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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Movie Month: Godzilla VS Destroyah Review

I bet you weren't expecting a Godzilla movie during this month. First this is how my Japan obsession begun. I did love Power Rangers, but I followed Godzilla much more. Godzilla is also how Toku starts because if Godzilla was never created who knew how long it would take for Ultraman to be made and then it would be a chain of events. Some people don't even count Godzilla in the world of Toku, but I do since there are tons of special effects, monsters, and a hero which is also arguable. For me Godzilla is an Anti-hero he has fought for good tons of times before. So I want to review my favorite Godzilla film and this is it. The movie takes time after the Space Godzilla movie as the child of Godzilla is still lost and Godzilla himself is on a rampage. It also seems that Godzilla is melting down? In his body heat is building up constantly and if Godzilla isn't stopped he can explode can cause the destruction of the whole world! Also a scientist has discovered a new formula that is similar to the Oxygen Destroyer from the very first film. It has strange side effects though as the new formula has created a new race of monsters. The crab like creatures are called "Destroyah" and have the same ability has the Oxygen Destroyer. A boy who has been brought to investigate on Godzilla and the grandson of Dr. Kyohei, Kenichi sees that Destroyah could be a way to stop Godzilla from overheating. During all of this the Destroyah creatures start to evolve very quickly and cause havoc. Finally Godzilla Junior has appeared and has grown up very quickly. All of these creatures are heading for the same area and the fight for the fate of the world begins.
Pros- The first thing I want to mention is the connections this film has to other films. I love how the events of the first film come back and affect the plot since science is always moving and finding the formula once again makes tons of sense. The only difference is that the formula was being harvested in a way which soon creates Destroyah. The movie is also the sequel to Space Godzilla since we focus on Godzilla Junior as he tries to find his way back to his father. We even see Miki who was in that film again as she wants to help the child. I just really loved the little references this film had and how it connects to the timeline as it makes more of a dynamic feel for the film as we look back on the older events. Originally this was supposed to be the last film so connecting to the first film makes a lot of sense. Destroyah is an amazing monster! He starts as a small crab race and soon evolves into the destructive force he becomes. The monster had tons of different ways to attack and seeing it split up at times into the smaller forms gives a feel that they were more intelligent than the usual Kaiju. The design for the final form was just jaw dropping great. The horns sticking out, his rough appearance, and his size made him to look like a tough challenge and he was. I will even say that he is possibly the strongest villain Godzilla ever face mostly because of his powers of the Oxygen Destroyer. Godzilla also takes on a new look in this film, Burning Godzilla and it was very popular. The constant burning of Godzilla looked great and the red made him more fearful. His fire even got an increase of strength. Godzilla Junior was basically a younger Godzilla so nothing that special about him. The number one thing I love about these films is how even with huge monsters fighting, the human characters play big roles as well as we see them live through the events. Every Godzilla film does this and like always it is masterfully done. Another thing that is near perfect like other Godzilla films is the use of atmosphere because you know it works when you care about giant monsters that don't even talk.
My favorite Kaiju in the whole franchise!
Cons- There are mostly little flaws (I won't say anything about the Eng dub), there are just some issues with how the suits are used at times and like most of Godzilla films things can feel slow.
 The slow scenes mostly occur with the humans and the ship takeoff.
Overall- This is why I love this film the most. It connects to the past, it acts like a sequel, holds emotional moments, great Kaiju action, and it doesn't feel like too much. Everything is well paced out and it just makes the film feel better. If this was the last film it would have been a great end for the franchise, but it still continued on for a couple of more years and now Godzilla is making a comeback. I give this film an A because even with some slow scenes and technical fails, the movie has more great moments and holds two fan favorites in the whole franchise.
I hope that this will get some revival for the franchise.

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