story forward in really unique ways.
Like the way Godzilla woke up. That was a really unique way to do it. Bio-Major holding the volcano hostage and planning to blow it up if Japan didn't give them the Godzilla cells. And then, during the meeting, the Saradian agent sabotages them and steals the cells. Which leads to Godzilla getting accidentally woken up anyways. It all flowed very well and made all the different plots really interesting to follow. I for once found myself quite involved with the human plot of this movie.
Erika and Dr. Shiragami's plot was the best part. I really felt for Shiragami at times, and his stance throughout the movie was one that always made it hard to hate him. Even after he created Biollante.
Biollante herself is a top tier Monster. Extremely unique with a very emotional story behind it. I also like her connections to Godzilla, being made from the same cells. And how the two were seemingly connected in some way.
The use of Godzilla's cells for different bioengineering projects was a really cool angle to take this movie. Using it to create a self replicating plant, using it to create a radiation eating bacteria, all really cool uses. Peak sci fi stuff.
And speaking of peak sci-fi, the Super X continues to be one of my favorite things. Super X2 was even cooler. The Fire Mirror in particular was a really unique device and made perfect sense to have. Including the ability to dive underwater as a submarine.
I also like that neither Godzilla nor Biollante were really treated as heroes. Its a nice juxtaposition after the Showa era. Both are fighting for themselves here.
Movie Ranking
Kaiju Ranking:
