Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)


Unlike the Showa era of Godzilla, which kind of petered out at the end of its run, the end of the Heisei era was planned.  Godzilla vs. Destoroyah was meant to bring the latest Toho series to an end as they had given permission for a series of movies to be made in the U.S. starting in 1999.  Although this movie, like most of the ones before it, remained unreleased in the United States, Toho still did not want competing franchises. 

What the team of writers did this time was make sure to connect everything with the original Godzilla from 1954, which The Return of Godzilla followed, ignoring all the original sequels.  To sum it up, the original Godzilla that attacked Japan was killed by the oxygen destroyer.  The creature that attacked 30 years later, and which would go on to fight Biollante, was a dinosaur living on an isolated Pacific island that had helped defend a Japanese battalion smf was later mutated by American hydrogen bomb tests.  That creature, in turn, was initially erased from history by time travelers seeking to use King Ghidorah to destroy Japan.  However, they didn't plan on another Godzilla being created in the Bering Sea, which is the one that proved to be both a menace and a benefactor going forward.

Due to Birth Island having a large amount of uranium it melts down, giving Godzilla (Kenpachirô Satsuma) an overdose of radiation.  This results in its heart, a giant reactor, beginning to melt down.  Kenichi Yamane (Yasufumi Hayashi), the son of Professor Yamane, makes this discovery and begins working with G-Force, where Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) is concerned about what happened Godzilla Jr. ('Hurricane Ryu' Hariken) when the island was destroyed.  It turns out he survived but has now grown due to the radiation. 

Japan has more problems than just giant lizards.  Dr. Kensaku Ijuin (Takurô Tatsumi) is on the verge or rediscovering the process of the oxygen destroyer, which could be a threat to humanity, a situation that concerns Kenichi's sister Yukari (Yôko Ishino).  Even more concerning is that the use of the original device has caused mutations in ancient anaerobic creatures that have now grown in size and are attacking Tokyo as well, causing destruction wherever they go.  This leads both Godzilla and Junior to team up to do one last battle against one of their greatest foes.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah leaves behind all the efforts to try to make the series more family friendly and goes for straight action and horror.  Despite stealing a scene from Alien3 there are some effective parts.  The Destoroyah creature, and all the "smaller" versions of it, are quite effective.  We also have a glowing, smoking Godzilla walking around throughout the better part of the movie, and it doesn't wait to have him attacking something.  This is impressive as, par for the course, Toho gave special effects producer Kôichi Kawakita pretty much nothing to work with and no time to do it.  This means that the attack on Hong Kong contains scenes reminiscent of Zombie, where things are just going on as normal when something major is supposed to be happening.  To Kawakita's credit there is nothing as bad as the space battle from Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

The human drama this time is also interesting because it's not something separate from what's going on with the monsters.  Momoko Kôchi even makes a cameo as Emiko Yamane, the aunt to Kenichi and Yukari, who had assisted Serizawa in the original film.  This, like The Return of Godzilla, even presents an anti-Godzilla weapon that does its job, the Super S3.  Usually, it's just some cool device that gets wrecked within minutes, but in this case serves a purpose and ultimately helps in saving the world.

The science, as usual, is pretty much made up of whole cloth, but somehow works within the universe of Godzilla.  It does end with a hint that more movies could be made, but in this case the 1999 Roland Emmerich Godzilla proved to be a critical and financial flop, leading Toho to revive the creature for a new series of films in 1999 with Godzilla 2000 which, unlike most of the Heisei films, made it to theaters in the U.S.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
Time: 103 minutes
Starring: Takurô Satsumi, Yasufumi Hayashi, Yôko Ishino, Megumi Odaka, Kenpachirô Satsuma
Director:  Takao Okawara

 

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