I just realized that I don't believe I've actually seen the official art poster for
Godzilla vs Destroyah. I dig it. The reds and oranges really work well and how it all blends together. A basic layout, but still top quality stuff.
I've been waiting for this one, as I remember loving this movie, a lot of it to do with Burning Godzilla and the ideas surrounding it. Rather than having the usual Godzilla plot of Godzilla needing to tough it out against another monster, the idea is that Godzilla is basically overloaded with energy and is getting ready to explode because of it, rampaging about as he's essentially a giant wounded animal.
The other interesting part of the movie is that it kinda becomes a horror monster movie for abit due to the smaller Destroyah creatures. The special forces unit even has like a Aliens rifle setup with motion sensors. Not the only Aliens connection as the Destroyah creatures have one of those creepy inner extendable mouths and they use flamethrowers on them lol At least gives something the humans could fight for abit before it becomes Destroyah, which is a great design. This huge red demon-like monster with connections to the original Godzilla movie. I kinda love that he has multiple forms too. From the little ancient millions year old mutant bug thing, to human-sized crawlers, to a giant crawler with big spikey apendages, to a flying form, and then the final giant Godzilla like monster. A lot of work went into this monster for sure.
Story is real on point with this one, probably the most solid all the way through as everyone has a purpose or connection with the plot and this movie makes a big connection to the original Godzilla movie, as Destroyah is connected to the original Oxygen Destroyer that wiped out Godzilla in the first movie, hence its name. It's also the most serious one. There's very little fluff, no dealing with romances or shenanigans, it's very much "Godzilla will kill us all if we don't do something" and that is from beginning to end. I think it's what makes this one of my favorites for sure, because it is so consistent and focused.
I love the action in Mechagodzilla 2 and Spacegodzilla, but this is just beginning to end well paced and you really start to feel bad for what happens to Godzilla as this has to be Godzilla getting it the worst out of all the movies I think. Right from the start, Godzilla is suffering, and then he's fighting Destroyah and getting wrecked, then sees what is happened to Godzilla Junior. It's all so well handled with incredible music that helps really sell some genuinely heartbreaking moments that you just wouldn't expect from a kaiju movie. For a moment at the end, Godzilla almost reminds me of Shin Godzilla and I'm curious if that was ever a part of its design. Even the ending feels rather apocalyptic in tone, kinda like what we saw with Shin Godzilla during that big night scene. Feels like an influence here that I never realized before.
To me, this is a
9 out of 10 for Godzilla films, I think it is so well handled, and while it might not have the best fights so far, I think the last two doing better overall final battles, this was pretty great as a full movie. It's definitely in my top 5 Godzilla films right now, a list I'll have to fully figure out soon.