Ranking the Millenium Films
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:15 pmI have a few problems with the Millenium films. First of all, I think they brought Godzilla back way too soon. After his glorious finale in Godzilla vs. Destroyah, they only waited 4 years to bring the series back. I know they wanted to make up for the much hated American Version, and that's why they did it, but they really didn't give us a chance to truly miss Godzilla. Because of that, most of the films in the series kin dof had a "Been there, done that" feel to it.
I also hated the lack of continuity. After the Heisei series gave us such a close running storyline, each individual film here had its own storyline (except Tokyo SOS) and I'm sure it confused audiences after a while.
That said, I can honestly say I enjoyed all six of the Millenium films, and they each have their own merits and great entertainment value.
From Worst to Best:
6) Godzilla X Mechagodzilla - I've come to like this one more with the release of Tokyo SOS. I almost see them as two parts of the same movie. In this one, I felt like there was no payoff to Mecha-G going berserk, but in Tokyo SOS they cleared it up. This movie was fun, but nothing special. Action scenes are good, and I liked the way they protrayed Mecha-G with a interesting manner of creating him & actually acknowledging that his power source is limited, which is probably the most realistic thing ever done with the character. Its the weakest of all the Mechagodzilla films, but its still worth a look, and I highly recommend it because it sets the stage for the much better Tokyo SOS.
5) Godzilla: Final Wars - Not quite what I was expecting. Its a really fun movie with a large monster cast, but I don't understand why they spent so much time on the human action. A highway scene, air battles, sword fights, Matrix rip off fight scenes. It just seemed unncessary, especially since this is a Giant Monster Movie, and thats what the people want to see. However, the Giant Monster action we did get was pretty damn cool. I actually liked Godzilla going around and just monkey stomping everyone, which eventually led to the awesome battle at the end. Had they severely shortened the non monster action, I think the movie would have been much better. I'll give them credit for trying to do something different though.
4) Godzilla X Megaguiras - This one was a lot of fun. The method of eliminating Godzilla is probably the wackiest yet: The Dimension Tide. Love it! Megaguiras is a cool monster, even if a bit of a rip off of past Kaiju (Battra & Legion most notably), but they did some really cool things with here and I loved the fight scenes. Gotta love Godzilla's flying body splash! This film was a post millenium homage to the 70s, and I kind of liked that.
3) Godzilla 2000 - I've got a soft spot for this one because when it came out in the US, I went to go see it in theaters, making it the only Japanese Godzilla film I ever got to see on the silver screen. It was a really fun experience, and I actually prefer the US Version as they injected lot of fun and nice little touches to it to make it an overall better movie. The UFO made for an interesting foe for the Big Guy too. There was a lot of mystery surrounding it, and that always makes for an interesting villain. Godzilla's battle with Orga is a great one too as it is just a knock down drag out brawl between two animal like creatures. I also think this film probably has one of the best human cast of characters for any G film.
2) Godzilla: Tokyo SOS - I loved this one. I think this one felt the "been there, done that" effect that I talked about as Mothra had already been brought back multiple times, & Mechagodzilla was making his 2nd straight apperaance. However, the action is this film is spectacular. Visually, this is probably the best in the series (either this or Biollante) The action scenes are really well done. They also tied this movie in with the original Mothra film, which was an interesting creative decision, and it worked out well. This is a highly enjoyable entry and an often overlooked one unfortunately. Of course I also appreciate this one for actually being a sequel to the previous entry.
1) Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack - Very few entries in the series have truly captured Godzilla as an evil SOB. The original did, and so did Godzilal vs. Mothra (64) & Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (91), but this one takes it to a whole other level. Godzilla is the most menacing he's ever been with this entry. The role reversals with Ghidroah being good & Godzilla being bad was interesting to say the least, but once everything kicked into gear, it was easy to accept. This one also had a very dark tone and tried to capture a horror movie feel to it at times, which added to what they were tyring to do with Godzilla. And of course it was nice to see Baragon actually do something in a Godzilla film too. This was the ultimate Monster Mash that the Millenium series had to offer and it was a real treat.
I also hated the lack of continuity. After the Heisei series gave us such a close running storyline, each individual film here had its own storyline (except Tokyo SOS) and I'm sure it confused audiences after a while.
That said, I can honestly say I enjoyed all six of the Millenium films, and they each have their own merits and great entertainment value.
From Worst to Best:
6) Godzilla X Mechagodzilla - I've come to like this one more with the release of Tokyo SOS. I almost see them as two parts of the same movie. In this one, I felt like there was no payoff to Mecha-G going berserk, but in Tokyo SOS they cleared it up. This movie was fun, but nothing special. Action scenes are good, and I liked the way they protrayed Mecha-G with a interesting manner of creating him & actually acknowledging that his power source is limited, which is probably the most realistic thing ever done with the character. Its the weakest of all the Mechagodzilla films, but its still worth a look, and I highly recommend it because it sets the stage for the much better Tokyo SOS.
5) Godzilla: Final Wars - Not quite what I was expecting. Its a really fun movie with a large monster cast, but I don't understand why they spent so much time on the human action. A highway scene, air battles, sword fights, Matrix rip off fight scenes. It just seemed unncessary, especially since this is a Giant Monster Movie, and thats what the people want to see. However, the Giant Monster action we did get was pretty damn cool. I actually liked Godzilla going around and just monkey stomping everyone, which eventually led to the awesome battle at the end. Had they severely shortened the non monster action, I think the movie would have been much better. I'll give them credit for trying to do something different though.
4) Godzilla X Megaguiras - This one was a lot of fun. The method of eliminating Godzilla is probably the wackiest yet: The Dimension Tide. Love it! Megaguiras is a cool monster, even if a bit of a rip off of past Kaiju (Battra & Legion most notably), but they did some really cool things with here and I loved the fight scenes. Gotta love Godzilla's flying body splash! This film was a post millenium homage to the 70s, and I kind of liked that.
3) Godzilla 2000 - I've got a soft spot for this one because when it came out in the US, I went to go see it in theaters, making it the only Japanese Godzilla film I ever got to see on the silver screen. It was a really fun experience, and I actually prefer the US Version as they injected lot of fun and nice little touches to it to make it an overall better movie. The UFO made for an interesting foe for the Big Guy too. There was a lot of mystery surrounding it, and that always makes for an interesting villain. Godzilla's battle with Orga is a great one too as it is just a knock down drag out brawl between two animal like creatures. I also think this film probably has one of the best human cast of characters for any G film.
2) Godzilla: Tokyo SOS - I loved this one. I think this one felt the "been there, done that" effect that I talked about as Mothra had already been brought back multiple times, & Mechagodzilla was making his 2nd straight apperaance. However, the action is this film is spectacular. Visually, this is probably the best in the series (either this or Biollante) The action scenes are really well done. They also tied this movie in with the original Mothra film, which was an interesting creative decision, and it worked out well. This is a highly enjoyable entry and an often overlooked one unfortunately. Of course I also appreciate this one for actually being a sequel to the previous entry.
1) Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack - Very few entries in the series have truly captured Godzilla as an evil SOB. The original did, and so did Godzilal vs. Mothra (64) & Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (91), but this one takes it to a whole other level. Godzilla is the most menacing he's ever been with this entry. The role reversals with Ghidroah being good & Godzilla being bad was interesting to say the least, but once everything kicked into gear, it was easy to accept. This one also had a very dark tone and tried to capture a horror movie feel to it at times, which added to what they were tyring to do with Godzilla. And of course it was nice to see Baragon actually do something in a Godzilla film too. This was the ultimate Monster Mash that the Millenium series had to offer and it was a real treat.
Worst To Best:
