Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

With Godzilla films, or any other giant monster on the rampage type film, there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief required... but even in the realm of Godzilla where everything from numerous alien invasions, giant robots, and telepathic twin fairies are possible this movie STILL pushed the limits of believability.

So apparently, Japan in World War 2 was in the habit of hiring soldiers in their 50's and 60's who would not age a day in the next 47 years? Buy some make-up, people! This is the first Godzilla movie to deal heavily with time travel, which can be cool if handled well (BACK TO THE FUTURE) but if handled badly (TIMECOP) can quickly get convoluted and messy, or like this film make no sense at all. It doesn't help that several science fiction elements are jumbled together, complete with androids, flying saucers, biogenetically engineered pets who mutate into Godzilla's biggest foe, etc.

After the groundbreaking work on 1985 and BIOLLANTE, the special effects work here is definitely a mixed bag with lots of good pyrotechnics and miniature skylines that look almost real, but some poor model photography, frequently out of focus. The acting from the non-Japanese cast members (like the bad guys and the US servicemen in the world war 2 flashback) is dire, and for some reason baby Godzilla sounds like Rodan (or Gamera when he gets hurt). I have a feeling Sony/Columbia/Tristar dubbed the Heisei series badly on purpose just to make their GODZILLA 98 movie look better in comparison.

The English dubbing here is ATROCIOUS (even worse than GODZILLA 2000) with such instances as when a fighter pilot shrieks "I'm.... I'm spinning!" when he rolls his plane away from Ghidorah (in an otherwise neat aerial battle)... or the famous bit where the navy guy yells "Take that, you dinosaur!" while his soldiers on the beach are yelling "Keep firing! What is this thing? Keep firing!". It's almost like 6 year olds wrote the English language translation. Also, while the monster effects are neat, the android running scenes are just laughable... like something Ed Wood would do.

However, I can't completely dismiss this mess of a film as it has plentiful and good scenes of city destruction and monster battles, complete with lots of good explosions, editing, and best-of-all, Akira Ifukube returns as composer with one of his best scores up to that point. It's also neat to see a few familiar Godzilla movie faces, such as Kenji Sahara and Katsuhiko Sasaki, and fortunately the psychic woman from BIOLLANTE is barely in it, making me wonder why she was even cast at all. She singlehandedly ruined the Heisei series, as psychics and Godzilla totally don't mix. This was all much better back in the early 60's when the effects were worse but the scripts were simpler.

"Size does matter." So proclaimed the ad campaign of the Americanized Godzilla foisted upon us by Emmerich and Devlin in 1998. If only they had paid more attention to movies like this before they tried to retool Godzilla. Because their overgrown iguana is no match for the towering behemoth of indestructible, nuclear-fueled fury introduced in this movie.

Untold legions of fans grew up with the original Godzilla in the '60s and '70s. We found comfort in the quite cheesy special effects, massive plot holes, extreme overacting, and hilarious dubbing. Not to mention the martial strains of Akira Ifukube's trademark musical scores. The heisei series of second generation Godzilla movies may have offended some purists, but did stick with many of the same elements. Many of the effects were now very good, but others were still unintentionally laughable. The dubbing, of course, was as bad as ever. Logic is the last thing one should expect from a Godzilla plot, and it's not very much in evidence here. But this is all how we like it!

From the tortuous contortions of the time travel plot came a new Godzilla, leaner and far meaner than ever before. No more would he be the protector of Japan. Along with the new origin backstory for Godzilla, we're treated to one for this new King Ghidora, which resembles the original Ghidrah only in name and appearance. But while it took the combined might of all of Japan's monsters to slay Ghidrah, the new and improved Godzilla singlehandedly slew Ghidorah without working up a sweat. Truly a force to be reckoned with.

It's a shame that the second generation films were never released theatrically in the US and only recently released on video. Americans deserved to see that there wasn't a vacuum between Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla (1998). And a generation of American kids, too young to find the old films interesting, lost a chance to be hooked on what's arguably a cultural icon.

This film came to my attention when I attended the first Monsterama Con in 2014 in Atlanta. One of the honored guests was Robert Scott Field who played an android. According to Fields, this film has been recognized as the third best Godzilla movie of all time. In Japan it received the equivalent to our Oscar Award. This film delves back to the origin of Godzilla and the epic battle with his equal King Ghidorah. The future visitors to modern 1990 Japan warn of destruction and want to change the course of the future but manipulating the present. A fun use of old school special effects and fun to see movies made pre- CGI. This movie is a joy for any Godzilla enthusiast. His name is Godzilla!

There's a lot to dislike in this film: awful English scripts, more plot holes than plot, and a long wait before Godzilla finally shows up.

Luckily, all of these flaws are made up for by its awesome monster battles, fantastic music, cheesy humor, and sheer entertainment. In the end, the balance is positive, and anyone who can get over their logical disbelief should have a lot of fun with this movie. It reminds us that there's more to movies than dull realism and sophisticated storytelling.

It's no masterpiece, but its definitely one of the Big G's most fun films.

Ghidorah just won't die. This is the fourth of fifth flick he's shown up in, and somehow the Big G never has the nerve to off the three-headed two-tailed no-armed winged space dragon. Here's the deal. People from el futuro arrive to tell us that G will destroy Japan if he isn't gotten rid of soon. You think the Japanese would be a little jaded about it at this point, but of course they get scared and help the Futurians go back in time to kill the Godzillazaurus in 1944, before the atomic bomb tests could mutate into G. Mission accomplished, but instead, when the people come back to '91, King Ghidorah's running the show due to Futurian treachery. Now Japan nukes the slumbering Godzilla (although wouldn't he be nonexistent after having been retro-murdered in '44?) Godzilla beats Ghidorah. Godzilla runs amuck. Japanese enlist Ghidorah to smash G. Ghidorah runs amuck. Now the Big G has to whomp Godzilla, I think, all these twists get me confused. Ghidorah comes back as Mecha King Ghidorah and both fall into ocean or some other convenient device. Favorite line has to be American naval officer after watching Godzillasaurus perish: "Take that, you dinosaur!"