One of the most visually interesting sequences in the entire Godzilla series is Godzilla's nighttime attack on Hong Kong at the beginning of 'Godzilla vs Destoroyah.' As the mountainous reptile thunders through the city bellowing his famous collapsing-gantry of a roar, the dorsal scutes on his back smolder with an infernal red glow, while his cracked and steaming torso blazes with hellish fire, resembling a massive lava flow come to snarling, ambulatory life. This is the most fearsome-looking Godzilla to date! The opening scene approaches iconic grandeur with the image of Godzilla with his glowing dorsal scutes looming in the night sky over Hong Kong harbor.
'Destoroyah' works better than most Godzilla movies because in spite of the vigorously idiotic voiceovers--English subtitles would have been less hilariously awful--it is an unusually dark and ambitious movie with flourishes of visual brilliance. This is almost the perfect Godzilla movie. Screenwriter Kazuki Omori and director Takao Okawara appear to be trying as best they can to steer the 22nd film in the long-running series in the direction of its grand progenitor, the 1954 Ishiro Honda classic, 'Gojira,' the most serious and beloved film in the series, and one whose tragic, minimalist tone 'Destoroyah' more closely resembles than perhaps any other recent Toho effort. At times, 'Destoroyah' feels almost like an homage to the Honda classic, an impression furthered by the movie's use of the classic theme and a montage of vintage 'Gojira' clips at the end.
The movie is uncluttered by the usual 'Destroy All Monsters' hodge-podge of punchy guys in floppy rubber suits, however the sole antagonist is a doozey. Destoroyah is a nightmarish half-bat, half arthropod with a little of Ridley Scott's 'Alien' thrown in for good measure. The grim final battle between Godzilla, 'Godzilla Junior' and Destoroyah is one of the goriest in the series, with a bleak, unforgiving outcome that seemingly leaves little room for Godzilla's reincarnation: as the big guy's nuclear heart overheats, the flesh literally falls away from his disintegrating bones. (Of course, this is a Godzilla movie, so anything is possible.)
I like Godzilla, however in the past he's been treated like one of those former Saturday Night Live actors who keeps getting cast in crummy movies, as if they don't know what to do with him. When the new Godzilla series debuts in the next year or two, let's hope Toho continues the trend away from goofy subplots and disposably witless characters. As the great South Korean monster movie, 'The Host' proved, it is possible to populate such films with believably human characters, and to even have them provide sly comic relief without compromising the integrity or humanity of their characters. The big Guy deserves as much, and so does his audience.
'Destoroyah' works better than most Godzilla movies because in spite of the vigorously idiotic voiceovers--English subtitles would have been less hilariously awful--it is an unusually dark and ambitious movie with flourishes of visual brilliance. This is almost the perfect Godzilla movie. Screenwriter Kazuki Omori and director Takao Okawara appear to be trying as best they can to steer the 22nd film in the long-running series in the direction of its grand progenitor, the 1954 Ishiro Honda classic, 'Gojira,' the most serious and beloved film in the series, and one whose tragic, minimalist tone 'Destoroyah' more closely resembles than perhaps any other recent Toho effort. At times, 'Destoroyah' feels almost like an homage to the Honda classic, an impression furthered by the movie's use of the classic theme and a montage of vintage 'Gojira' clips at the end.
The movie is uncluttered by the usual 'Destroy All Monsters' hodge-podge of punchy guys in floppy rubber suits, however the sole antagonist is a doozey. Destoroyah is a nightmarish half-bat, half arthropod with a little of Ridley Scott's 'Alien' thrown in for good measure. The grim final battle between Godzilla, 'Godzilla Junior' and Destoroyah is one of the goriest in the series, with a bleak, unforgiving outcome that seemingly leaves little room for Godzilla's reincarnation: as the big guy's nuclear heart overheats, the flesh literally falls away from his disintegrating bones. (Of course, this is a Godzilla movie, so anything is possible.)
I like Godzilla, however in the past he's been treated like one of those former Saturday Night Live actors who keeps getting cast in crummy movies, as if they don't know what to do with him. When the new Godzilla series debuts in the next year or two, let's hope Toho continues the trend away from goofy subplots and disposably witless characters. As the great South Korean monster movie, 'The Host' proved, it is possible to populate such films with believably human characters, and to even have them provide sly comic relief without compromising the integrity or humanity of their characters. The big Guy deserves as much, and so does his audience.