Saturday, February 18, 2017

Godzilla Movies: Worst to Best 26-21

Continuing my Countdown to the #1 Godzilla Movie of all-time, we review 26-21. Within this segment, you will see how I felt about the controversial Godzilla '98. Read, and find out where it ranks in my countdown.

#26) Godzilla vs Megalon: AKA, Godzilla’s Big Time Wrestling Debut. This movie pits Godzilla and a giant robot friend named Jet Jaguar against old foe Gigan and new foe Megalon (a giant demi-god cockroach that can spit out hand grenades, burrow, and shoot lasers from his horn) in what is like a hardcore tag team match from the golden era of Big Time Wrestling, complete with Godzilla dropkicking Megalon.  The cheesiness in this movie is overwhelming. Nonetheless, it is so well blended into the movie that you can’t really hold against the movie itself. It was not meant to be taken seriously, thus it is a fun movie to watch. The only thing that really creeps me out about this movie is that you won’t find a single female character in it. Seriously, the only women you see in this are those that are dancing around in Seatopia, worshipping Megalon before he is unleashed upon the surface dwellers. I could be wrong on this, but that’s what I recall about this movie.

#25) Godzilla vs The Sea Monster: Also known as Ebirah the Horror of the Deep and not originally intended to be a Godzilla movie. The reason I mention this is because certain of its elements give it away that it was originally supposed to feature Toho’s version of King Kong. If you understand that, the enjoyment level of this movie significantly increases because certain elements like Godzilla’s connection to the female character and being awakened by lightning make a little more sense in scope of the rest of the film franchise. One of the fun aspects of this movie is that the Godzilla action is pretty sweet. He fights a giant lobster, a giant vulture (or condor…I don’t know), an evil military regime, and even has a brief encounter with Mothra. At the end of the movie, the humans are crying out to Godzilla to get off of the island which has been set to self-destruct. This scene is interesting because it harkens to reality that Godzilla had been deemed an overall positive in relation to mankind.

#24) Godzilla vs Gigan: A former top 10 in my books, but then I grew up and noticed some of the not so charming aspects of this movie. Namely, the monsters speaking to each other is very difficult to endure, the human characters are a bunch of fruit loops, and I’m still scratching my head over the whole Monster Land thing. Any who, this movie has Godzilla, Anguirus, Ghidorah, and the first appearance of Gigan. The first three monsters were a cool enough feature to this movie, but Gigan would go on to become a fan favorite villain of the franchise. The action is intense and the movie ends with a signature-to-the-era cheesy kids song. All-in-all, goodzilla movie.

#23) Godzilla vs Mothra (Heisei Series): I know that many people would rate this movie higher on the list, but I found it lacking in many respects. The fairies and Mothra did not bring to the screen the presence, the horror, or the weirdness that the original Mothra encapsulated. The redeeming factors were definitely Battra and Godzilla. Battra is like Mothra’s evil twin and is a formidable opponent to Godzilla. But don’t worry, the special effects department in this movie were designed to take the wind out of otherwise pretty cool moments in this movie. I particularly am a fan of Mothra’s extendo legs that appear when he is either attacking Godzilla or trying to pick him up. The Heisei series was certainly an era that Toho was not afraid to test their limits to the chagrin of Godzilla fans. I think they may have finally learned, if an effect does not appear convincing on camera, just don’t do it. It’s okay to use cheap camera tricks or to write certain scenes out of the story altogether if it improves the overall quality of the movie.

#22) Godzilla (’98): Perhaps the most controversial of the movies on my list and perhaps even more so that I did not list it as #31. To tell the truth, this movie could have finished higher on the list had it remained true to the title character. Regardless of what anyone’s disappointment with this movie, hear me out concerning why 22 is a justified spot for this installment. For starters, it actually is a pretty good movie. 

I am saying that from a pure movie-goers perspective. The sets are enormous, the monster chase scenes are amazing, most of the characters are interesting, and, if nothing else, the animated series that followed provided viewers with an idea with what direction its creators were taking the franchise. This movie was an experiment; albeit a stupid experiment, but an experiment nonetheless. They discovered what works and what does not work with a Godzilla movie. Chief among all other factors, the creators discovered that Godzilla is more than just a giant monster on the loose story. But regarding positive lessons, future Godzilla movie-makers would take note that the special effects matter. In fact, this movie created a scene that would be duplicated in just about all of the Godzilla movies that would follow: Godzilla’s dorsal fin approach (or I guess you could call it his Jaws approach).

For as much as fans complained about this movie (again, not taking away from the justification), this movie was a whopper in the franchise. There are four prolonged Godzilla sequences…that’s actually a lot of Godzilla time compared to other movies. The baby Godzillas, although not a welcome addition to this movie, sported the hand-down best design of any baby-zilla in the franchise. One of my personal favorite aspects of this movie is Hank Azaria’s character, Victor “Animal” Palotti, who I think is one of the best human roles in a Godzilla movie.

Yes, this movie lacked the invincible, slow-moving, fire breathing monster we all intended on seeing, but this movie has a lot to offer, nonetheless.

#21) Godzilla v Monster Zero: This movie used to be among the most recognized of the Godzilla movies. In some respects, the plot of the movie carries its own weight without the monsters. But, for your enjoyment, this movie features King Ghidorah (the most popular Godzilla villain), Rodan, and Godzilla. The most memorable scene in GV0 is the three way monster battle on Planet X. Afterwards, Godzilla does a victory dance, making use of the lower gravity of Planet X.

One of the major downsides of this movie is that there is not as much monster action as one would desire, but the action it features is top notch.

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