Godzilla All in a Row Part 4

Today's a special entry folks, not so much in the content as what it hearkens back too. Five years ago I made a three part series offering quick overviews of every Godzilla movie made up to that point. Lord knows how bad the writing may have been but the curious and bold can follow the links to find out. While I sometimes find it impossible to believe CosmicSparky has been running that long there's a sort of fuzzy feeling in returning to an old piece of work. Return I must however as the following years have placed us in a similar situation. A new Godzilla flick is on the way and in the time since our last overview there have been plenty of new films staring everyone's favorite atomic lizard.

Godzilla (2014)

The inspiration for the original series of articles, though a film I neglected to cover since, the 2014 U.S. Made rendition of Godzilla has its group of detractors though I recalled it being quite decent. In anticipation of the new entry, and this article, I decided to revisit the film to see how it had held up.

What sticks out immediately is how serious and restrained this particular zilla flick is, a tone that puts it in the same company as more dramatic installments such as the original or Shin. The opening segment involving a crisis at an energy plant is one of the most satisfying bits of human storytelling within the entire franchise. The film then turns into a globe-trotting adventure of an emotionally stunted man doing anything to protect his family from the emergence of giant monsters.

The most common complaints about this movie are how little it shows of the title beast, and that the characters are a bit stiff. Both these issues have merit though they tend to overlook the upside of framing the story this way. As someone who's seen every Godzilla movie, most of them multiple times in fact, I've found that more screen time for him tends to equal a weaker overall film. There may not be a ton of big-G content here but all of it is top tier stuff and his new opponents, the Muto's, are nothing to scoff at either. And while the main character is emotionally stiff that tracks with his background of loss and military career. The important thing is his journey which begins with mending relations with his father and setting out to protect his family, a quest the mirrors Godzilla's own quest to stop the other monsters.

For anyone who balks at the film I'd totally suggest a revisit. It had been years since my last viewing but it hooked my interest all over again. Truly a strong installment in the franchise which is all the more important is that it proves the United States can make an actual worthwhile Godzilla film.

Shin Godzilla

Some movies, through no fault of their own, find themselves inexorably linked with troublesome events. I had been waiting ever so impatiently for Shin Godzilla to hit the states, making sure I had enough extra cash to pick up the blu-ray on day one which required me to nearly dislocate my arm reaching around a cleaning barrier at the local wal-mart to snag a copy. Even though I wasn't going to watch it until my usual Saturday night festivities I wanted the assurance of having it near.

That Saturday turned out to be something of a mess as I spent many hours away from home dog sitting as my sort of aunt, it's a long story, was struck by a car that afternoon. When I was finally home at night I went through with my viewing plans as there was nothing I could do about the situation and she passed during the viewing. To this day just looking at my copy can bring that weekend back to mind.

I'd wanted to revisit the film for a while but was a bit gun-shy considering the aforementioned events but I finally managed to watch it again without anyone passing. I'm all the more glad for it as this really is an excellent addition to the series. Not unlike the original this focus slowly on Japan dealing with the emergence of Godzilla. There are no other monsters, no alien visitors, no psychic powers, just politicians, scientists, and military coming together to battle the impossible. Not only is Godzilla massively redesigned for this outing but what he represents has been updated as well. Rather than the atomic bombs of WWII this monster is more of a personification of modern issues like power plant meltdowns and the governments bloated system that prevents proper handling of the situation. It's a very political film with a boatload of characters who all exist more as talking heads than real personalities but there's still plenty to enjoy here.

First off, I adore this version of Big-G. From his googly eyes to his jagged teeth he's a real horror show. The pathos surrounding him is totally different than past versions as the majestic beast has been replaced with a twisted mutant living in constant pain. The final reveal of how his mutation might continue could have made for one excellent sequel, hopefully someone will reuse the idea someday. His rampage at around the hour mark stands out as one of the best scenes in franchise history, well worth watching for that part alone. Despite how talkative the film might be there's plenty of energy and interesting filming techniques to keep things interesting throughout. Not the sort of movie to show folks looking for popcorn thrills but a good time if you like your Kaiju entertainment to be a bit more heady.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

While Legendary was expanding their monsterverse with a new King Kong flick Toho opted for something different by allowing a computer animated Godzilla trilogy to enter production. The resulting Godzilla Earth series has upset more than a few fans with its slow pacing and focus on bizarre philosophical concepts. Still; there are some truly interesting moments to be found throughout the series with part one being the closest to a crowd-pleaser.

The set-up is that Godzilla has ravaged the modern world to the state that humans are working alongside alien races who likewise had their own planets destroyed by giant creatures. The plan is to launch Mechagodzilla to fend of the green Goliath but things go south and Earth is evacuated. Years later life on the spaceships is harsh and a young man named Haruo challenges his fellow men to return and reclaim their home. They do so but find the process of warp travel has made it so centuries have passed for this planet which has now adapted to Godzilla as its lord and master.

After the opening drama the film switches to an action perspective as the three species struggle against the big dude and other lifeforms that have evolved to meet this harsh environment. Countless lives are lost but a path to victory begins to emerge. That is until the nasty twist ending. More than anything the endings for these films as imagined by writer Gen Urobuchi are just so damn mean.

Certain flaws permeate this whole trilogy from the odd animation style to the characters that act more as stand-ins for viewpoints than actual living people. The pacing can be glacial with this first adventure having the most traditional action. The real draws are the nutty concepts, twisted endings and witnessing new versions of classic monsters that are depicted as something closer to gods. Most viewers give the edge to this first installment likely due to the amount of action though I think that actually makes for the most boring of the three so it depends on what you're looking for in your entertainment.

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle

Oh boy, City on the Edge of Battle gets a lot trash talk which is to be expected since this is one of the most downright strange entries in the entire series history. If you thought the previous film was slow and talky this one was designed to drive you mad.

Recovering from the events of part one our surviving heroes make connect with a tribe of humanoids who live underground. Eventually the find the weapon that may tip the scale of battle in the form of Mechagodzilla. Just like everything else, he has evolved. Instead of the big robot he once was now stands a full city made of a unique adaptive metal, think of a living 3-D printer. Most of the run-time concerns characters debating ideologies and preparing for a battle against Godzilla that takes up maybe fifteen-twenty minutes before another balls out crazy ending.

As the Earth series continued, fan reception got worse and worse though I imagine this one will rise above that hate sometime in the future. Not for any specific reasons so much as the overall weirdness of it all and the cruel wrap-up. It seems like there's something of real merit here, even if it isn't always evident what that could be.

Godzilla: The Planet Eater

At last the Earth trilogy comes to a close. You should get the drill by now. If you didn't care for the previous two offerings of weird metaphysics and moral debates then this will have you banging your head against the wall. If however you enjoy whacko head-trips then you can still have some fun.

Almost entirely wiped-out by the previous battle with Godzilla the few survivors find themselves drawn into a cult by some of their alien companions. Meanwhile a few others like Haruo are still focused on destroying Godzilla. Oh, and there's a colossal golden energy dragon coming from another dimension, and at one point we end up in the cockpit of the plane that dropped bombs on Japan. There’s also a rather effective bit of eye-gauging. In case you haven't guessed by now, this thing is bonkers and there's plenty of folks who hate it.

Whether you should watch The Planet Eater, or any of the Earth trilogy for that matter, is entirely dependent on what you want from this series. If you're here solely for action and fun there's little to none to be found. If you can deal with lacking characterization in favor of strange ruminations on life and the cosmos then you might enjoy yourself. I'm personally fine with both approaches so these movies still offer plenty to enjoy.

Looking back it becomes obvious that most of this decade was spent on finding new approaches to Godzilla in order to make more serious films. The result is a number of movies that don’t always aim to please and aren’t infinitely rewatchable popcorn entertainment yet I’m very pleased to have them around. A good number of entries in the franchise already fit so many categories from action, horror, kid’s stuff, and outright insanity, mixing in this batch of somber efforts gives the series that much more variety and provides an excellent build-up now that King of the Monsters seems poised to offer plentiful monster smashing fun.

With that we’re all caught up with the current state of Godzilla flicks. Don’t know about you all but I’m giddy as a kid at Christmas for the newest movie. Between the talent involved and the all-star kaiju line-up this one looks to be a dream. Not long after that will be the rematch of King Kong and Godzilla which I’m not looking forward to as much due to it being directed by a man who seems allergic to making decent cinema. Still; my fingers are crossed that it will turn out to be a worthy installment so I’ll just have to wait and see. After that I’ve heard Toho has plans to do their own monsterverse movies which means the fifth of these articles isn’t that far off. That’s all for now friends. See you at the theater.