It amazes me about the fans of Godzilla that I meet. Each one has a different favorite monster for different reasons and each their own favorite movie in the series (we all agree the original is the best but we all have our favorites among the sequels). Depending on how you watched them, which order, and what you were introduced to first changes which movie you love more than the others, which kaiju sticks with you the longest.
Part 18, GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH is the first film made in the 1990's. King Ghidorah is brought into the modern age looking better than he ever has before (or since in my opinion). Toho Studios takes Godzilla back to familiar territory this time around, getting cold feet from the lack luster box offices of GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE (a completely original, unique, and never before seen kaiju epic). And it paid off. This movie saw increased ticket sales over the last film and helped reestablish the Godzilla franchise.
This movie returns to crazy plots and some really bad acting (primarily by the non-Japanese actors). Their are androids (which are remarkably similar to Terminators and that's no surprise given that T2 had just came out in America around the time this film was made), flying saucers, men from the future, and cute little genetically engineered monsters called Dorats. This movie is wiggidy wiggidy wack! But that is what's so appealing about it, that and Mecha King Ghidorah being totally boss. The film takes several pages from the classic Godzilla films of the 1970's where aliens (in this case, white dudes from the future) try to take over Japan by controlling kaiju.
Pretty standard kaiju plot actually. Where this film really shines is in its special effects, more specifically the kaiju effects and battles. Koichi Kawakita (In loving memory) once again delivers the goods. As I said earlier King Ghidorah has never looked, and will never look, better than he does in this movie. And that goes for Godzilla too. It isn't my favorite depiction of Godzilla but it is damn near. The scales are increased too. Godzilla jumps up another 30 meters making him the tallest he's ever been in the series, a total height of 100 meters! Ghidorah is a gargantuan 150 meters tall with neck fully stretched. This differential only makes the kaiju more amazing!
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| The heights of kaiju from the Showa Era versus the Heisei Era. Artwork by Art Adams courtesy of the Official Godzilla Compendium by Marc Cerasini and J.D. Lees |
King Ghidorah and Godzilla's throwdown is EPIC! Ghidorah lays the smack down on the king of the monsters, even coiling one of his necks around Godzilla's neck like a snake, strangling him! Godzilla counters by unleashing a rarely used power (a power first seen in Godzilla Vs Biollante) to keep from dying, the Nuclear Pulse! The Nuclear Pulse occurs when Godzilla's throat is closed rendering him unable to use his radioactive breath. The pulse can also occur when his body is punctured multiple times inadvertently providing alternate channels for his radioactive breath to escape his body. The attack knocks Ghidorah away, freeing Godzilla from his deadly stranglehold. The king of the monsters blasts off the central head of Ghidorah's and blasts holes in his wings. Ghidorah is done for... until he returns, remade, cyborized, as MECHA KING GHIDORAH!!
This movie has a lot of time traveling in it. There are some time travel logic plot holes that aren't really addressed, like the Ripple Effect when you go back to your own time after changing something in the past. Again the plot of this film isn't its strong suit, but it does allow for two interesting characters to appear: Godzillasaurus and Mecha King Ghidorah. At one point they go back in time to 1944 and we see Godzilla or what he was before he was transformed by nuclear radiation: a Godzillasaurus (whose roar is a combination of Rodan's roar and Gamera's roar. As if we wouldn't notice;). It's one of the finer scenes in the film actually despite the ludicrous plot, where the dinosaur kills an entire garrison of US soldiers. And then there's Mecha King Ghidorah, a kaiju from the future. As if Ghidorah wasn't enough this mechanized version is even more impressive. It feels a little like when Frieza (DBZ) was lying in pieces after being defeated by Goku and then returns later as a cyborg... except he doesn't get his butt kicked.
All in all this isn't my favorite of the Godzilla series. The kaiju scenes are top notch and the special effects are fantastic. As far a Godzilla and the other kaiju are concerned they are well represented. Now these films aren't known for their plots, but this one is particularly hard to stomach. It just so happens that this film is the favorite of one of my good friends, Clint. He loves it for its wild plot line but above all for the kaiju scenes which are some of the best in the series. He saw this film earlier in his kaiju watching career than I did and at a different time and place in his life. As a result it has become one of the Godzilla films he goes back to time and again and Mecha King Ghidorah one of his favorite kaiju in the series. It's cool to see how other G-Fans came to be fans and why.
Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10
Category: Juvenile
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