#2- "Godzilla vs Destroyah" (1995)

Godzilla vs Destroyah. What was imagined as the final Godzilla movie and the conclusion of the 90's Heisei era also harkened back to the original Godzilla movie more than any other. Of course, the idea of wrapping the entire Godzilla series was short lived as soon as the Americans decided to slap the trademark name on a giant lizard movie in 1998, and the combined disapproval of G fans the world around is what brought back the Japanese Godzilla in 1999. However, when watching Godzilla vs Destroyah it is easy to see that this was intended to be it: Godzilla's final march. But why? And how? Well all good things must come to an end someday my friends, and if you look closely at the above photo Godzilla not only dukes it out with the incredibly powerful Destroyah, but he is dying. Yes, his body can no longer control the massive amounts of radiation inside, and Godzilla begins heating up. His skin turns orange and glows in places, and his atomic beam is crimson orange. Steam flows from his body constantly and throughout the movie it appears the King of the Monsters is in agony as his body slowly breaks down. In a way, it is sad to watch, even for myself after countless times. But as sad as Godzilla vs Destroyah is, it is just as brilliant. It is epic. It is deserving of the number two entry and consideration for the best overall.

Miki Saegusa flies out to Birth Island to check on Godzilla and Little Godzilla, but finds only destruction as the island is a smoking pile of ash. The monsters are no where to be seen. A burning Godzilla then makes landfall in Hong Kong and destroys the city as the opening credits role. He appears on fire. The JSDF hires a young man Kenichi Yamane, a self employed Godzilla enthusiast. His grandfather was Dr. Yamane, who studied the first Godzilla in 1954. Kenichi theorizes that once Godzilla's internal temperature reaches 1200 degrees Celsius he will explode more violently than all the world's nuclear weapons. The survival of the human race is in jeopardy. Meanwhile a scientist, Dr. Kensaku Ijuin, creates what he calls "micro-oxygen." It is based on the same track of research that Dr. Serizawa used to create the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon that killed the first Godzilla. While testing the micro oxygen on some soil samples, ancient micro organisms in the samples are exposed to the new science and mutated into something more significant. Whatever it is escapes from one of the samples and multiples in an aquarium by killing all the fish inside, just like the original oxygen destroyer. The creatures progress from small crab like organisms that are barely conceivable to the naked eye to human sized crawlers with multiple legs and bad attitudes. The JSDF does battle with several of these beasts and fends them off with flame throwers, however the creatures are not defeated. They have become destroyers and grow in size again. Meanwhile, Godzilla attempts to destroy a coastal nuclear plant but is frozen in the ocean by the JSDF's secret weapon, the Super X-3, which is designed to handle nuclear plant hazards. Using cadmium missiles and freeze rays, it successfully lowers Godzilla's rising temperature and sends him back into the ocean for the time being. Godzilla Junior appears near a beach as the worried Miki and her psychic counterpart Meru look on. The former little Godzilla has been mutated further by the radioactivity at Birth Island into a semi adolescent Godzilla. Godzilla begins following Godzilla Junior, although they are dozens of miles apart. The destroyers back in Tokyo fuse together to form a massive beast after the military engages them all at once. A plan is hatched to lead Godzilla to Tokyo and the new monster "Destroyah" by having Miki and Meru psychically convince Godzilla Junior to head towards Tokyo. The plan works and Godzilla Junior meets Destroyah in battle.

Destroyah seemingly kills Godzilla Junior, but the little guy has some fight in him and turns the tide of battle, sending Destroyah into a burning explosion with his Atomic Ray. Godzilla arrives in Tokyo and goes to meet Godzilla Junior near an airport. He is reaching a critical level temperature wise and instead of exploding, it is now calculated that he will meltdown. His corpse will sink into the Earth and destroy it. The outlook is still bleak for humanity. Suddenly Destroyah returns in his final form, a truly immense monster far larger than Godzilla. The creature quickly disposes of Godzilla Junior, dropping him from high in the air onto a building. Godzilla is enraged and a titanic battle with Destroyah ensues. The JSDF stands guard for Godzilla's meltdown. The plan is to freeze him with everything possible as he melts. Even with the power of micro oxygen, Destroyah is no match for the maddened Godzilla, whose radioactivity flies off the charts as he blasts Destroyah with super charged Atomic beams. Destroyah's form reverts to smaller more mobile Destroyers that crawl all over Godzilla in a attempt to smother him, but they are pests at most. Godzilla marches over to his son, who is nearly dead, and tries to breath radiation into Juniors soul, but it is too late. The loss of his son drives Godzilla over the edge, as he begins to meltdown. Destroyah reforms one last time and attempts to kill Godzilla but in Godzilla's last moments, his power is unreal.

Just being nearby Godzilla burns Destroyah's skin, let alone the massively powerful atomic beams he now possesses. Destroyah attempts to flee, but the JSDF and Super X-3 shoot him down while Godzilla finishes him off. With Destroyah out of the way, all eyes turn to Godzilla, whose spines begin to melt. The JSDF begins unloading everything they possibly have at Godzilla, turning the air around him white with cold, but it is not enough. Pure radioactivity floods out of his body as he roars one last time. His massive body shrinks, and his skeleton soon becomes exposed in places as he groans out his final breath and melts down. The world looks on as the invincible Godzilla dies. Doomsday has seemingly arrived, but suddenly the radioactivity levels plummet. Godzilla has vanished, his body completely lost into the wind. Through the fog of the massive event, a figure slowly rises, a familiar figure. Godzilla Junior. Absorbing the massive levels of radiation, the Son of Godzilla now fully grown rises to take his fathers place. Godzilla is reborn.

This is the kind of the Godzilla movie that stands out because it is more than just matching Godzilla up with a new monster like most Godzilla movies. The premise of this one is not "Let's watch Godzilla somehow defeat this new monster," it is "Godzilla dies." That is a striking contrast. From the get go this movie was set up for greatness and it doesn't disappoint. And what is more, Godzilla vs Destroyah has so much more emotion than other G movies. There is so much at stake for humanity and the characters are so invested in that fate. Godzilla's death is heart wrenching. As Destroyah wedges himself between Godzilla and his son and tragically takes Junior from Godzilla, you will feel enraged and saddened at the same time. It is the rollercoaster of emotions in regards to Godzilla movies and it pays homage to the original better than any other, mainly because the events of the first movie are key to the happenings of this one.

Look at the tremendous scale of this picture. It's marvelous.

And this one.

 

Godzilla vs Destroyah is a monumental G movie and pretty much rates perfect in my opinion in all regards, acting, effects, plot, everything. This Godzilla movie is nearly flawless. So how can any Godzilla movie possibly be better? At long last, we have reached the coveted number one spot in the Glog's Godzilla movie countdown.

#3- "Godzilla vs Biollante" (1989)

Starting off the top three of the Glog's Godzilla Countdown, Godzilla vs Biollante from 1989 is an incredible Godzilla movie for any viewer, although surprisingly it does not have a wealth of Godzilla footage in comparison to other G movies. One could even make an argument that the actual scenes featuring Godzilla are somewhat bland or lacking in a way, and I would agree with this notion. You might think a Godzilla movie without awe inspiring scenes of monster carnage would be ranked lower, and Godzilla vs Biollante would be, if not for what is likely the strongest plot and story arc in the entire Godzilla series. Even as a true hardcore Godzilla fan, I can still admit some Godzilla movies are lacking in pacing and overall character development and plot, although this Godzilla movie is the opposite. I think it is incredibly intriguing during the scenes away from Godzilla, and that is one reason why it has been ranked as the third best Godzilla movie by the Glog.

As the direct sequel to 1984's "The Return of Godzilla", Biollante picks up almost immediately afterwards in the ruins of Tokyo, as soldiers and scientists comb the rubble in search of Godzilla cells. Some are recovered but the Japanese forces are soon after attacked by a small militant group and a shoot out with the Japanese military ensues. The militant group escapes with the cells before being assassinated by a lone mercenary, who collects the cells and returns to his homeland, the imaginary desert country of Saradia, an oil nation similar to Saudi Arabia. The Godzilla cells are brought to a lab where the hope is that scientists can use the regenerative qualities of the G cells to genetically enhance their crops to grow throughout the vast deserts of Saradia to take over the world's agricultural trade. A Japanese scientist Dr. Shiragami and his daughter Erika are employed by the Saradian institute, but as Dr. Shiragami discusses the biological experiment outside, the lab containing the G cells is destroyed by a terrorist bombing. His daughter Erika is tragically killed. Shiragami returns to Japan and over the five year period between Erika's death and the present day of the movie, he works on his own project to instill the soul of Erika into a Rose garden, by combining her cells with those of the flowers. Meanwhile, the Japanese forces are using the rest of the collected G cells to create a new biological weapon to use against the imprisoned Godzilla (if he ever were to escape his volcanic confines). They call it "Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria, basically an organism that feeds off of radiation and harvests the poison. The Japanese Defense Forces want Shiragami's help, but he is very reluctant and declines.  The character Miki Saegusa is first introduced, the psychic girl who studies Godzilla and becomes fond of him throughout the coming five Heisei era movies. An explosion at Mt. Mihara (where Godzilla fell in 1984) triggers a worldwide panic as easily as its tremors knock over the Rose Garden containing Erika's soul. Helpless to the chance of his daughter dying again, Shiragami decides to join the Japanese Anti nuclear energy bacteria program. They provide him special access to G cells, and alone on a dark and stormy night he combines a G cell to that of his daughter's rose cell. A new organism is born. Two factions after the G cells attack Shiragami's home, which include the lone agent from the movie's beginning. After a shootout, large vines shoot through the house and kill one of the shooters. The Saradian agent escapes bewildered. The other shooter, representing an organization called Bio-major, reveals he has placed explosives around Mt. Mihara and threatens to release Godzilla on Japan if he does not receive the Godzilla cells his company desires.

After a frantic race to deliver the G cells to the bio major agent, the Saradian Agent interferes from a far away vantage point with a sniper rifle, prompting my favorite line of dialog in the entire Godzilla series. The two parties exchanging the cells duck in cover, and the Bio Major agent spots the Saradian agent, "Sonofabitch, its that Saradian agent again!" The dubbing here could not be better. The Bio Major agent attempts to escape with the cells but the Saradian agent kills him, and the other party of Japanese cannot disable the explosives in time. Godzilla triumphantly marches out of the destroyed volcano as the world trembles in fear. Biollante appears in the lake by Dr. Shiragami's house, a massive rose like creature, which begins calling Godzilla towards it. Godzilla heads towards Biollante and meets the creature in the lake, where after a short duel Godzilla easily destroys Biollante with his radioactive beam. A massive fire engulfs the lake and Biollante fades into a golden dust, which floats away into the atmosphere. Godzilla then sets his sights on a nearby power plant, but Miki changes his direction with her psychic powers, allowing Japanese forces armed with Anti Nuclear bacteria rockets to attack The Big G in Osaka, but their attack has little effect. It is hypothesized that raising Godzilla's core temperature will allow the bacteria to spread more easily, so the Japanese forces set up an array of microwave plates that attract lightening. Godzilla steps on these plates and the Japanese detonate the plates heat charges, only slightly affecting the monster. Suddenly, a massive, menacing reincarnation of Biollante forms from the sky, a hulking behemoth of a monster that looks like a crocodile. It charges Godzilla and wraps him in vines whilst barfing a barrage of pure anti nuclear energy sludge on the King of the Monsters. The battle is somewhat brief as Biollante bites down on Godzilla's entire head at once, before Godzilla blasts Biollante's mouth with his Atomic beam. He stumbles away from Biollante as the sludge from the monster takes effect, and Biollante disintegrates once more, this time for good. Dr. Shiragami looks on in awe as the golden spores of Biollante form and image of his daughter Erika before fading from view. Suddenly a bullet pierces his chest and he falls to the ground dead. The Saradian agent flees while one of the movies protagonists Kirishima chases after him. The agent corners Kirishima after a scuffle and holds him at gunpoint, but a misplaced step places him on one of the microwave plates and he is vaporized. Suddenly Godzilla awakens after Biollante's biological attack wears off, and he stumbles back into the ocean in a weakened state as the remaining characters look on.

 

The G suit featured in Biollante was very similar (if not the same suit) to the one seen in 1991's Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, and it is every bit as bad ass. Godzilla looks phenomenal, as you can see above, and some slight alterations to some of his roars and his heavy footfalls present a more than imposing monster. Godzilla is the menace again in this movie and it becomes apparent from the get-go. The whole world seems to be in fear of his activity within Mt. Mihara. Some fast facts here, Biollante's final form, the crocodile like beast pictured above, ranks in as the largest foe Godzilla ever faced in any of the movies in this countdown. While projections of the beasts' size are purely fanciful, it is estimated Biollante "crouched" at around 400 feet tall, much taller than Godzilla's 289 foot frame in this movie, and weighed in at over 220,000 tons. Also, Biollante and the general idea for the plot of the movie were both dreamed up by a dentist, who submitted his ideas to Toho after the company asked Japan to submit ideas for the next Godzilla move. A small idea became a big time movie, and number three on the Glog's countdown. Thematically, where do I even begin with this one? The themes of anti nuclear energy are present once more, this time literally in the name of the biological weapon which brings up a negative theme towards biological and chemical weapons as well. The mentioning of such conflicts as the weaning off of oil by the world's nations and importance of agriculture are constant themes in everyday politics, as well as the continuing under the table struggle between factions of each country over the resources in play. Company and country play a big role in this movie, in both realistically depicting an arms race and setting up an awesome conflict throughout the plot of Godzilla vs Biollante. At times, the focus is not on Godzilla, he is just the force waiting to break free due to the actions of the people. He is the reaper, the ultimate consequence of each nation and corporation not cooperating for peace. He ascends from the jaws of hell to punish those guilty, and what we have to realize as we watch this is Godzilla doesn't seek out those who have done wrong individually, such as the Saradian agent, he punishes us all because we all make up mankind, the good and the bad. Even at an individual level, you can make an impact in the world and it is up to us to stop the arms races of the future that could destroy our beloved planet. Everyone can do something positive with even the slightest amount of effort. Consequences at a global scale affect everyone, not just those involved.