Godzilla Movie Tournament

[Psycho Soldier]

I care. I don't post on Reddit, but I browse some of the subreddits, including that one. And as much as I like G2014, I could never justify putting it at #1. Even without G54, I'd probably still put Mothra vs. Godzilla above it nowadays. Maybe Biollante, depending on my mood. I can't say I agree with /r/godzilla.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Rody]

G2014 rounds out my top 10 list currently. It's really good, but not quite great. It's been over a year since I saw it, though, so maybe my opinion will change upon my next viewing of it.
*edit* G2014 isn't quite as good as when I first saw it, but I'd say it still makes my top 10.

Anyway, while Godzilla's Revenge isn't the terrible movie many have made it out to be, I still think it's one of the weaker films in the franchise. It doesn't have a chance against the classic & funny KKvsG.

[Gman2887]

Revenge gets thrashed by Kong, 15 to 1.

Game 21:
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack VS. Godzilla 2000

[DannyBeane]

[Gman2887]

[XvGojira]

If anyone is interested here's how the whole tournament I did on reddit turned out.

http://i.imgur.com/0Wo2Xrh.jpg

[Gentleman]

GMK. I love the movie, flaws and all. The Godzilla suit is one of my favorites, and I like the fact that they tried a supernatural twist on the kaiju. Sure, it would have been better with other monsters involved (and removal of Ghidorah), but it still is a personal favorite of mine.

[Benjamin Haines]

To me, both G2K and GMK are highlights of the Millennium Series. My vote goes to Godzilla 2000 because it's one of my favorite Godzilla movies overall and definitely my favorite of the four entries directed by Takao Okawara. On the other hand, while I really like GMK, it is a step down in both quality and entertainment from Shusuke Kaneko's Gamera trilogy.

[Reaper G]

GMK

[klen7]

GMK!

[Henry88]

Godzilla 2000 for the win.

[Psycho Soldier]

G2K, but just barely.

[O.Supreme]

GMK. I am definitely not a GMK fanboy, but between the two films, I have to say I enjoy GMK more, and tend to watch it more often.

[Rody]

I don't love GMK as much as I did a few years ago, but I still think it's a really good film that does most things right. G2K bothers me because I think it ought to be a great film, but it feels like it's missing something I can't explain.

GMK gets my vote.

[Jorzilla]

GMK is the better movie, so that gets my vote. Godzilla 2000 is certainly pretty good, and I think will be more fondly remembered in the long run because it doesn't have the potential to step on as many toes.

[XvGojira]

This is another coin flip for me. When it came out I was a total GMK fanboy and thought both versions of G2000 were rather dull. But it's amazing what 13/15 years can do to alter one's attitude. But I tossed the coin and it came down heads/GMK.

[jellydonut25]

G2K all the way.

I like GMK, but that's about the extent of it. I like it, I'm never really bored when I watch it, and then it's over and I'm like, "Oh yeah...it does fall WAY short of its potential."

G2K is so much fun to me and feels about as close to Showa Godzilla as we've come in all the years since the Showa era. One thing I positively ADORE about it is that it's really the only Godzilla movie since the Showa era that just posits itself as "Here is a Godzilla movie." Instead of being like, "In 1954...blah blah blah..." and trying to force continuity of some kind.

[canofhumdingers]

Hmm, another tough choice. I like both movies. I like both Godzilla suits. I think GMK has the better score. I think G2000 has the better cast and better script. In the end I think it can be boiled down to one issue. In my mind, G2000 more successfully accomplishes what it set out to do as a whole. GMK has enormous potential but often falls short in its execution.

As an example, the GMK Godzilla suit is an AWESOME idea. Take the best attributes of the early 60's Godzillas and adapt them to a a very fierce and frightening modern take on the classic design. It has the potential to be one of my favorite suits ever. But in execution it has a lot of awkward qualities. From the right angle it looks incredible. But then it's got those weird feet, the odd saggy jowls under the jaw, the pot belly, the weird way the neck connects at the collarbone, the sometimes too obvious zipper... None of these totally ruin it for me, mostly because they're not consistently a problem. It varies from shot to shot based on the angle and how he's moving. But compare it to the Mire-Goji design, which I absolutely love and wouldn't change a thing.

And GMK is rife with examples similar to the suit, where the idea or intention is pure gold, but the final execution is lacking in some way or another. G2000 on the other hand I feel is more consistent. It's not repeatedly feeling like a missed opportunity every few minutes. Also, I think it has the better, more coherent story with a more satisfying finale. I think GMK kinda falls on its face in the third act.

So yeah, G2000 for me.

[Gman2887]

So interesting to see the difference of how people receive these two films after their debut. I must be one of the few that still see them closer to how they were seen when they first came out. I like both movies, but Godzilla 2000 is far behind GMK in terms of polish, ambition and being unique. Sure it's Okawara's most mature and cinematic effort, but he only barely breaks out of his made-for-TV directorial habits. And Suzuki, while a breath of fresh air after 10 years of Kawakita, had some interesting material to watch, but... nothing consistent enough to make me think it's great work. And the pacing is just dreadful. It's a very standard somewhat safe Godzilla movie.

GMK might seem overrated, but is a more brisk, polished movie with a more unique feel to it. The effects are stronger and more consistent and whether one finds the ideas pretentious or not, they're still not something that's tackled in the series often. For better or worse there's more to think about here and Kaneko stamps a stronger cinematic impression here than Okawara has with anything he's ever done. And although there are some third act issues the pacing is still better than Godzilla 2000's final battle.

I guess I can understand how GMK might have fallen out of favor with some--Hype blinds some people. But I don't really get how Godzilla 2000 went from being "meh" in 1999 to a sudden favorite 16 years later. Everything it stands for just feels mediocre.

Admittedly I've recently fallen back in love with GMK for very detailed reasons as I went through a stint where I found it boring. But even before that I had a hard time finding a movie from the last 26 years outside of Biollante that really competes with it. Flawed or not, it's just the bar for modern Godzilla flicks. In some sense that's praise for the movie. In another sense--Well... the last two Toho eras have been pretty rough overall I guess.

[canofhumdingers]

Fwiw my feelings on G2000 have changed little, if at all, since it came out. I've always liked it. It's not perfect, and it does drag in the middle a bit. But as you said it's a very safe Godzilla film and as jelly pointed out, it feels more like a Showa film (in a very good way) than any other in the millennium era.

GMK is good too, and certainly daring and different. And yes it has some of the best/neatest effects shots in any Godzilla movie. But again, it's very uneven and there's just so many missed opportunities and poor executions of various things.

Watching G2000 I'm generally just happy and enjoying the movie and having a good time. With GMK it's more like this roller coaster of "awesome... AWESOME... awww... awesome... AWESOME!.... ergh ...."

[Gman2887]

I don't really get the Showa comparison either. Feels more like a Heisei film with more experimental effects. Characters that come to know and care for each other without much interaction, pseudo-science/theories being spat right and left, lots of watching the final battle from far off/on a building, no characters doing anything relevant to the story during the fight, etc.

At the very most I don't understand how GMK is any more uneven than G2K which has the most fluctuating pace in the series.

[DannyBeane]

[Enjoying An Egg]

G2K!

[H-Man]

I'm giving GMK the nod because the first 45 to 50 minutes are a real gem and because the special effects are so much better than G2K's.