Well, despite the fact that this thread was revived after two months of impotence and almost half a year after it was created, I'll say that Destroyah is one of the few Godzilla films that I can't say that I "enjoy" in the same way I do films like King Kong, Mothra, Ghidorah, etc. becuase it is just too serious. Not to say I don't love it, I do, it's an awesome film, but I can't just pop it in and have a go with it like I can with most Godzilla films. Yeah, it could have been better, but we've been saying that for more than twenty years with Godzilla movies so I'm surprised anybody is even making a point of it anymore, especially being that this one is now twelve years old.
At least they seemed to have actually cared about Godzilla's character when they made this one, and not just a bunch of special affects like most of the other Heisei films.
Fight scenes were awesome, the Destroyah designs were a little too alien-esque (even without "that scene") but the constant attention to the crisis of the situation, a complete lack of that tongue-in-cheek humour which really bought me as a good thing, and the overall feeling of the film is just really exciting. Godzilla's appearance, the destruction, every scene where there is some representation of fire during the night scenes are just thrilling, and when I first saw it I had just turned twelve, and had misread one of Barry's Temple of Godzilla reviews as saying that Godzilla never died at the end, so I was doubly shocked when he did. I was still young enough to be a pretty upset. I don't have that problem now (as far as any of you will ever know...
), but I do still regard the film as being as
serious a watch as the original (though not nearly as respectible or "good" if we're going to qualitize movies made forty years apart) or Raids Again and definately the "best" (again, qualitative, my personal favorite is Biollante) of the Heisei, leagues ahead of Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla II (who honestly thinks KG or MG II was a better film?
Why?) and better still than Mothra or Spacegodzilla (though I still enjoy both; though technically I enjoy every Godzilla movie except one...)
It was just a good Godzilla film, gave me what I consider to this day the best Bandai toy line (film figures, theatre's, the Memorial Box I consider having been part as well) and plenty of Godzilla memories. And yes, I do think the toy lines are important
Now only if we could get a halfway decent domestic release...I still only have my Tristar vhs, and I refuse to knowingly buy bootlegs of any kind.
Tim