Talkback #22: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

[jellydonut25]

[mr.negativity]

From YT:

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Rodanex]

"This was the cause of Godzilla's first demise, the Destroyer, a weapon that zaps oxygen. Remember, Godzilla is a nuclear monster."

I don't understand how those two sentences are related.

[MekaGojira3k]

[mbozzo]

Godzilla Versus Destroyah is the last movie made by Toho before the 1998 Tristar mistake called Godzilla. Godzilla was dying in that movie and it drove him nuts. I like the appearance of Godzilla Junior in that movie. The Godzilla movie series should have continued with Junior as the 'new' Godzilla.

[Irish Gfan]

[MekaGojira3k]

Saw this on Kaiju Confessions, thought it was kind of funny

[metal_bryan]

I kind of agree with that...

[eabaker]

[The Real McCoy]

[jellydonut25]

I'd argue that Revenge of the Sith is far less lazy than Gvs.D, but I agree with the overall sentiment being expressed.

[Giganfan]

Eh, this one is okay. Considering that, by this point in the Heisei series you basically knew what you were getting from the likes of Okawara, Omori and Kawakita, I still think they managed to make a passable Goji-flick. Back in '95 when this movie came out, I had been a Godzilla nut long enough to realize that "Godzilla Dies!" was going to affect me in a big way, and when I finally saw it (big props to "VDK" in those days!), naturally I cried like a wuss! As I watch it today, Godzilla vs. Destroyah maintains the spirit, if not the imagination or technical proficiency of some of the better Godzilla films. I fast-forwarded my way through the SWAT team sequence. That part was pretty lame. And the fact that Destroyah meets his demise by falling out of the sky and disappearing in a puff of white smoke represents a considerable amoun of laziness on the part of the filmmakers It's almost as if they said "okay let's wrap this up, and get to the part that we all want to see"...kind of like Revene of the Sith...and ALL of the Star Wars prequels for that matter! Still, Godzilla Junior wins some sympathy, and Burning Godzilla looks pretty awesome. I remember a loooon time ago on these boards, "eabaker" made an assertion that Kazuki Omori would have been better-suited to directing this film than Takao Okawara. I've always felt that Okawara was the kind of "corporate-jobber" that Toho relied on to "make it flashy, make it nice, make it fun, make it Godzilla, make it cheap and make it quick". I call him the "Godzilla hack", because, at the end of the day, atleast it was a good Godzilla movie. Godzilla vs. Destroyah, for me, just passes the "Goji-curve". I like it better than Godzilla vs. Mothra and Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla in the Heisei series, and I enjoy it more than Godzilla X Megaguirus and Godzilla Final Wars for the entire series.

...and Akira Ifukube is in fine form here. One of my favorites of his work in the series.

[Russzilla]

It's a shame that they didn't continue the Godzilla series on TV with a grown up Godzilla Jr. as I originally read was the plan.

[Dr Kain]

[Benjamin Haines]

The effects in Godzilla vs. Destroyer are some of the laziest in the entire series. Composite shots of Godzilla rampaging with people calmly walking in the foreground, wide shots of static Destroyers that look like Bandai toys, and morbidly obese Destroyer and Godzilla suits that can't do anything but waddle around and bump into each other.

[kiryugoji04]

[Gman2887]

The effects in Destroyah certainly weren't tops, but I think it was a comeback of sorts after the previous three movies. The final battle isn't that bad either. I thought it was pretty fun the way Godzilla got thrown and dragged around; the horn slices and spewing blood from Destroyah were pretty brutal.

Like Giganfan, I wish Omori had directed it, but Okawara probably turned out his best effort yet. For the "Godzilla hack" he was at least improving. Despite the handicaps I do think it's one of the series' finer movies and I find it extremely enjoyable.

[Dr Kain]

[Hybrid Gojira]

I remember watching this movie the first time and being very underwhelmed...honestly that's how I felt with most of the Heisei series.
T
he premise is solid. If you're going to kill Godzilla off, why not incorporate the very weapon that killed the first Godzilla? Combine that with a few connections to the first film and you have the makings for a solid movie coming full circle to the original.

But the film has terrible effects...Destroyah is so clunky and then you have the horrible "Junior on wheels" scene...plus the Dessy puppets during the military scenes. There were many great aspects of this movie, but it feels like nothing was really fleshed all the way out. Nothing is polished.

[jellydonut25]

This movie is as lazy as the average American. Lazier, in all likelihood.

It throws out a bunch of garbage to try to reconnect with the first film, brings back a character portrayed by an actress who REALLY doesn't want to be there, and my GOD, it has bar-none the worst psuedo-science in the entire series, and that includes the crap about black holes and white holes in Space Godzilla.

I mean, this is a team of individuals that has been proven time and again to be wrong about Godzilla, incapable of stopping him, and able to just completely lose track of him, who now sit around and INSTANTANEOUSLY spout off nonsense about meltdowns, and the precise temperature at which Godzilla will meltdown. You've GOT to be kidding with that kind of garbage.

The effects team went all-out with the Godzilla suit. The Destoroyah design is solid. The premise is not too bad. Then the whole crew involved in the film stopped there and said, "Yeah, that's plenty good enough. We can stop even pretending like we're trying now." And people eat this movie up like it's gourmet cuisine. There's few Godzilla films in the entire series as slapdash and unpolished and lazy in outward appearance as this one. Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster has more consistent effects work, and that particular film has some of the most slipshod effects work in the entire Showa series (though it has a far better reason with the INSANELY rushed production schedule).

The scene where Destoroyah splits back into smaller forms and attacks Godzilla is pathetic. The lights are out on the G suit, the effects team doesn't bother to rotoscope the little Destoroyah breath blasts, and those puppets (animatronics?) are probably the least convincing realization of any kaiju in the entire Heisei series.

I literally can't fathom people who actually think this movie stands as a good Godzilla film...are they THAT won over by a premise that they are willing to overlook the insane amount of faults? Or is it the glowing lights in the Godzilla suit that blinds people to the horrific garbage that is this woeful pile of crap?

Like Jared recently alluded to in his rankings post, Space Godzilla might be the worst film in the Heisei series, but there are others (like this one) that are just far more insulting in their approaches and as an end result, less enjoyable.

[Dr Kain]

I think that Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster has some truly incredible effect work, but that movie has Mothra talking to Godzilla and Rodan.

Sadly though, Ghidorah was the last movie of the Showa era that actually cared about the look of the costumes and effects, as they became a joke afterwards, at least until MechaGodzilla, but by then, Godzilla was too far gone from redemption. As you can tell, I am not a fan of Invasion through Megalon. There are some great bits thrown in there (Gigan is an incredible monster, DAM had a great finale), but those movies as a whole were nothing more than putting together the cheapest materials possible to make costumes and effects. The point is, ALL Godzilla movies have faults in them. The Heisei series is no different than the Showa series, but at least the Heisei series stayed consistent with the look of Godzilla, kept him terrifying, had him fight monsters that appeared threatening (no giant cockroaches and walking feces), and no zippers. Oh yeah, and reoccurring characters, which again, the Showa series stopped doing after Ghidorah.

However, I'll save any more of this negativity for when I rewatch the movies over the course of the next 2-3 months.

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]