GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH
(Gojira tai Desutoroia)
(Gojira tai Desutoroia)
December 9, 1995
After 6 movies, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka brought back the best of the best of the Heisei series including director Takao Okawara, writer Kazuki Omori and a final score by Akira Ifukube for what was intended to be not only the end of the Heisei series, but the end of Godzilla.
Godzilla has absorbed enormous amounts of power over the last few films, but it starts to get out of control and now threatens to destroy the entire Earth. Meanwhile, creatures tied to the weapon that killed the first Godzilla arrive and begin to terrorize Japan. Confrontation is inevitable, but survival is uncertain in this explosive finale.
Godzilla receives the most drastic change to his appearance up to this point, now sporting fiery patches on his body, red glowing spines and his deadly 'Spiral Heat Beam' becomes his standard atomic breath. Kenpachiro Satsuma gives a good and even emotional last performance as the King of the Monsters. Despite being given great power, you really feel how much pain Godzilla must be feeling.
Godzilla vs Destoroyah feels like the perfect finale to the series as the events tie directly to the first movie. Once again Godzilla becomes a major threat to the planet and at this point, it seems that the only way to stop him for good is to use the weapon that originally killed him, the Oxygen Destroyer. Unfortunately, this brings up the nasty side effects of using it at all.
One of this side effects happens to be in the form of our second billed monster. Once a micro organism that somehow became mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer evolves into a colony of large crustacean-like creatures capable of firing an energy beam comparable to the weapon itself and can combine to form a single terrifying monster. Knowing this and seeing the many forms the creature assumes, especially it's final 'Perfect Form', there is no doubt that he has earned the name: DESTOROYAH.
Depending on the form, Destoroyah was either portrayed by suit (Rio Hariya - Perfect Form, Eiichi Yanagida - Aggregate Form), several animatronic puppets and if you squint you might notice some CGI models that looked like they were ripped from a video game.
Ties to the 1954 film can also be found in the cast, Momoko Kochi makes several appearances reprising her role as Emiko Yamane. Among the cast are her grandchildren, TV reporter Yukari (Yoko Ishino) and college student Kenkichi (Yasufumi Hayashi)
Godzilla's son returns (Hurricane Ryu), this time he has grown to juvenile age and is renamed Godzilla Junior. To me this is the finest hour of any version of Godzilla's son, not only does he resemble his father more, but he actually puts up a decent fight against the Aggregate Destoroyah.
While this movie still retains the excitement that comes from watching the monster scenes and the thought provoking dialogue from the cast, this is one of the most tense Godzilla movies. There is a constant race against time to stop Godzilla from destroying the planet, throw in Destoroyah rampaging around and the urgency to stop him and I guarantee your attention will be nowhere else but the film.
There's even an entire sequence where the JSDF battle the Juvinelle Destoroyah that features several homages to Ridley Scott's 'Alien.'
Akria Ifukube outdoes himself, giving us some of his best work yet.
You may notice in some wide shots of the monsters are rampaging through the city, the cars on the highway seem to just go on as if nothing was happening. While not always 100% great, the rest of the effects work is done very well.
One of the best effects in the movie is showing Godzilla being frozen solid by the G-Force's new freezer weapons.
Godzilla receives the most drastic change to his appearance up to this point, now sporting fiery patches on his body, red glowing spines and his deadly 'Spiral Heat Beam' becomes his standard atomic breath. Kenpachiro Satsuma gives a good and even emotional last performance as the King of the Monsters. Despite being given great power, you really feel how much pain Godzilla must be feeling.
Godzilla vs Destoroyah feels like the perfect finale to the series as the events tie directly to the first movie. Once again Godzilla becomes a major threat to the planet and at this point, it seems that the only way to stop him for good is to use the weapon that originally killed him, the Oxygen Destroyer. Unfortunately, this brings up the nasty side effects of using it at all.
Depending on the form, Destoroyah was either portrayed by suit (Rio Hariya - Perfect Form, Eiichi Yanagida - Aggregate Form), several animatronic puppets and if you squint you might notice some CGI models that looked like they were ripped from a video game.
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| Dr. Ijuin (Takuro Tatsumi), Yukari Yamane (Yoko Ishino) & Kenkichi Yamane (Yasufumi Hayashi) |
While this movie still retains the excitement that comes from watching the monster scenes and the thought provoking dialogue from the cast, this is one of the most tense Godzilla movies. There is a constant race against time to stop Godzilla from destroying the planet, throw in Destoroyah rampaging around and the urgency to stop him and I guarantee your attention will be nowhere else but the film.
There's even an entire sequence where the JSDF battle the Juvinelle Destoroyah that features several homages to Ridley Scott's 'Alien.'
Akria Ifukube outdoes himself, giving us some of his best work yet.
You may notice in some wide shots of the monsters are rampaging through the city, the cars on the highway seem to just go on as if nothing was happening. While not always 100% great, the rest of the effects work is done very well.
One of the best effects in the movie is showing Godzilla being frozen solid by the G-Force's new freezer weapons.
And they were not kidding. I was young when I first saw movies like 'The Lion King' and 'The Land Before Time' and I don't remember crying. But good golly, I remember exactly where I was the first time I saw Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Having to endure the sight of my hero dying made me bawl my eyes out. I was absolutely heartbroken.
The performance, effects and score all come together to make one unforgettable sequence that will never leave the minds of fans.
Even today, this still remains one of the most emotionally powerful films in the series. It is my second favorite Heisei series film. Even though Godzilla vs. Destoroyah ends on solemn, tragic note, it still manages to tie the series together perfectly. It is a must watch for any fan of Godzilla and monster movies as a whole.
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| Tomoyuki Tanaka. April 26, 1910 - April 2, 1997 (left) & Akira Ifukube. May 31, 1914 - February 8th 2006 (right) This would be the last movie in which any of the original big 4 would work on a Godzilla film. Akira Ifukube would retire from scoring movies. Even after his death on February 8th 2006, his music continued to be iconic and would never fail to pop up in future installments. Almost a year before Tristar's Godzilla was set to be released, Tomoyuki Tanaka, the man who created the legendary monster died of a stroke on April 12, 1997. |
With the franchise put to rest, it was time for America to step up to the plate. Weather it would be a gigantic hit or an unfortunate bomb was anyone's guess...
Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and thank you for joining me here in my lair.
So long...
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