Talkback #22: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

[Tyler E. Martin]

[zekend01]

[MouthForWar]

[Gojilove]

[Tyler E. Martin]

[Legion]

Hell froze over as, for the first time in God knows how long, I decided to watch bits and pieces of this one. Like all Heisei films I don't have the patience to watch this all the way through.

As this was the first time watching this film on a 52" HDTV (which I've had for almost two years, so it has been a while since I've watched it) little things which never bothered me before stood out like a sore thumb. The godawful mattes at the beginning, for one. A glowing red Godzilla is decimating Hong Kong and people stroll down the street like nothing is wrong. That's just piss poor. Oh and Tyler is correct about the Bandai toy scene.

If these aren't Bandai toys, they're awfully close...


Still, I love that Godzilla suit, the aggregate Destroyah is an impressive creation and most of Ifukube's score (save the aggravating Destroyah theme) is terrific. His opening rampage music, with it's deep bass, is probably one of my top favorite Ifukube pieces from this era. I have a deep nostalgic attachment for this movie and I'll always love it for what it is...

,,,but anyone saying it's one of the best in the series is seriously kidding themselves.

[Arrow]

[Legion]

[Arrow]

[kiryugoji04]

[Joseph Goodman]

[Mac]

[king_ghidorah]

[MouthForWar]

[kiryugoji04]

[Mac]

The film only works if you have baggage with the Godzilla character coming into the film. The film fails to make Godzilla a sympathetic character (Or interesting), and I really just didn't care when he died. The Heisei Godzilla might have presence, but it lacks emotion. This problem haunts the Millennium series to a degree, but not nearly as much.

[Flame of Udin]

[Benjamin Haines]

Godzilla vs. Destroyer is the Godzilla vs. Megalon of the Heisei series. It's a poorly written B-movie, rife with illogical story development and bad special effects, but it's fun to watch (though not nearly as much as Megalon).

[MouthForWar]

[kiryugoji04]

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

I don't think I ever really hated the 90s films, but i never loved them either. I've always preferred stuff like Hedorah, Destroy All Monsters, MZ, and Gigan over them. I agree with Jelly, KG, especially the M-11 running stuff was fairly embarrassing for me on my own. The only appeal these films held for me was finally seeing monsters like MOGUERA, SpaceGodzilla, Mecha-KingGhidorah, and Destroyah in a film.

I also agree with Jared. I'd take the Millennium stuff over this any day of the week. They don't feel like the chore the Heisei films do.

[Reaper G]

[Arrow]

I'm beginning to prefer Millennium over Heisei. I used to consider the Heisei films the very best in the Godzilla franchise. But nowadays they've just lost my interest. Meanwhile I love Godzilla 2000 (U.S. version, I haven't watched it in Japanese in a while) and GMK. I still loathe GxM and GxMG, but I like Tokyo S.O.S.. And I've always enjoyed GFW despite it being so terrible.

Anyway:

My earlier thoughts on this film remain the same, but I find my love for it decreasing. The first and third acts are good, but the meat of the film is sorely lacking. And I doubt I would enjoy the final battle at all if there weren't the tension in the impending death of Godzilla. It's still got good music and monster designs, so it's not all bad. But while this used to be one of my favorites, I'm starting to not care for it anymore.

[planetxleader]

I loved Biollante and King Ghidorah when I first saw them, even though the latter obviously signaled a big decline in the miniature effects and storytelling. For all the other Heisei movies, I fell asleep during the climax of every one of them--on the first viewing. The first viewing! Heisei is just so bland, and it felt like they were just going through the motions.

Case in point, the beginning of Destroyer. Awesome, terrifying appearance in Hong Kong, culminating in a strikingly dramatic title reveal. Then the inferior portion of Ifukube's score for this film kicks in and we are treated to a series of crappy matte shots. By the time we cut to a dull scene of the government talking heads figuring out what to do, I'm bored already.

Me and Kiryugoji's mutual friend was flabbergasted that I was bored so quickly, but c'mon; there is no tension from Godzilla's appearance whatsoever. Compare that to the beginning of GMK, when Tachibana abruptly dismisses his class and the press is scrambling over the sub accident. Way more effective.