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Film: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (Gojira vs. Desutoroiâ)
Year: 1995
Director: Takao Okawara
Writer: Kazuki Ohmori
Starring: Takurâ Tatsumi, Yôko Ishino and Yasufumi Hayashi
Review:
This film begins with Godzilla attacking Japan once again. For this film, he is glowing and we learn that there was nuclear testing on an island and Godzilla got too close to it. This caused him to absorb way too much nuclear energy. He is extremely agitated and attacks Japan.
A young woman that is in Washington speaks with a summit meeting about the giant monster; she is played by Sayaka Osawa. It turns out that Godzilla is going to meltdown like a nuclear reactor if something is not done to stop it. It is revealed by a man in Washington that there is someone in Japan who might know how to stop this.
A professor played by Saburô Shinoda goes to visit him. The man is played by Yasufumi Hayashi. It turns out that his father was involved when the first Godzilla was killed. He tells Shinoda what he knows and reveals that he gave this information to G-force, but it was ignored. Hayahsi is still trying to find his way in the world and he is brought to G-force since he has studied everything there is know to about Godzilla.
It is revealed that his sister is the famous news reporter as well; she is played by Yôko Ishino. On her show she is interviewing a doctor who has created something called micro-oxygen. The doctor is played by Takurâ Tatsumi. His creation is supposed to make fish larger and could help to end hunger. Ishino also gets him to point out that if could be used as a weapon as well. He does admit that it could since its size could be used to destroy any type of metal.
During this time Megumi Odaka is still searching for the younger Godzillasaurs. He has been missing since the nuclear tests that made Godzilla into the glowing monster he is now. She is holding out hope that the younger one is still alive, but it is fading.
There is new Super-X 3 that is called into action. The commander is Akira Nakao and his major is Masahiro Takashima. They use it to cool Godzilla down. It has a freeze ray that works and the crisis is averted for now.
There is another problem though. Tatsumi took soil samples in his lab and learns there was a time when oxygen was not present in the soil and that there was some interesting creatures that lived during the pre-Cambrian era of Earth. One of samples gets a hole in it and the organisms are still alive. They get into the micro-oxygen and start to grow larger. They kill all of the fish in the aquariums.
The military is called in to combat them, but they do not succeed. Even Ishino is almost killed during the process. They continue to grow larger and even merge into a giant monster called Destoroyah. The younger Godzillasaur turns up much to the delight of Odaka.
It is now a battle to preserve Earth. Hayashi gets the idea to get Destoroyah, which is similar to the oxygen destroyer that killed the original Godzilla to be used to defeat this one. The problem is they need to kill it before the nuclear power within him causes a meltdown and destroys Earth. But can Destoroyah be defeated if it takes out Godzilla? What about the younger Godzillasaur?
I found this interesting that this was slated to be the last Godzilla film for a few years. They wanted to tie back to the original film to wrap up this series of films, which I found to be cool. They even pull back some of the older characters and give them tie-ins with characters in this one to allow the stories to mesh. I thought the idea of Godzilla sucking in too much radioactivity was good and that if he is not stopped he would eventually destroy the world. I also like that the radioactivity makes the younger much smaller Godzillasaur into a large one, allowing for a replacement already. I thought Destoroyah was a cool looking monster and I liked that man messed up and created it by accident as well. There is quite a bit of action in this one with Godzilla attacking from the beginning and the monsters are constantly being dealt with. The acting is pretty good surrounding this as well. They even go a little bit sentimental for the ending of the series.
There were some issues that arose in this film for me. I did think it is a little farfetched that Hayashi, who admits he is a screw-up, not good with science, but he has studied Godzilla his whole life and they make him a key member of the team? I get study the monster for that long, but that seems a little farfetched. I also didn’t like that we see the older Godzilla get attacked by a bunch of Destoroyahs, but we don’t see what happens or how he finishes them. Plus why are there still a bunch of little ones, I thought they combine to make the massive one. I also didn’t care for the ending when Godzilla resurrects the younger one, which was new power and thought it was to make the audience happy.
With that said, this one is not a bad addition to the series. I like that this ends the second era of Godzilla films and what they do to tie it back with the original. There is a lot of fighting, an interesting twist to what is happening to Godzilla and a solid, Earth created monster that could destroy the world. The acting is also pretty good and quite a bit of battle scenes as well. Not the best film in the series, but it is better than many of the others though.
My Rating: 6 out of 10