Godzilla vs. Destroyer (1995) "Review 22"

[abraxas]

Godzilla vs. Destroyer, alternatively titled Godzilla vs. Destroyer, is a 1995 film directed by Takao Okawara and written by Kazuki Omori. It was released in Japan on December 9, 1995. It is the 22nd installment in the Godzilla series of films and the seventh & last of the Heisei series. It was the only Godzilla film to feature Destroyer.






This Godzilla film in my opinion got perhaps a little too much praise from fans, the voice over acting for several characters was particularly poor.

The plot to the film is original and very interesting, the characters for the most part of believable and well acted, with one or two exceptions.

The battle scenes Between Godzilla and Destroyer are pretty intense and you actually feel worried for Godzilla, who is fighting a creature nearly twice his size. Added to that is the fear for Godzilla's well being in general, Godzilla is a villain in the mid phase of the Godzilla franchise, and yet he is still a sympathetic character. We also see a new side to the Godzilla character, in this film we see Godzilla express emotion. When Baby Godzilla is killed, Godzilla lets out a cry of extreme sadness, reflected in his voice as he roars, it really effected me as I watched it, it was very sad.

Both monster suits were pretty amazing looking, particularly Godzilla, in fact I think this was one of the coolest looks that Godzilla has had in the entire series. The idea for the suit was that Godzilla had absorbed too much nuclear energy is on the verge of exploding, a kind of nuclear heart attack, his destruction would also greatly effect the earth, perhaps even destroy it.



In the film there are several shots from Gojira (1954), it also features the same concept of an oxygen destroyer that will be used to kill Godzilla. Something goes wrong and a new life form is created, the creature becomes a living oxygen destroyer....Hense the name of the character. It also features an interesting cameo, the actress who played the assistant of the inventor of the Oxygen destroyer from the original Godzilla film.

One of my favorite effects of the film is when they show Godzilla walking in the ocean, due to his rising temperature the water around him is constantly evaporating as he walks. The only place where the special effects are less convincing is with the smaller creatures which eventually form into the Destroyer super monster.

The visual effects in this film are far superior to those of previous films, even the prior Godzilla film which was made only a year before.

5 out of 5 roars for this one

[GL]

Hate to be nit-picky but a couple things I need to point out first:

The creature's name is Destoroyah, not Destroyer. Destroyer is the Anglicized version of the caricatures which make up the Destoroyah name.

The cameo, Emiko, was Dr. Serizawa's fiancee, not his assistant. He worked alone.

As for the film, yeah, I love it but I still have a couple minor gripes. Destoroyah needs to be thinned down a bit, the thing can barely walk much less move about and grapple with Godzilla, leaving their two brief encounters sorely lacking. Even the final battle is so one-sided the thing tries to leave before Godzilla can finish it off, leaving the JSDF to finally score a victory in the thing's final defeat, but a much-more satisfying ending is Godzilla exacting revenge for his son's death.

And don't get me started on the Bandai toys used to show the JSDF attacking the creatures at the construction complex, totally worthless and unnecessary.

The rest of it, though, is really good. The fact that the original creation caused the creature's reanimation is a nice storyline bit of continuity, the gradual discovery of their existence is handled well, the Godzilla meltdown scenario is a spectacular, logical way of ending the films (and don't tell me this wasn't planned in advance: from Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla to Godzilla vs Space Godzilla, seeds are planted that show this was supposed to be the last one anyway) and while the two psychics are a bit overkill, they're involvement in getting Junior into the mix is a great way to tie everything together.

The first battle with Destoroyah in Tokyo is a great battle, Junior appearing well on his way to being as good as his father but looking more like luck played an integral part of the victory, the destruction is handled well, and that shot of Destoroyah crashing to the ground from in-flight is a pretty nifty sequence. The first three stages of the creature, since part 4 is a larger-sized version of part 2, all look really cool and the suits/props are well-detailed and look pretty lively, despite the flying version looking way to stiff in the wing department, a complaint I've lodged against most of the flying ones since Tsurburaya passed on so it's hardly a detriment, and again, what you said about Godzilla's suit is right on.

The first battle with the Super-X III at the power plant features one of my favorite battle tactics ever, trying to freeze him solid, and the effect is great. The later scene where Godzilla and Junior meet at Haneda Airport is poignant, and with one of my favorite new-era music scores, this one's a fairly solid entry.

[abraxas]

Oh sorry, damn that spellcheck

[GL]

Well, it came to the US as Destroyer, because it's almost impossible to say Destoroyah, and it just seems odd to look at it that way, but the characters in the opening card spell out Destoroyah.