50 years of Godzilla - Part 3. The Millenium years

23. Gojira ni-sen mireniamu aka Godzilla 2000 (1999)

The first movie in the Millenium series is an excellent introduction to the now grown up Godzilla junior as he fights Orga, a creature spawned from a meteorite long buried in the Japan trench (well, actually, Orga is the meteorite itself). The monster on monster fights are mostly confined to the end but there is a fair share of excellent mass destruction and the final image *spoiler* of Godzilla beating the crap out of Orga and proceeding to total Tokyo with a massive breath of fire is frankly awesome, almost rivalling the end of the previous movie, Godzilla vs Destroyah.

24. Gojira tai Megagirasu: Jî shômetsu sakusen aka Godzilla vs Megaguiras (2000)

The Heisei/Millenium run of Godzilla had been consistently fantastic but finally we arrive at a dud. Well, not really. More of a Big G movie that is just Ok. The plot is pretty meh and Megaguiras is a so so opponent but fortunately there is a lot of monsteraction and it's never boring, just a slight letdown after Destroyah and Millenium.

25. Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Daikaijū Sōkōgeki aka Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

Another reboot of the series that goes pretty far off the usual goings on, this time with Godzilla a true monster that shows no remorse, just a massive creature of destruction. The biggest surprise though is having the movie completely rewrite Ghidrah into one of the good guys. And it works! The fights are truly spectacular and it's quite refreshing to get to see Godzilla totally annihilating his foes, no holds barred. The only thing I don't really like is the new design of Big G, making him look more like a Tyrannosaurus rex than ever but that's no big issue. Shusuke Kaneko should have made more Godzillas, his only attempt is one of the best. His wonderful Gameratrilogy is frankly better than a lot of the newer Godzillamovies. Was that heresy? Well, I do love Gamera too. Can't a guy love both?

26. Gojira tai Mekagojira aka Godzilla against Mechagodzilla (2002)

Coming straight after the wonderful GMK, Godzilla against MechaGodzilla is quite the disappointment. The plot is cheesy in the extreme with a number of cringe-inducing moments involving a motherless girl and the soldier who accidentally caused a couple of deaths and now has to prove herself as the pilot of the new MechaGodzilla. It's a shame really since the fightsequences are really great and the sfx just keeps getting better by each movie. There could've been a bit more of them too.

Not a bad movie by any means, just an ok one.

27. Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira: Tôkyô S.O.S aka Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S (2003)

Apart from an overly übercheesy ending, this is a pretty damn solid entry in the series. Even better, it is actually a direct sequel to the original Mothra with Hiroshi Koizumi returning to play the same character as in the original movie. There are big fights and while maybe not as spectacular as in previous entries in the series they are all good fun. I liked this one more than I did the first time I saw it, just plain ole kaiju fun.

28. Gojira: Fainaru uôzu aka Godzilla: Final wars (2004)

I like Ryuhei Kitamuras Versus a lot but taking that style and putting it in a Godzillamovie was kind of a bad idea. I love all the monsterfights, seeing a lot of old friends again and all the actors from the older movies, that made final wars a treat. Unfortunately the human versus xian fightscenes (of which there are a lot) are just boring. And that ending... Gaah. But all those monsters compensate a lot and as a final part in a series it does its job well.

But where the hell was Megalon?!


So here I am, having rewatched the whole series in about a months time. When I viewed these movies the first time it was never in any particular order, more in the order of how I was able to obtain them and it is quite interesting to see how Godzilla has evolved over the years - from a horrible metaphor of nuclear death to a cheesy friend of the japanese children and then turned into the champion of earth and back to evil again. And so forth. There is no real consistensy here, only in segments of a couple of movies here and there. But I did have a lot of fun and that is the big issue here. Watching the whole series in a short period of time could quite possibly have made me grown weary of the giant monster but it did not. My love for Godzilla has grown even stronger. And my expectations of Gareth Edwards Godzilla are still through the roof.