As someone who loves movies, of course I am very familiar with Godzilla. He is an institution in Japan that has successfully made himself a part of an enduring pop culture. And since this blog is dedicated to all things pop culture, I have decided to list the top 3 Godzilla movies in order.
1. Godzilla (1998)
People forget the hype that was built up for this film. Coming off of their massive hit Independence Day, Roland Emmerich decided to make the king of all monster movies. And my goodness did they deliver!
The design of Godzilla in this movie was a clear improvement from the earlier versions. This one was sleeker, more agile. The streamlined CGI kept everything moving in a way that you could not get from the man in the suit. On top of this, you have stellar performances by Jean Reno, Hank Azaria, and one of Matthew Broderick's truly best takes.
The movie also learns the lesson on monster movies that we got from Jurassic Park. In that film we had the big threat (T-Rex) and the smaller threats (Raptors). Godzilla gives us the large lizard but also all the tiny Godzilla creatures for the film's best sequences.
It was also a forward thinking film that introduced gender-swapping much earlier into the pop culture than almost any other film by making Godzilla into a pregnant female. Years before Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and Rey Skywalker, Godzilla broke the glass ceiling for science-fiction women.
2. Godzilla vs. Megalon
This is one of the greatest Godzilla films simply because it introduces Jetto Jaga aka Jet Jaguar. It is a little-known fact to American audiences, but the robot Jetto Jago is much more popular in Japan than Godzilla is. He represents man's control over nature, thus making him the perfect foil to the agent of chaos that is Godzilla. In fact, Godzilla is considered the villain of this piece. You can see this when he picks up a tree and uses it as a weapon, thus violating all standards of monster combat. It is also widely accepted that Megalon is the greatest of Godzilla's rogues gallery of villains, thus putting this film towards the top of the list.
This movie also came out the same year as The Godfather. To this day, there is controversy regarding how Paramount used under-handed tactics to win Oscar gold over this Godzilla classic. There is also the theory that when Elizabeth Taylor read the winner's name in the envelope, she just read "God" and assumed it was for The Godfather, and not Godzilla vs Megalon. This is a mystery lost to history.
3. One Crazy Summer
Brevity is the soul of wit. And this movie only has one scene that recreates the magic of Godzilla. But it does it so well that it surpasses nearly every other Godzilla film ever made. Bobcat Golthwait gives a rendition of the classic monster that captures all of his chaotic glory and subtle majesty as he steps through the evil developer's model, culminating in that glorious shot of the smashing of the restaurant. Thus we have in the space of a few seconds an example of Godzilla's role in the universe: he is nature's way of restoring balance to the overreach of man. Watching this scene is poetry in motion.
Thoughts?
By the way, this article is very specially written for my dear friend Rick O. Knowing he is such a Godzilla fan, I hope this puts to rest any question regarding the quality of my film criticism.
(And just because we live in an age when it is difficult to tell reality from satire, everything above is satire.)
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