Special Features - Top 5 Godzilla Movies

With the new movie released tomorrow, Luke Owen looks at the Top 5 Godzilla movies….For the last 60 years, one giant monster has stood tall above all others – the King of the Monsters: Godzilla. Since his first appearance in 1954, Godzilla has torn up cinema screens in Japan and around the world in no less than 29 movies. He has become a key part of this world’s pop culture, had his own cartoon series and has even played basketball with Charles Barkley. He’s even worked with Superman and has his own star on the Hollywood walk of fame.And with the new movie on the horizon [read our review here], let’s take a look at some of The Big G’s finest outings. Here are the top 5 Godzilla movies…5. King Kong vs Godzilla (1963)Only the third movie in the series, King Kong vs. Godzilla is not only an incredibly fun movie, it’s also rich with interesting history with regards to its inception. Back-stabbings, false endings and a terrible Americanisation are just a few elements that make the behind-the-scenes production a fascinating read.But looking at the film itself, King Kong vs. Godzilla is a brilliant ride. And not just because it’s The King of the Monsters facing off against The Eighth Wonder of the World.If you can track down the Japanese language version of the movie (you’ll have to watch a bootleg as there is no subtitled release available), King Kong vs. Godzilla is a brilliant parody of the commercialisation that was sweeping Japan in the early 60s, as a pharmaceutical company kidnaps King Kong from his island and brings him back to Japan to be their mascot. But when Godzilla shows up, the head of the company is upset that The King of the Monsters is stealing all of his headlines. It all culminates in a brilliant fight between King Kong and Godzilla with some excellent suitmation work and miniature design. The King Kong suit isn’t much to look at and Tomoyuki Tanaka’s desires to appeal to a younger audience do hold the movie back somewhat, but King Kong vs. Godzilla is a lot of fun.The American release of the movie is unintentionally hilarious, but still worth a watch. Even if it’s just to see a dinosaur expert get his evidence from a children’s book.4. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)Quite the title huh?After the US put out the awful Godzilla in 1998, Toho responded by bringing back their iconic monster for a new run of movies to show how the movie should be. The Millenium series started with Godzilla 2000 in 1999 and would end in 2004 with the epic (but very flawed) Godzilla: Final Wars. While the Millenium series wasn’t particuarly great, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is the clear stand-out. It’s sharp, it’s got a great story and interesting characters, but more importantly it has a truly epic monster rumble.It is odd to see King Ghidorah team up with Mothra to take down the evil Godzilla, but it really words for this movie – even though the inclusion of Baragon seems a trite unnecessary. The Godzilla design is one of the all-time greats as they removed his pupils to leave just dead white eyes, giving the monster a terrifying look – something he’d been lacking for some time. And unlike the movies that came before and after this one, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack manages to seamlessly blend the suitmation work of Godzilla and King Ghidorah with the CGI and puppet effects of Mothra.It’s a movie that deserves to be seen for its title alone, but this is easily one of the best movies of the whole series.3. Gojira (1954)The movie that started it all. Ishiro Honda’s ode to the Atomic Bomb, Gojira.While his movies during the late-60s and 1970s would be aimed more towards children (and very young children in the case of All Monsters Attack), his first on-screen appearance was one of warning. Never is that more clear than in Dr. Yamane’s closing speech, “I can’t believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species… But if we continue conducting nuclear tests… it’s possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world again”.Filmed over 51 days with genius camera choices and techniques, Ishiro Honda creates an impressive sight as the towing Godzilla smashes through beautifully crafted and meticulously designed recreations of some of Tokyo’s most famous landmarks. In short, Gojira is simply a great movie. It’s not just a great B-movie; it’s a really well made and entertaining film. Some might claim that message is heavy handed (and they are right), but it is effective. Scenes like the children’s choir singing over shots of injured victims are incredibly haunting and there is a particularly harrowing moment where a mother grabs her children as Godzilla’s atomic breath obliterates the building around them. A stark contrast to the jumping monster on Planet X that we’d see in Invasion of Astro-Monster.This movie isn’t in the list because its the first one, nor is it in the list because it’s a landmark film in Japanese cinema. Gojira is a masterpiece in science-fiction fimmaking and deserves to be recognised as such.2. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)Often thought to be the best of the whole series, Mothra vs. Godzilla takes the message being delievered in King Kong vs. Godzilla and turns it up to eleven without being bogged down by need to appeal to children.Mothra vs. Godzilla is once again darker in tone and, at times, can be very adult about the questions that it asks. It still has its goofy moments, but they aren’t pushed to the forefront like they were in King Kong vs. Godzilla. This was a movie that brought together two of Toho’s franchises and it takes full advantage of it. With an all-star cast, a brilliant script and first-rate special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, Mothra vs. Godzilla is a true high-point of the series.But like its predecessor, the brilliance of Mothra vs. Godzilla is in its fight between the two leads. When the suitmation technique was used in Gojira, critics around the world turned their noses up at it as it was not as sophisticated as stop-motion animation or Ray Harryhausen’s Dynamation, but Mothra vs. Godzilla is a movie that shows why it works so well. Godzilla suit actor Harou Nakajima wasn’t just walking through sets and stomping on buildings, he was acting through to suit which really brings the fight to a new level. There is a brilliant momentwhere Godzilla is trying to fight out of Mothra’s wing attack and he fires his atomic breath at random in the vein hope of one of the blasts hitting so he can escape. It seems silly to attribute this much thought into guys in rubber suits, but the work done by Tsuburaya and his team make you believe that this is two titan monsters doing battle. Great stuff.The ending leaves a lot to be desired, but we’ll ignore that.1. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)With a storyline that involves time travel, convoluted creations of both creatures and a hilariously bad rip-off of the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is a brilliant movie and so much fun.Alien creatures arrive on earth and provide them with a time machine that will stop Godzilla from being created. So they travel back to World War II and do that, but the aliens drop three creatures called Dorats in its place. So when they travel back to present day, the atomic explosion that should have created Godzilla instead created King Ghidorah who is under the alien control. So, with a secret nuclear sub, they create a new Godzilla who kills King Ghidorah. But now they are back to square one of Godzilla destroying Tokyo. So they travel to the future to re-build King Ghidorah and return to the present with the newly formed Mecha-King Ghidorah who does battle with Godzilla.It’s so much fun.The fights between Godzilla and King Ghidorah are where this movie truly shines. The Heisi series often splits opinions, but this is hands down the best series of fights in any of the Godzilla movies. The suitmation work is great, the choreography of the fights is perfect and the special effects are superb. It’s just so much fun.The T-1000 rip-off is stupid but the rest of the movie is, well, so much fun that it’s easy to ignore. That’s the key word: fun. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is flat-out fun.—Of course, this list is just one man’s opinion and we would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Which Godzilla movies do you think should have made the list? Do you think that Ghidrah, The Three Headed Monster is a better movie than Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah? What about the Mechagodzilla movies? Should Godzilla: Final Wars have been included?Or is there anyone who has a soft spot for Godzilla vs. Megalon??Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.

Special Features – Top 5 Godzilla Movies

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