Go-Go-Godzilla: Millennium Era in review

 

I've written thousands of words about and around Godzilla and, frankly, I'm exhausted. 

I mentioned previously that throughout the Showa and Heisei eras of Godzilla I would routinely fall asleep whilst watching those films. The pleasant surprise of the Millennium era was how engaged I was throughout each and every one of those movies, well, except GMK (Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack). There I was close to unconsciousness a number of times, but, I never fully fell asleep. (Edit: I did nod off while writing this though). 

The Millennium era hits a point where digital effects have a bigger and bigger impact on the films, and being lower budget films in the early 2000s, you can guess how bad the digital effects can get. And yet, kind of how we accept silly, loose-fitting rubber suits, miniatures-that-are-clearly-miniatures, and camera-tricks- which-aren't-fooling-anyone from previous eras, many of the digital effects have a quaintness to them that don't rub abrasively. Instead, in many instances, they have their own charm. Credit to the Toho team at the time that they conservatively used digital effects much of the time to enhance scenes or sequences, rather than overreach...although surely overreaches did happen, and...moof.

I struggle to say that any of the Millennium Era films were great, and I would have a hard time recommending any of them to anyone who wasn't already interested in watching Godzilla films. My  favourite of the era (and there will be a full ranking update at the bottom of this) is a sequel film within the Era and probably not the easiest film to enter into coldly. 

Once again I find myself at odds with the G-fan concensus. GMK, touted as one of the highest watermarks of Godzilla films, is my second least favourite of the era.  Just as I didn't take to Godzilla vs. Biollante as G-Fans had in the Heisei era...I get what they're reacting to in those films, they just don't work for me. Once again, my appreciation lies in the storytelling, which is still pretty shaky throughout the Millennium era, but there is a palpable evolution, and seemingly a larger desire to invest in characters than in the previous era. As well the ambitiousness of the suits, the effect, the miniatures from film-to-film also intrigue me. But I would rather have a better composed shot, a more artistically lit scene, a more thoughtfully edited Godzilla fight sequence than the bog standard side-scrolling wide shot or that 3/4 tilt from on high which is so pervasive.  

There also seemed to be more effort to put the human characters into the midst of the fight (especially with Mechagodzilla in the fray).  Having the humans be active and meaningful participants makes the third-act brawl much more engaging. This also includes a lot more scenes of human characters navigating the mid- of post-fight wreckage, which I loved every time.

My favourite aspect of Godzilla is using sense of scale, getting that human POV of these titanic monsters, and we get a tremendous amount of those in the Millennium Era compared to the previous Eras, which had limited ability to truly blend live action and real locations with miniatures and suitmation.

I'm now heading into the final stretch with the three Warner Bros. Monsterverse films (leading into the fourth coming out at the end of March), and the two Reiwa Era live action films. Almost all of these I've seen already (save for Shin Godzilla), but I'm excited to watch them because I know what I'm in for. 

While I've been doing this series, I've watched the Monsterverse-related TV show (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and I've seen Godzilla Minus One as well, and also watched the first episode of the seemingly charming Netflix anime series Godzilla Singular Point which I think I'll get back to. I'm still skipping the '98 Godzilla as well as the three Netflix anime movies, but never say never.  I'm also flirting with doing a Gamera series of recaps, kind of the official competition to the Godzilla juggernaut in the Kaiju field.  I'm also thinking about the four Mothra solo films, since I clearly reacted well to that creature in this series. We shall see.

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RANKINGS

Millennium Era:

1. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S
2. Godzilla 2000: Millennium
3. Godzilla vs Megaguiras
4. Godzilla: Final Wars
5. Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
6. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

All of the films (so far)

1. The Return of Godzilla
2. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
3. Godzilla vs Mothra (1964)
4. Gojira
5. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)
6. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
7. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II
8. Terror of Mechagodzilla
9. Godzilla 2000: Millennium
10. Godzilla vs Megaguiras
11. Godzilla vs Destroyah
12. Godzilla vs Mothra (1992)
13. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
14. Godzilla vs Gigan
15. Godzilla vs Megalon
16. Godzilla: Final Wars
17. Destroy All Monsters
18. Godzilla vs Biollante
19. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-out Attack
20. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
21. Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla
22. All Monsters Attack
23. Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster
24. Godzilla vs King Ghidorah
25. Invasion of the Astro Monster
26. Godzilla Raids Again
27. Godzilla 1985
28. Son of Godzilla
29. Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956)
30. King Kong vs Godzilla (US version 1962)