Unpopular Godzilla Opinions

[Spuro]

Cataclysm I haven't read, so I won't comment.

Cataclysm takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that has been largely destroyed by Godzilla. Biollante represents mother nature and is the key to restoring life and greenery to the earth. Mothra is Biollante's guardian and wants to see the earth restored, and the two are pitted against Godzilla.

[JAGzilla]

Cataclysm I haven't read, so I won't comment.

Cataclysm takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that has been largely destroyed by Godzilla. Biollante represents mother nature and is the key to restoring life and greenery to the earth. Mothra is Biollante's guardian and wants to see the earth restored, and the two are pitted against Godzilla.

Okay, that's an interesting concept on paper. I might have to give it a read at some point.

[edgaguirus]

What would be really freaky is if they had explored Spacegodzilla's "evil alien that wants to take over the world mindset", and actually have him speak (through someone, or themselves telepathically). Wouldn't be all that different than the Legion or Zigra from Gamera. Happens in Ultra all the time. The Showa movies had unused scripts that were going in this direction.

It'd be freaky and frightening. A telepathic SG could have the capacity to control humans, which could add some interesting drama or twists to the story. It could easily turn some of the main characters against each other or have them facing a tide of humanity who now honor the new ruler of Earth so they won't be killed in the process.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Cataclysm I haven't read, so I won't comment.

Cataclysm takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that has been largely destroyed by Godzilla. Biollante represents mother nature and is the key to restoring life and greenery to the earth. Mothra is Biollante's guardian and wants to see the earth restored, and the two are pitted against Godzilla.

Okay, that's an interesting concept on paper. I might have to give it a read at some point.

Yeah, its sort of like the anime trilogy. Only, you know, good.

[darthzilla99]

RoE Biollante was utterly forgettable. Just another quick, inconsequential fight scene.

At World's End Biollante was probably the most forgettable, underutilized monster in that book. Outside of Battra, anyway. She did virtually nothing, and we never even saw how her fight scene ended. And Cerasini was capable of much, much better; his Varan and Kamacuras portrayals set the bar as far as I'm concerned.

Cataclysm I haven't read, so I won't comment.

That's not much of a track record for Biollante in supplementary media so far, though.

In World's end, she had a huge fight with Godzilla and drags Godzilla with her in the center of the earth at the end of the book. The human protagonists escape and stop the antagonists from taking over the surface world, but Godzilla straight up loses and doesn't escape Biollante in the Novel. The preview of Godzilla vs the Robot monster is the only way you know Godzilla survived Biollante offscreen.

That is far from underutilized or insignificant, considering she's not only the big antagonist kaiju, Godzilla loses to her in the novel.

[JAGzilla]

^ She was dramatic and impressive in concept, sure. Execution? I've read the book several times and I can't tell you any details of her battle with Godzilla. Maybe the problem there is on my end, but I do remember every other monster scene in some detail. *shrug* Of course, that's not really the fault of the character or her origin.

[darthzilla99]

^ She was dramatic and impressive in concept, sure. Execution? I've read the book several times and I can't tell you any details of her battle with Godzilla. Maybe the problem there is on my end, but I do remember every other monster scene in some detail. *shrug* Of course, that's not really the fault of the character or her origin.

I've read the book twice in my life (once in middle school and another time for a book report in my junior year of high school) and I still remember the Biollante fight and the Anguirus vs gigan fight.

With Biollante, I remember
1. Biollante body ramming Godzilla at full speed and launching him really far. It was basically Heisei kaiju weight meets Godzilla vs Megalon style aerial combat.
2. Biollante attempting to eat Godzilla whole.
3. Biollante dragging Godzilla with her as the area is being sealed and buried.

[godjacob]

The Rebirth of Mothra films are a trio of overall mediocre Kaiju flicks with ass pull power ups, bland human characters and an overly repetitive plot structure.

...with that said, the Mothra & Mothra Leo fight vs. Desghidorah is one of the best fights I've seen in a Kaiju movie.

[JAGzilla]

...with that said, the Mothra & Mothra Leo fight vs. Desghidorah is one of the best fights I've seen in a Kaiju movie.

A'ight, somebody else gets it! That's just a really well done scene, violent and brutal, desperate and emotional with clear stakes, a good balance between beams and melee. It's a highlight of the '90s, for sure.

[edgaguirus]

The battle with Dagahra also shows a creative moment. Toho has never really utilized a kaiju entering another kaiju to defeat them. Ultraman has done it, but Aqua Mothra, I think, is the first Toho kaiju to pull off that trick.

[darthzilla99]

...with that said, the Mothra & Mothra Leo fight vs. Desghidorah is one of the best fights I've seen in a Kaiju movie.

A'ight, somebody else gets it! That's just a really well done scene, violent and brutal, desperate and emotional with clear stakes, a good balance between beams and melee. It's a highlight of the '90s, for sure.

Here's a somewhat unpopular opinion: The first ROM is by far the best of the trilogy (granted that's not saying much). I find it an enjoyable though flawed heros journey kids kaiju film. I find the kids okay, the monster action is fun, good music, okay story, and the effects are about on par with the Heisei Godzilla movies with the least amount of effects flaws out of the ROM.

I will be honest I actually enjoy re-watching the first ROM while the other two are a chore.

I find ROM 3 the most boring of the three.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Mothra 1996 suffers by association with Mothra 2 and 3, monster and action wise. As mentioned above, the midfilm fight with Death Ghidorah (bye bye Desghidorah), is fantastic. Strong stakes, fun flashy moves, and lots of emotion poured into it.

However, in the finale Mothra Leo just sort of steamrolls Death Ghidorah. I'd say it's still a fine fight, but it's ruined by how repeittive the sequels are as they adapt this verbatim; Mothra loses/gets greviously injured midway by the enemy monster and needs to be revitalized/powered up. Mothra does so and proceeds to beat the enemy monster.

[shadowgigan]

^^^ Kind of feels like an issue with Toho's Heisei series in general. Powerup --> mollywop.

[godjacob]

^^^ Kind of feels like an issue with Toho's Heisei series in general. Powerup --> mollywop.

To be fair, has happened in other eras too.

Godzilla gets ass kicked by Mechagodzilla. Develops magnet powers, then wins.

Godzilla gets his ass kicked by Keizer Ghidorah. Gets a Keizer boost, then wins.

Godzilla gets nearly killed by MV Ghidorah. Gets a nuclear/Mothra power up, then wins.

ROM is just egregious cause they had it happen literally every movie.

[JVM]

How's this for an unpopular opinion.

Rodan ain't a draw no more.

Absolutely true, I'm sorry to say.

It makes a lot of sense, unfortunately, when we remember that Rodan has one major film appearance in the fifty years between 1968 and 2018, and two cameos, one of which is so brief most fans don't really acknowledge it, and the other is a cameo in Godzilla: Final Wars alongside a ton of kaiju only known by association with Godzilla. The only juicy role was Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II in which he is horribly overshadowed by not only Godzilla but one of his most memorable arch-nemeses and a baby, and Rodan' own role in that film is subservient to all three of them, acting as a protector to baby, a victim to Mechagodzilla, and both victim and ally to Godzilla... Toho has treated the character like a b-grade supporting player.

It's been quite a fall from grace. Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra seem very much like Toho's big three in the fifties and sixties, but while Mothra, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla retain a 'headliner' role in the series, Rodan is more like a warm-up act at best and a jobber at worst.

I do hope Toho or Legendary take a stab at letting him front his own film again sometime, would be great to use Megaguirus as a villain.

[LSD Jellyfish]

For all it’s faults, that’s one thing I appreciated about Godzilla Vs. Kong’s ending. Godzilla beat Kong AFTER Kong got a “power-up” (the axe) and the final confrontation with MG wasn’t effortless, and was won by teamwork and quick thinking.

G14’s climax was a little abrupt, with Godzilla performing the kiss of death, but what proceeded it was a great moment where Godzilla took out the male Muto. The Mutos individually weren’t a major threat for Godzilla, but paired together they were a force to be reckoned with.

With KOTM, it was lame the instant you realized the fight was going to be over once Godzilla went nuclear. Really stupid of whoever made the marketing material to spoil what would have been one big nice surprise, into something that solved the problem.

[StardustGenius]

How's this for an unpopular opinion.

Rodan ain't a draw no more.

Absolutely true, I'm sorry to say.

It makes a lot of sense, unfortunately, when we remember that Rodan has one major film appearance in the fifty years between 1968 and 2018, and two cameos, one of which is so brief most fans don't really acknowledge it, and the other is a cameo in Godzilla: Final Wars alongside a ton of kaiju only known by association with Godzilla. The only juicy role was Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II in which he is horribly overshadowed by not only Godzilla but one of his most memorable arch-nemeses and a baby, and Rodan' own role in that film is subservient to all three of them, acting as a protector to baby, a victim to Mechagodzilla, and both victim and ally to Godzilla... Toho has treated the character like a b-grade supporting player.

It's been quite a fall from grace. Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra seem very much like Toho's big three in the fifties and sixties, but while Mothra, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla retain a 'headliner' role in the series, Rodan is more like a warm-up act at best and a jobber at worst.

I do hope Toho or Legendary take a stab at letting him front his own film again sometime, would be great to use Megaguirus as a villain.

I don't know if I could say Rodan is a job guy, but he's definitely not pulling his drawing weight in the big five. Gigan, Hedorah, or Destoroyah all could have some kind of successful movie appearance, and he'd be sliding down the card.

I like the idea of Megaguirus being an opponent to Rodan.

And on the Desghidorah fight, I actually agree there too. My friends who don't normally watch were really caught up in it.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

Going off the RoM conversation, Mothra's death in the first film is a surprisingly emotional scene for an otherwise mediocre trilogy. In fact, I'd argue it's the ONLY time since 1964 that Mothra's death carries genuine emotional weight. In GMK, she's just another helpless victim of psycho-slasher Godzilla. In both SOS and KotM, her death is intended to be tragic but neither film did enough with Mothra for me to really care. In GFW, she just goes BOOM! in a big fireball because of course she does, it's GFW.

This pattern of Mothra sacrificing herself in every movie is honestly getting annoying. Let the big butterfly live for once, damn it!

[godjacob]

Going off the RoM conversation, Mothra's death in the first film is a surprisingly emotional scene for an otherwise mediocre trilogy. In fact, I'd argue it's the ONLY time since 1964 that Mothra's death carries genuine emotional weight. In GMK, she's just another helpless victim of psycho-slasher Godzilla. In both SOS and KotM, her death is intended to be tragic but neither film did enough with Mothra for me to really care. In GFW, she just goes BOOM! in a big fireball because of course she does, it's GFW.

This pattern of Mothra sacrificing herself in every movie is honestly getting annoying. Let the big butterfly live for once, damn it!

Bit of correction, she doesn't die in GFW. In the post credit scene you see Mothra fly off into the sunset.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

She definitely died. The credits just showed footage of all the kaiju from the film, some of which was unused footage (like with Hedorah).