Godzilla Series Ranked

This took some compiling and thought but there you go, full ranking.

29. Godzilla Vs. Hedorah

28. Godzilla Raids Again

27. Ebirah Horror Of The Deep

26. Godzilla Vs. Gigan

25. Godzilla Vs. Megalon

24. All Monster's Attack (Godzilla's Revenge)

23. Son Of Godzilla

22. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

21. Destroy All Monsters

20. Terror Of Mechagodzilla

19. Invasion Of Astro-Monster

18. Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1992)

17. Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S.

16. Godzilla Vs. Biollante

15. Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla 2

14. Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus

13. Godzilla Vs. Spacegodzilla

12. Godzilla Vs. DESTOROYAH

11. Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla

10. Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster

9. King Kong Vs. Godzilla

8. Godzilla (1984)

7. Godzilla Final Wars

6. Mothra Vs. Godzilla (1964)

5. Godzilla 2000

4. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Giant Monsters All Out Attack (GMK)

3. Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah

2. Shin-Gojira

1. Gojira (1954)

Not terribly surprising I'm sure but one of my favorite series ever regardless. Tune in next time for an animated Batman trilogy that I was not aware existed till now.

Godzilla (2014)

Good job Gareth Edwards, you did the seemingly impossible.

The newest American Godzilla movie, why do people not like this one so much? I thought it was pretty damn good all things considered. Could have been much, much worse but it wasn't and that is the important thing. Right from the beginning it catches your attention with a great opening credits scene taking a stock and cliche opening and making it interesting, but we also get Bryan Cranston, being awesome like always (No I haven't seen Breaking Bad yet. Please hold your fire.). He plays a scientist working at a nuclear power plant in Japan, when suddenly the reactor becomes unstable. Cut to 15 years later, and he is on the hunt for answers as to what truly happened that day, accompanied by his son played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson who works in the military as they discover monsters laying dormant. They meet another scientist Dr. Serizawa (Same name as the scientist in the 1954 version) played by Ken Watanabe who informs them that the monsters are in fact from prehistoric times and that if they ever got loose, there is a natural force to combat them, Gojira. The monsters soon awaken and start a trek to repopulate their species which causes the Big G to be called on the scene to deal with them. The film was directed by Gareth Edwards, who makes very visual films and this is no exception. True it is set in modern day but it has such striking color and well done cinematography that it gives the film a bit more visual appeal. I can narrow it down to a single scene, the HALO jump, coupled together with the iconic and haunting music used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, make it one of the most memorable scenes in the entire movie. Now a few people didn't like this movie very much down to one problem, a lack of screen time from certain characters. Now honestly I had no problem with that, even though in this two hour film you only see a grand total of 10 minutes of Godzilla and yeah, you want to see the big guy a lot but isn't that the case with all Godzilla movies? You want to see him almost all the time on screen, I get that, but I loved the mystery around the monsters and how they were revealed throughout the film. You get glimpses of Godzilla throughout the whole movie but it's rare you see a full head to toe shot of him but it really works! It gives you a great sense of just how truly giant he is, I love the design of it very much, looks like the King Of The Monsters equivalent of me actually. The fight scenes are really good, although they tease just a bit, you see them throw down multiple times but not the whole fight until the end. That doesn't bother me a bit, I like bits and pieces before the grand finale and yes it is worth it in my opinion. I can't wait for the sequel which is due in 2019 if memory serves correct, so still awhile to go. But we have plenty more monster films in the future to tide me over until then. Thank you so much for joining me in Japan. Goodnight.

Godzilla (1984)

Alright time to review Godzilla 1985, even though it was originally released in 1984, made it to America in 1985, and has not been allowed to be released on DVD until September of this year in America. Confused yet? Good, let's move on.

For this particular review, I watched the original Japanese version instead of the American version although either version is still great to watch. Godzilla has returned to Japan after 30 years of dormancy to raise terror and destruction yet again. Grade A entertainment. Time for backstory! Godzilla first appeared in 1954 and appeared in several sequels for 20 years evolving from a destructive allegory for a nuclear bomb to a savior of the Earth, ending the what is known as the Showa era in 1974. Ten years later...he was resurrected as a destructive force, ignoring all other movies except the original in 1984 beginning the Heisei era. And this film truly updates the look with excellent special effects, sophisticated and ambitous models, coupled with new military weapons. Of course since this was made in the mid 80s the Cold War was still heavy in the air, so Russian and American forces suggest to use nuclear weapons against Godzilla. Of course Japan is against nuclear weapons of any sort, Japan never forgets their history and Hiroshima is explicitly mentioned in this movie, Japan is a hero in my eyes for prohibiting any nuclear weapons in real life. The atmosphere has an almost apocalyptic feel to it, with a doomy and epic theme for the King Of The Monsters. Add in some nifty editing and framing, and a decent human story, and you have one of the best Godzilla movies ever made. Top 10 for me easily. Get your hands on it now if you are a fan of the Big G, or if you want a good monster mash.

Tomorrow we look at the beginning of the Millenium era.

We're Not Done Yet!

Halloween is going overtime here on What The Dude Says! I thought about it for a bit and remember that I said I wouldn't mind doing the monster mash in Tokyo come November? Well that's where we are headed. This week just for the hell of it, and if you didn't get enough monster action, I shall review three Godzilla movies, all from different eras. One from the Heisei series, one from the Millenium series, and the newest american movie. There's a lot more King Of The Monsters coming in the future. The new japanese movie will hit video, we get a sequel to the american 2014 Godzilla, we even get a rematch of King Kong Vs. Godzilla. That's right, I said rematch. Plus it's always fun to talk movies where a guy in a giant rubber lizard suit stomps on a model city. So check it out tomorrow, and Blue Oyster Cult said it best....go go Godzilla!

BONUS: Shin-Godzilla

Well that was unexpected.

Wow...my first Godzilla movie ever seen in theaters. No joke, every time I have seen any Godzilla movie it has been on either satellite tv or home video. So how does this Godzilla movie hold up? It was great, albeit slightly odd at points. Allow me to elaborate. Okay Sherman set the way-back machine to when the first trailer hit. I liked the tone, the visuals, and the music...until Godzilla showed up. He looked cool, glowing red, slightly decaying look but the eyes looked like googly eyes, and his tail was too long, it was bigger than he was! And this particular Godzilla stunts the 2014 Godzilla, and that's a big dude. And later on down the road, I heard rumors about Godzilla well, not looking like Godzilla. That he actually evolves throughout the movie. This worried me a lot. And it's true. When you see him at first he looks like this friggin' tadpole...thing, he's got no arms and really looks like if you cut off a stegosauraus' front legs. It's so odd. But then he changes and looks a bit more like he usually does. He looks like he came from Hell, and that fits perfectly with the movie, Godzilla is supposed to look terrifying. Now we touch on the last aspect worthy of note, Godzilla's atomic breath is bizzare. It's purple but not, and I can roll with that, I got used to how he looked, and his atomic breath looks awesome in purple but it's not straight up like that. I'll try to explain, it starts off like just red fire but then transforms into atomic breath, but not only that it turns into a fracking lazer beam! It doesn't look like fire it looks like lazers! But wait, there's more! It comes out of his mouth, it comes out of his tail (I swear to God above.), it comes out of his fin's. Yeah. Now, Hideaki Anno created Neon Genesis Evangelion, a confusing show about giant robots fighting, kinda like with Gundam but with a paradoxical plot but I digress. He wrote and directed the movie, so you see the inspiration from that show bleed through into this movie, Godzilla shoots like a hundred lazer beams out of his fin's at enemy planes and missiles. It's very anime. Whoa, I've went on this long and I haven't touched base on the actual movie.......let's roll that review! The plot is basic like other Godzilla movies, Godzilla rises out of Tokyo Bay and the Japanese government must find a way to stop this fearsome beast. Now there are many excellent things about this film, first of all the editing. It is so slick, and so well done, they know exactly when to cut. It is fast paced, but knows when to linger on a moment, it really helps with the humor of which there is a bit, and drives the story at a satisfactory pace clocking in at roughly two hours. Next is the acting, the cast is great although the film is subtitled all the way through, there is no dub yet but there will be. So seeing the real Japanese actors working their craft was a real treat. Lastly is the mood, the tone of the story, and it is highly realistic. This feels real in every sense of the word. This is what would happen if such a creature appeared in Japan and the government had to deal with it. Bravo movie, bravo. Flying colors in this respect. Godzilla is in the movie a bit, but the focus is on the humans trying to cope with such a presence, in fact dare I say, it does it exponentially better than the original 1954 version. That is how good they nailed the realistic edge of this film. You know, for the first Godzilla movie I have ever seen in theaters, this did not disappoint. The film is in theaters nationwide until the end of this week, so if you're a big G fan go see this movie. Well worth your time and money.

You know, for this week I had several science fiction classics to review, but now I'm kind of tempted to do a handful of Godzilla reviews instead. I certainly have a few to review, and I'm happy I reviewed the original because this movie has a few nods to it. I might change it, I may hold off on it. Hell, maybe I'll even start November with a monster mash in Tokyo...

Godzilla (1954)

Well I did say I wanted a monster movie, so how about the original King of the Monsters, Godzilla!

The original Godzilla made in 1954, directed by acclaimed Japanese director Ishiro Honda is a not so typical monster movie focusing more on human emotions and their consequences on testing nuclear weapons. The story of the movie follows mysterious disappearances of fishing boats and the subsequent investigation soon discovering a giant prehistoric monster mutated by testing of underwater atomic bombs, and the destruction that this famous monster wreaks on Japan and the humans efforts to try and destroy the beast once and for all. The main shining point of this movie besides the incredible special effects of Eiji Tsubaraya and the King of the Monsters himself is the outstanding cast of characters. We have Takashi Shimura as our main lead who is father to a young woman played by Momoko Kochi, who has been engaged to a strange and mysterious scientist played by Akihiko Harata who has actually developed a weapon that could kill Godzilla but because of it's terrible power of destruction he is hesitant to use it, thinking it could be used as a weapon more powerful than a hydrogen bomb. Suprisingly, there is lots of human conflict in this movie but only once is it physical. It's more of an internal conflict based on how the characters are dealing with the situation and what they should do next. It's a very well made film, with great acting, outstanding effects, memorable music by Akira Ifukube, gritty cinematography, and an overall foreboding mood. The film is very dark, treating it's subject matter completely seriously, we see Godzilla trample through several cities but after that we see the disturbing aftermath of it all. We see hundreds of people in a hospital, people dying, families embracing knowing that their lives will end soon, a memorial chorus for the dead, and so very much more. It is nothing like the Godzilla movies made in the 60s and the 70s where they were more campy and made for kids. This is the best Godzilla film ever made, and if you have never seen a Godzilla movie before, this is the one you need to watch. And if you don't even know what he looks like, it makes the movie even better because you don't see him at all until past the twenty minute mark, and it builds this suspense as to what this creature looks like. I love it. This is a truly remarkable film that many more people should see. And here's a fun fact: This movie premiered in the United States on April 27th, 1955. 40 years to the day before I was born! That makes me proud! So if you want to buy this movie, buy only one version which is The Criterion Collection. Best version you can buy, worth every dollar, go see this movie. See you next time.