flash-hammer's Full Review: Godzilla Vs. Destroyah
Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.
The final movie in the second Godzilla series, often dubbed the 'Heisei Era' by fans, the movie that began life as Gojira Vs. Desutoroia would mark the end of an era in terms of the Godzilla series, and the Kaiju Eiga genre in general, in more ways than one, as it would also mark the last movie producer credit given to Tomoyuki Tanaka, the only man who had worked on every Godzilla movie up until that point.
By all rights, had everything went smoothly with Toho's business with Tristar, the movie would never had existed. Along with the previous movie, this was a rather rushed film, because it was believed that work would be getting underway on the American Godzilla film, at the time set to be helmed by Jan De Bont, and Toho didn't want to have 2 Godzilla movies in production, but when the American project stalled after De Bont's requests for an effects budget were baulked at by Tristar, Toho decided to carry on making money and soldiered on with another home-made Godzilla movie.
They did, however, decide that this would be their final stab at the King of the Monsters. The series was starting to lose fans, and it was effects director Koichi Kawakita that came up with the greatest marketing ploy Toho had yet to unleash: kill their icon.
While the less cynical out there could say that the killing of the Japanese character was symbolic, as the name was about to be tacked onto an entirely independant film made on the other side of the world. However, it's hard not to see the whole thing as a big marketing stunt when Toho's adverts for the movie consisted basically of giant Kanji symbols declaring "Godzilla Dies" to compliment their Heisei regular montage/drawing posters.
Yet, in fairness to them, work was put into the film to ensure it not only had some closure for the series, but also didn't feel like the last throw of the dice. Elements of the very first movie are directly referenced, a character even re-appears from that film, as well as the returning psychic character Miki Sagusa, in what would be, to date, her final role in the series.
However, by blatantly advertising the fact Godzilla dies to people before the film even starts, it kind of defeats the shock value of it. So is the film a case of waiting around to see where, when and how the King bites the dust?
One of the first problems the film had after it's Japanese release was deciding what to call it in the Western market. Personally I always thought it was actually called Godzilla Vs. Destroyah, but upon closer inspection of my DVD, it's correct title is actually Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah. To further add to confusion, many people refer to the film as it's literal English translation, Godzilla Vs. Destroyer. The characters dubbed voices call it this, but when you take into account they call Godzilla 'Godziller', it's hardly a reliable source. Personally, I'll stick to calling the monster Destroyah, but the film Destoroyah. I'm pretty sure, but not definite, that the videogames call it Destroyah as well.
Destoroyah would see a return to the director's chair for Takao Okawara, who, after directing Godzilla Vs. Mothra and Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla was replaced for Godzilla Vs. Spacegodzilla, and Kazuki Omori, who penned most of the Heisei movies, to the role of writer. While Okawara's direction is, as always, solid, Omori gets immediately back to his old tracks of over-referencing Western movies, with the most guilty examples here being Jurassic Park and Aliens, with a dash of Predator, although the last two can be also attributed to Koichi Kawakita in some fashion.
The movie kicks off as Miki Sagusa(Megumi Odaka - Godzilla Vs. Biollante), still working for G-Force, flying around the ocean in a chopper. She is hunting for Baby Godzilla, but is shocked to discover that the Island on which he and Godzilla resided has disappeared. Birth Island, as it was known, has been wiped off the face of the Earth by some form of undeground nuclear explosion. With no sign of either of them, she heads back to base disappointed.
However, the 'no sign of either of them' soon changes, as Godzilla appears in Hong Kong. However, all is not right with the King of the Monsters, the Birth Island incident has caused his inner nuclear fission to lose control, and his skin is burning up, as the monster has searing orange flashes in his skin, and when he comes into contact with water, it turns to steam. Out of control and in pain, he attacks Hong Kong before making back towards the sea, seemingly random in his movements.
To make matters worse, a young scientist named Kenichi(Yasufumi Hayashi - Beijing Watermelon), the grandson of Dr.Yamane, who helped defeat the original Godzilla back in 1954, has come to the conclusion that Godzilla's internal reactor is heading for meltdown, and such an event may cause the destruction of the world as it could melt down to the Earth's core. Conventional weapons are even more useless than normal, because they may actually trigger an explosion, so the Japanese Self Defence Force must turn to their Super X-3, which features a Freezing cannon and cadmium missiles, to try and cool the monster down until a permanent solution can be found.
However, another scientist, Dr.Ijuin(Takuro Tatsumi - The River With No Bridge) is on the verge of a new scientific discovery, one which Dr.Yamane's daughter Emiko(Momoko Kochi - Gojira) begs him not to pursue, because it resembles the work of Dr. Serizawa, maker of the Oxygen Destroyer, the machine implemented to kill Godzilla, too much, and Serizawa killed himself to stop it falling into the wrong hands. However, much to the disdain of Emiko, and his sister Yukari(Yoko Ishino - Tokyo Blackout), Kenichi encourages him to look into the prospect of building another Oxygen Destroyer, because it could be the only thing that can kill Godzilla.
However, when conducting tests on the area of Tokyo harbour the Oxygen Destroyer was deployed, Dr. Ijuin's team awakens something as fearsome as Godzilla. A precambrian creature that was mutated by Serizawa's creation is awoken, and it finds it's way to Tokyo city center via Ijuin's lab, and upon it's escape, it takes to stripping the flesh from all of the fish in a local aquarium. What's worse is that the creature is growing at a rapid rate, and there are more than one of them. Soon there is a small army of 8 foot crab-like creatures the JSDF are forced to fight, but Ijuin discovers that they are quite weak when it comes to lower temperatures.
Meanwhile, Miki finally tracks down Godzilla's son, who has also been further mutated by the events at Birth Island. He now looks just like a smaller version of his father before the incident, only more hunched over and with smaller spines. He is making his way towards Tokyo, and the G-Force team notice that Godzilla seems to be heading towards him. They theorise that the creatures made from the Oxygen Destroyer may actually be able to kill Godzilla, so they use Miki's psychic abilities, amplified by those of another psychic girl, to lure Junior into the path of the creatures, which have now combined into a giant version of their crustacean form, in hope that Godzilla will follow Junior and be killed by the creatures.
The creatures transform into a giant-bat like monster, and despite putting up a brave fight, Junior is killed by the beast. Godzilla, who has thawed out from his last freezing, arrives at this point, and upon seeing his dead child, engages Destroyah, which is now in it's final form, a huge-winged monster with a horn atop it's head, in a fight to the death, with the Super X-3 hoping to freeze Godzilla in time, as his temperature hits critical.
Now, Toho's official line as to why they decided to kill off Godzilla and end the series was that they had run out of ideas. However, Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah, like the last few entries before it, highlights the fact that this is a complete lie, and the truth is that Toho were very good with coming up with good ideas, just not as good as acting out on them.
You see, this film quite easily had the potential to be the best movie in the series since the original. It could have been a straight-up, 5/5 classic. However, due to some really stupid decisions, the film is never given the chance to do so, and ends up as nothing more than a solid, if enjoyable, entry into the series.
What the film does well is that it actually pulls out something which shocks the viewer. Everyone goes into the film knowing Godzilla is going to die, however, when Junior, whose change into a respectable monster is startling enough, is killed off, it seems to come out of left-field. What makes this element all the more effective, is the scene in which Godzilla finds the corpse. Lord only knows how they did it, but somehow the Toho gang managed to make a scene that basically comprises of two rubber monster costumes(of polar opposite qualities), fairly amateurishly matted together, into one of the most touching and emotional scenes I've ever seen in a movie. Is it Akira Ifukube's score? Kenpachiro Satsuma's movements inside the Godzilla suit? who knows, but this scene actually really hit me harder than I ever expected anything in a Godzilla movie, a sequel anyway, to do. When Godzilla rears up and roars after it, it's quite easily one of the saddest moments I've ever seen in any film. Yet it also leads to one of the movie's biggest failings.
You see, after that incident, I wanted to see Godzilla absolutely, positively smash Destroyah from one end of Tokyo to the other. This should have been the most one-sided battle in the series history, but it would have been more satisfying than what we have. Even in his enraged state, we barely see him take the upper hand, and one scene aside, where Godzilla blows a chunk of Destroyah's armour plated head right off with his fiery-red breath-beam, the climatic battle is a let down. Godzilla doesn't get to give Destroyah the thumping it deserves, and it's far too short, and Destroyah actually has the upper hand far too much in it.
What is the most dumbfounding element about the movie though, is exactly what happens at the end. Ordinarily I like to leave the end of the movie out of my review, but this begs for discussion, and dissection. Godzilla starts to melt-down, and Destroyah attempts to fly away, before being shot down by the Super X-3. Godzilla melts down, but his nuclear energy is absorbed by Junior's corpse, rejuvanating him into a larger and even-more Godzilla like monster. Now, the latter part I actually thought was quite smart, but the first part is very unclear as to what takes place. To me, it actually seems as though the JSDF actually kill Destroyah, not Godzilla. To be blunt, that is complete and utter bollocks. I always felt a degree of comedy in the fact that the JSDF could come up with all these crazy weapons but none of them ever worked, and Godzilla ended up saving the day. I honestly cannot believe Toho decided to actually have them finally get something right on Godzilla's swansong, where he should have been the hero, especially against such a despicable foe.
I actually suppose it's credit to the film that it got me to genuinely dislike Destroyah and want Godzilla to annihilate it, but the fact it is never acted out upon is basically the story of this film really. Half-great ideas that they either forget to finish, or just throw in with no build-up. A case of the latter is the Super X-3, which apparently only one person in the G-Force knows about, and it's just thrown out in a very matter of fact manner. Also, why did they build it with a freezing cannon, before there was any of this meltdown talk? coincidence? what, does Japan have a great need for things to be frozen? come to think of it, why call it the Super X? given the laughable failures that were 1&2,you would think they maybe would have went for Garuda 2 or something.
As for things that start good and are never properly acted upon, the references to Gojira are a brilliant example. They basically throw them in to say "look, we are tied to the first movie", yet as they are happening, you actually feel like it could be building up to be something big, but when looked back upon, that's all that they are. Emiko is hideously underused, granted that's a staple of Omori's Godzilla movies. Miki once again serves little purpose, and you get the feeling Kenichi and Yukari were only written as siblings for an excuse to relate them to one another somehow. It should also be noted that after the positive step the last two films took by having actual characters pilot the anti-kaiju machines, Destoroyah reverts to just pulling out a random pilot.
In all fairness mind, this film was always going to be about Godzilla, not the human characters, and I think Omori, someone who confessed to not being a huge series fan, done a splendid job of writing a demise for a character who means a lot to so many fans and doing it well. Granted Satsuma's performance and Ifukube's score are important players in doing so, Omori has handled the writing of it well, and let's not forget that he deserves credit for making the son of Godzilla not only not suck, but actually outright respectable.
The dubbing job this film recieved on it's Columbi Tristar Region 1 DVD release is on par with all of the other Heisei movies they have put out, where it's really about as good as it gets, despite the changing of 'a' to 'er' and so on. One thing I'm not really happy about, is that I hear the Japanese version actually has Emiko reference Ogata, another character from the first movie, explaining why they never married. Come to think of it, why didn't they get Akira Takarada to reprise his original role?
Also in terms of Internet hearsay, I've heard that the original ending saw the Destroyah visibly melt from the heat emitted from Godzilla. Personally I think this would have been quite satisfying, as it actually shows what happened to it.
In terms of acting, all the human players do well enough, but nobody shines. It is really Satsuma's film. His movements inside the Godzilla suit, a job harder than you would think, convey emotions like pain and loss scarily well, and it's credit to him that most of Godzilla's scenes work as well as they do.
Not to say that the Godzilla effects are bad mind. Altough the film is incredibly mixed when it comes to effects quality.
The Godzilla suit looks, in no uncertain terms, awesome. Honestly, I don't think he has ever looked better. The burning orange marks accross his body, accomplished by placing hundreds of orange LEDs in the suit, works brilliantly, and the face is at it's most fearsome and animalistic.
Junior looks ok from the front, but the suit is till far too rubbery, and from the back it looks dreadful. Seriously, I don't think they even tried to mask the flap where the suitmation actor, in this case Hurricane Ryu, got in.
Destroyah's 3 forms are a mixed bag in themself. The Crab form monster is accomplished by various means, which range from some neat stop motion models, to immobile looking full size props to Bandai action figures, the latter effects being at least as bad as they sound. The creatures don't actually look too dissimilar to the arachnids from Starship Troopers, although that wasn't released until 1997, so Omori and Kawakita can't be accused of plagiarism here.
In fairness though, the flying and final form monsters look fairly realistic, if the latter isn't exactly a triumph of design, basically looking like a cross between Rodan, Spacegodzilla and the Predator. Speaking of that, was there really any need for the double-jaws, ala Aliens, on the crab form monsters?
As I alluded to earlier, some of the matte work is pretty dreadful, and in one scene, where Godzilla is placed agains the Japanese skyline, a hilarious gaffe is clear, as cars drive towards Godzilla. Something made all the more comical by the fact Tokyo was supposed to be evacuated!
However, Kawakita was granted some CGI for the film, most notably the freezing and melting of Godzilla scenes, and they are actually accomplished very, very well. I would be happy with these effects in a big budget release today, never mind a Japanese Godzilla flick from 1995.
One aspect of the movie which is completely flawless though, is Akira Ifukube's score. Revisiting some of his work from the original film, as well as some excellent new pieces, Ifukube's score is also, if you'll pardon the pun, instrumental in the building up of emotion, especially for Godzilla finding Junior's corpse and Godzilla's death. Ifukube was probably the only 'Godzillafather' with a perfect record, and he didn't let it slip with this film.
The thing is, despite all of it's flaws, Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah is actually an entertaining movie. From beggining to end it never lets up in terms of action, it has a genuinely touching sequence, and actually got this reviewer to feel emotion for a character. A character that was a mutant dinosaur en route to meltdown. Some of it's effects were top-notch, and I certainly don't regret watching the movie. I guess my problem was that I really, really wanted to be able to love the movie, to call it perfect. Sadly this is something it isn't, and while I would never call the film bad, it was a missed opportunity to make a great film. I think 3/5 and a recommended just about fits it. While it probably does edge out Godzilla Vs. Spacegodzilla in terms of overall quality, it isn't good enough to warrant 4/5, even though I would recommend it to all Godzilla fans.
As we all knew, this wasn't Godzilla's last stand. After 1998's American debacle, Toho decided to bring the King of the Monsters back, and while, unfortunately, they didn't opt to carry on with Junior, as the ending of this movie hints, they decided to start a new series from scratch, with Godzilla 2000. So while Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah may not be the best Godzilla sequel, or even the best Heisei movie, it's still a fun ride, even if it will leave fans cursing what could have been.
Year: 1995
Titles: Gojira VS Desutoroia
Godzilla Vs. Destroyer
Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.