Godzilla Movie Tournament

[Gman2887]

Mothra vs. Godzilla takes it over Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla '74, 10 to 5.

And finally,

Game 16:
Godzilla: King of the Monsters VS. Godzilla 1985

[Psycho Soldier]

I'll vote for GKOTM. On the one hand, G85 improves on ROG more than GKOTM improves on G54. G85 has better pacing and more coherent editing than the original cut, and despite its unique flaws, it's fairly entertaining. I don't think GKOTM does anything better than G54, although Raymond Burr doesn't hurt it. But GKOTM is respectful of and careful with its source, whereas G85 flips the script on ROG's Cold War themes because screw the Red Menace. And even outside of editing matters, GKOTM is better and more meaningful. I enjoy watching it more, too.

[klen7]

Another tough call... i'll go with KotM

[Henry88]

godzilla 85 just for that monologue at the end.

[jellydonut25]

This is a tough call. On the one hand, I feel like G85 is an improvement on the Japanese version and KOTM is a downgrade from Gojira. On the other hand, it would have been near-impossible for KOTM to be an improvement, and I feel like I like the 50s monster-movie feeling a little more than the 80s communism paranoia feeling.

King of the Monsters gets my vote.

[XvGojira]

1985. Just because.

[Enjoying An Egg]

1985 gets my vote. It was my first G-movie and changed my entire world at age 5. Nowadays I prefer The Return of Godzilla, which I'd call my favourite of the Heisei series, but 1985 will always hold a special place. I love G's badass characterization, the sombre ending, and the score.

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm not a fan of the 1985 cut of The Return of Godzilla. To me it doesn't feel so substantially distinct from the original version as to feel like its own movie. I think it's more akin to the American versions of King Kong vs. Godzilla and Gamera. Raymond Burr has a lot of great lines commenting on everything but all of the 'meanwhile back in the US military control room' scenes are just gratuitous to the proceedings, like a harbinger of what was to come from Toho in the later Heisei films. I think it would have been better if Burr's character returned to Japan and was integrated into the action as in the first film.

Also, this is something I've always wondered: why did New World randomly add two sound bytes of Godzilla's higher-pitched, '60s/'70s-style roar right after the Super-X shoots cadmium missiles into his mouth? His mouth isn't even open at that point and he just suddenly has that different roar.

I vote for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I like rewatching that version of the movie.

[Reaper G]

Burr helping make Godzilla an international star vs. Burr shilling Dr. Pepper (even though I love the stuff). Going with the former.

[DannyBeane]

Godzilla king of the monsters.

[Hybrid Gojira]

G85 was my first Godzilla film, so I'm voting for it here. I also prefer the American cut over the original, evil Ruskies and all.

[Jorzilla]

Not really sure how I feel having Godzilla 1954, KOTM, RoG and G 1985 on the tournament. It almost warrants including Godzilla 2000, King Kong vs Godzilla and GRA on the list based on their significant Americanizations as well.

I'll probably go for Godzilla KOTM in this instance. G1985 is a fun movie, but I don't like how cheesy every American aside from Burr is. There are some improvements to the film, but overall the tone of the movie is hurt compared to the Japanese version. Godzilla KOTM is pretty faithful to Gojira and the additional sequences with Burr really do give the feeling that the American audience is being taken through the film on a guide.

[canofhumdingers]

Huh, I didn't realize we were going to have these American cuts separated out like this. And, interestingly enough, GKOTM and G1985 were my first two G films, and in that order!

Now for the voting... Again, a tough choice. I like both of 'em. I think KOTM is the better film, but '85 was my favorite as a kid. I rented that so many times from my local blockbuster I probably could've just kept it and paid them the lost fee and saved a lot of money. KOTM, while very good, is not really an improvement on the original cut in any significant way, imo. I think there can be solid arguments made for why G'85 is an improvement on the original cut (even though I don't necessarily like it more than the Japanese version).

So my vote goes for G'85

[Gentleman]

I love the score of G85, and Burr's narration at the end. The rest of his scenes are cringeworthy, sloppily (and cheaply) filmed and spliced in. KOTM, on the other hand, has his scenes inserted into the original picture expertly and logically. Overall, KOTM has my vote here.

On a side note, I always wondered why the JSDF never tried the sonic lure again. It worked flawlessly.

[MekaGojira3k]

I'm gonna go with GKOTM. As good as 85' is, I have to go with that original film. So much of it cemented what I love about the genre.

[Rody]

I don't care for the 1985 cut; I think it feels somewhat disjointed and even incomplete.

KotM isn't quite great, but it's still an overall solid film. KotM gets my vote.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Rody]

I admit: I have not seen the original cut, so I can't compare and contrast. Something just felt off about the whole movie, though.

[Legion]

The original Gojira started it all, but it was KOTM that made Godzilla an international star.

No contest. G:KOTM.

[Gman2887]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters wins over Godzilla 1985 11 to 5.

Game 17:
The Return of Godzilla VS. Godzilla: Final Wars

[DannyBeane]

Return of Godzilla x 1000. While it has the odd pacing issue it has a fantastic soundtrack, special fx, and the best depiction of godzilla's effect on the international community. Godzilla Final Wars on the other hand is nearly unwatchable crap that's only marginally better than Megaguirus and the 92 Godzilla vs Mothra film.

[jellydonut25]

This is actually a tough call for me. I have them at about equal levels of enjoyability for me personally. Return of Godzilla is the "better" movie, but I still maintain I could go into GFW with only minor editing tweaks and maybe a handful of re-shoots and wind up with a movie that I actually unabashedly ADORE. I really think it's THAT close to being something too fun to hate. What I'd have done is have the Xilians first show up, and immediately issue an ultimatum. Cut out all the stuff with them pretending to be good guys. You could even keep Takarada and Mizuno as evil clones or whatever by having them urge everyone to just surrender. Then again, Return of Godzilla also has a ton of unnecessary padding.

I'm gonna go with Return of Godzilla but only because of GFW's motorcycle chase, which I would excise from the film wholesale as I think it just pads the run-time.

[Benjamin Haines]

I like The Return of Godzilla but Final Wars is so much more fun to watch. In fact, even though G'85 was one of the earliest Godzilla movies I ever saw, I'd say I've definitely seen GFW more times in my life since I first watched it in 2005. I love the bizarre world it presents, the quirky dialogue, the ridiculous action beats, the revamped takes on old kaiju, the oddball characters, the parade of homages to classic Toho movies, all of it. The music reminds me of Bruce Faulconer's score for the US version of Dragon Ball Z and I think that's exactly the kind of soundtrack this zany movie required.

[klen7]

This is tough, i picked the losers for both of the round 1 fights, so neither of these are in tops. I will hesitantly vote for RoG. There are more things i legitimately like about FW than RoG, but there are more things i downright hate in FW... so the frustration of FW drops it below RoG, a movie i very rarely watch.

[Hybrid Gojira]

GFW sucks and ROG doesn't, so it's an easy choice - ROG.

Now if this were Don Frye's mustache from GFW? That thing could have won the whole tournament.