December 22nd: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

The end of the second era of Godzilla is upon us. An era that was big on continuity across films, that started very strongly and petered off a little. But because of how much I enjoyed the first film I held out hope that the final film, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), could end the era on a how. And I am here to say that not only does it accomplish that feat, but it has put itself right in the upper echelons of the best Godzilla films. The story sees Godzilla become a ticking time bomb. As he continues to use nuclear energy as his energy source he has got to a stage where he is becoming overwhelmed by radiation and on course to go into meltdown, spilling all that radiation into the atmosphere. In order to counter this, the authorities attempt to return to the one weapon that has defeated Godzilla, the oxygen destroyer. However, while developing this a terrible discovery is made. The original oxygen destroyer caused a mutation in the evolution of a sea creature. Much in the same way Godzilla was created through the use of a devastating weapon, so was his new foe, Destoroyah.

I won’t beat around the bush here; I absolutely loved this. Is it perfect? No. But hardly any films are. And the slight issues I have with it match up with the issues I have had with the last few films of the Heisei era, and that is that the human narrative is not the strongest. Compared to the last three films it is superb, but it still has issues of lacking focus on a specific area to allow you to really connect with any of these characters. However, what this film does perfectly is act like a great book end to the original film. The reintroduction of the oxygen destroyer obviously helps this, but the film also uses scenes from the original and some of the original actors to really connect the two. And it also matches in themes and tone with the original film. But what I love most about the human narrative is the plot point that I made in the synopsis. That being how Destoroyah was made. Having him come from the oxygen destroyer, the weapon used to kill Godzilla in the original film is a brilliant bit of writing both thematically and just as general plot point.

But what makes this film so good is the aspects involving Godzilla. By the end of this film he has become the main character and we are following his arc, which is effectively his own death. We know from the beginning that Godzilla is doomed, but we start by wondering how they can stop his death being a disaster. By the end, you want to know if there’s anything that can be done to save him. But there isn’t. This is it. And the way he dies is harrowing as he just melts. And he is not the only one. Baby Godzilla is also in this film, although he is quite a bit bigger now. And he dies as well. I think this is the first time in any of these films that the kaiju who is on the good side is killed and it really picks up the stakes of the film. And his death also allows for Godzilla to become more sympathetic as he mourns his child (and lets out an absolutely killer roar). Add onto all of this Destoroyah who is a really great design. He starts off as a swarm of spider/scorpion monsters, morphs into a bigger version of that, and then becomes a winged demon looking thing. It’s a hell of a design and his fight with Godzilla kicks ass. Speaking of designs, while Godzilla is mostly the same, as he is heating up through radiation he now also has glowing orange patches all over him and he looks cool as shit.

I could carry on writing about this film but I don’t want to drag this out. I do feel like a mention has to be given to the score which is excellent throughout this film. It adds a ton to the films atmosphere, and I couldn’t not mention it. Of course, I recommend this film, but I feel like to really have it hit home you need to have seen the original 1954 film and then all the Heisei films so it does need a bit of prior work. But now I have seen them all I can come back to this whenever I want and I am so happy about that.