Unpopular Godzilla Opinions

[JAGzilla]

Glenn is most memorable for being one of the only American protagonists in a Toho sci-fi film

Wait what? Dogora, Frankenstein, Gargantuas, King Kong Escapes and Latitude Zero all have at least one American actor in a lead role.

That's five out of like fifty movies, so "one of the only" is a pretty fair description.

I would say Nick Adams is memorable in his own right, though. He was just a good, charismatic actor and his character had a lot great lines. "In defense of Earth, we'll fight to the last man-baby!"

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Nick Adams as an actor, he brings a lot more to the table than just being an American in a Japanese movie. I just think he doesn't get much characterization in Monster Zero and his romance with Namikawa falls somewhat flat. I think that both his character's development and his romance with Kumi Mizuno's character in Frankenstein vs. Baragon are handled much better than they were in MZ.

[Spuro]

Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster's kinda weak compared to stuff from the previous, or immediate years

Okay I know this site has a "actually Ebirah is underrated" attitude but if you are honestly trying to suggest it is a better film than Ghidorah than I cry heresy.

>_>

Well I have an unpopular opinion to share here…

[godjacob]

Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster's kinda weak compared to stuff from the previous, or immediate years

Okay I know this site has a "actually Ebirah is underrated" attitude but if you are honestly trying to suggest it is a better film than Ghidorah than I cry heresy.

>_>

Well I have an unpopular opinion to share here…

Hey if you actually believe that, more power to you lol. I'll judge you, but everyone has their preferences .
Still heresy...

[miguelnuva]

Gtthm is the quintessential Godzilla film. It has a little bit if everything that is popular in the Godzilla series in it.

[LSD Jellyfish]

GTTHM is one of the mot "classic Godzilla films", but it's sandwhiched between many fan-favorites and was produced during the definitive golden age of Godzilla. I think compared to many later entries, like Godzilla's Revenge, latter heisei, and some of the millenium entries, it's a clear winner. But with everything surrounding it (KKvG, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Astro Monster and yymv but the island duology+other Toho films) it's a little less of a standout. It's a classic for sure, and a pretty significant film in the franchise, but I can see how someone can not like it so much.

My only complaint about GTTHM is how slow it starts. I recall a lot of establishing shots of where Ghidorah's meteor lands, and a good amount of hiking. The champion cut of the film cut a lot of that stuff down and worked better for it. However, what might seem slow to me might work as effective build-up for others. The film spends a good amount of time building up to Ghidorah and Earth's impending crisis, before Ghidorah appears and it's great.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Speaking of GTTHM. Here's an unpopular one.

GTTHM is better than Monster Zero.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Speaking of GTTHM. Here's an unpopular one.

GTTHM is better than Monster Zero.

I don't disagree, or particuarly agree. Ultimately it'll be completely dependent on your preference. IOTAM is arguably the film where Godzilla and the other monsters are the least important element of the film. Tools by the aliens, and window dressing for the audience.

Still, everytime I watch it, I love it. All the stuff on Planet X is a bit slow, but it's incredibly atmospheric and peak 60's SF. The human characters are great, and are really the A-plot. The plot has a surprising amount of twists and turns. As time passes along and UFOs become more standard and archetypical, the luster can certainly wear off, but for me it is, and always will be, a bonafide SF classic.

[godjacob]

I think my biggest issue with IOTAM outside of Ghidorah being made into a pawn'd wuss, is the aliens "plan" even by Toho alien race standards seems well, pointless. Their whole deception of humanity didn't seem to gain much of anything and wasted a bit of run time: They already had Ghidorah under control, already knew where Godzilla/Rodan were and already could get them at any time. What did they gain trying to gain their trust and what not beyond a bit "gotcha!"

[miguelnuva]

I think my biggest issue with IOTAM outside of Ghidorah being made into a pawn'd wuss, is the aliens "plan" even by Toho alien race standards seems well, pointless. Their whole deception of humanity didn't seem to gain much of anything and wasted a bit of run time: They already had Ghidorah under control, already knew where Godzilla/Rodan were and already could get them at any time. What did they gain trying to gain their trust and what not beyond a bit "gotcha!"

They needed to operate on Earth without suspension. Godzilla and Rodan disappearing by way of UFO would have been suspicious and out Earth on alert early.

The smarter thing to do would have been to live Godzilla and Rodan on Planet X and let Ghidorah attack Earth solo.

[Jetty_Jags]

IOAM may or may not be one of my favorite Gfilms ever, so perhaps I'm a biased party.

Needless to say, IOAM (obligatory imo) stands head and shoulders above Gtthm, probably from the simple virtue of coming after it. My main issue with Gtthm, is largely attached to one of the film's biggest strengths, the many different plot elements (I will also say that the monster action is stronger overall, but it takes up more runtime as well). The setup for the film is fantastic, utilizing the princess/venetian plot adds an air of mystique to the adventure, the assassin keeps tensions high, and the shobijin acting as translators to the monster perspectives has proven to be an excellent way of tethering the kaiju destruction to the human core of the film. The issue is that the film doesn't really conclude these elements in a satisfactory way. The princess' venetian heritage is kind of chucked to the side when it's no longer convenient to the plot, the assassin anticlimactically gets killed in a rockslide (I think at least one caused by the monster action, but I don't honestly remember), the plane crash survival is explained by a five second clip of the conspiracy guy describing random worm holes, and to me it never quite comes together.

IOAM on the other hand is a lot more streamlined, although taking many similar elements (and putting particular emphasis on the alien component) and ends with a much tighter narrative. The alien spies, miss Namikawa, the human plot point and the kaiju action (and even the brother's deus ex machina invention) all coalesce quite nicely. Take these elements (along with some other's I'm omitting for the sake of concision) and wrap them up in a little basket of 60s sci-fi aesthetic and spectacle, and you end up with a really fun picture that I say is firing on all cylinders. Arguably so many of these element's work because they are lifted and expanded upon what GTTHM laid down before it, but to me it's clearly the stronger feature overall.

Regarding the xilien's plan, they were clearly scoping out the planet and wanted to take them by surprise, the reason they don't attack earlier is probably because they were still collecting intel, they were going to be found out by Glen and Fuji's mission and didn't want to play their hand too soon until all their pieces came together. Therefore, they present themselves as weak and resource depleted as a deception to make them look vulnerable and unthreatening. Once they have all their cards in place, they reveal their upperhand and we all know the rest.

[StardustGenius]

They also never showed it, but they did also say that the Xilians attacked the US. It's explicitly said.

"King Ghidorah's in the United States!" So they clearly had a large scope of their global operations. Maybe Japan was just a foothold.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Minor point in the film, but they also recreate the P-1 before sending Fuji and Glenn back. It's a seemingly innocous moment, but to me it reeks of them testing what is supposedly the most advanced human creation to see if it measures up to anything the xilliens can create.

[JVM]

Speaking of GTTHM. Here's an unpopular one.

GTTHM is better than Monster Zero.

I don't disagree, or particuarly agree. Ultimately it'll be completely dependent on your preference. IOTAM is arguably the film where Godzilla and the other monsters are the least important element of the film. Tools by the aliens, and window dressing for the audience.

I think this is a really effective description of it and exactly what came to my mind.

GTTHM is probably my favorite early Showa films as it feels like a critical juncture between the earlier and later films, with Godzilla's transition from hero to villain. It's hard not to feel like it represents the critical step in his character development, even if this isn't intended as such. It also gives Rodan and King Ghidorah a lot of characterization they lack in later appearances. The monster stuff is gold and I like the spy-and-princess story more than a lot of people, but I'll say out of the last several watches, there was one time it didn't land for me while other times it did, so I can see why it would be weak to some people.

I love a lot about Monster Zero and it's one of my picks if I want to see an engaging human storyline in a kaiju film, but it's also one of my very last picks if I want to see much of the monster characters. Godzilla, Rodan and even King Ghidorah feel like they could easily be slotted out for any monsters of your choice and the plot would be pretty much the same. It is justified to a degree because the human plot feels fairly strong and I still enjoy the alien invasion genre, but it fills a different itch and in terms of rating within the franchise, that handicaps it for me a lot, but that doesn't mean it isn't still a great film.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Not sure how unpopular this is but here we go. Tsuchiya's performance as Furukawa in Son of Godzilla is one of the single greatest performances in any Godzilla movie. Especially in spite of having hardly any dialogue.

Added in 29 minutes 33 seconds:
Despite being in some ways a step up from G14 one of my biggest complaints about KotM is that the Russells just aren't very likeable. The dad comes across as a bit of a condescending asshole, the mom of course is straight up nuts, plus we can't forget Madison was totally in on her mother's plan from the start. She appeared to be totally willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives to "save the world", only changing her mind when she realized the true threat Ghidorah posed. Correct me if I missed anything, I might have miss remembered a few thing. I only saw it the one time.

[darthzilla99]

Not sure how unpopular this is but here we go. Tsuchiya's performance as Furukawa in Son of Godzilla is one of the single greatest performances in any Godzilla movie. Especially in spite of having hardly any dialogue.

Added in 29 minutes 33 seconds:
Despite being in some ways a step up from G14 one of my biggest complaints about KotM is that the Russells just aren't very likeable. The dad comes across as a bit of a condescending asshole, the mom of course is straight up nuts, plus we can't forget Madison was totally in on her mother's plan from the start. She appeared to be totally willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives to "save the world", only changing her mind when she realized the true threat Ghidorah posed. Correct me if I missed anything, I might have miss remembered a few thing. I only saw it the one time.

Madison was pretty much the standard naive kid who gets pressured by the ideology of one of her parents until she comes to realize the full extent of the consequences of her mom's ideology. Also it's heavily implied that her Mother didn't tell everything that was planned to her. All she was told was that they were saving the world.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

The monster stuff is gold and I like the spy-and-princess story more than a lot of people, but I'll say out of the last several watches, there was one time it didn't land for me while other times it did, so I can see why it would be weak to some people.

It's interesting how our perspectives on these movies can change so much with subsequent viewings. I find my opinion on both Ghidorah and Monster Zero changes from viewing to viewing. There was a time when I would've been the first to say that Ghidorah was weaker than most of the films released around the same time but on my most recent viewing, I liked everything about it. On some past viewings, I felt that the human storyline wasn't that good. On the other hand, I used to find all aspects of MZ really engaging but, on my last two viewings, I was underwhelmed by everything but the effects. Right now, I'd call Monster Zero one of the most overrated Godzilla movies but that's subject to change in two years when I decide to watch it again.

Added in 6 minutes 41 seconds:

Not sure how unpopular this is but here we go. Tsuchiya's performance as Furukawa in Son of Godzilla is one of the single greatest performances in any Godzilla movie. Especially in spite of having hardly any dialogue.

Totally agreed. Yoshio Tsuchiya has been excellent in every film I've seen him in, he's easily one of Toho's most talented actors. His portrayal of Shindo was one of the highlights of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, a film I otherwise hold in fairly low regards. Also, if anyone hasn't seen The Human Vapor, I recommend it highly. About the only time I've seen Tsuchiya in a leading role and he kills it.

[StardustGenius]

Human Vapor is Tsuchiya's best genre film role. He plays a good minion in the various Jun Fukuda spy and crime films.

[CyberZilla]

Here’s one: I actually LIKE the later Heisei Godzilla films. They’re not my absolute favorites, but I do look upon them with good regard.

[godjacob]

Here’s one: I actually LIKE the later Heisei Godzilla films. They’re not my absolute favorites, but I do look upon them with good regard.

THANK YOU! Some of my fav Godzilla films are later Heisei ones. This idea that they are considered "objective" bottom tier along with say Attack All Monsters around here really upsets me.