Godzilla dies.
Again.
But this time it has so much more emotion behind it. When the first Godzilla died in 1954, he was a creature that we had only spent a single film with, and his death seemed important to restore a harmony to Japan's way of life. The second Godzilla, who appeared in Godzilla Raids Again, lasted right up through the end of the Showa era. When Godzilla made his triumphant return in 1984, this was intended to be the start of a new timeline, with a new second Godzilla, serving once again as a direct sequel to the original film. We've spent a great deal of time with this guy, and his iconic visage has become the de facto look for how many people perceive Godzilla. He embodies everything pop culture describes him as, from his impressive stature and gargantuan bulk, to the sleek look of his head and the ferocity of the triple "maple leaf" fin rows. He's fought man, his plant clone, alien monsters, his robotic clone, Mothra, his space clone, and, now, finally, he faces a certain death. Right from the start, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah is a dark, brooding film that entirely eschews any camp. Godzilla is returned back to his initially intended state, that of a revered beast who is to be held in awe with equal parts wonder and terror. He is death incarnate - literally - because his expiration means the destruction of the planet as we know it. As if the threat looking from G wasn't enough, there's also his latest, most massive foe yet - Destoroyah. Or Destroyah. Or Destroyer. Toho loves to mess with spelling. This new baddie, born of the famed Oxygen Destroyer, poses an immediate threat to an already-critical Godzilla. Little Godzilla returns here, too, though now he's absorbed enough radiation to be Godzilla Jr. He looks an awful lot like Dad, just smaller. The film combines numerous, big scale monster battles with true emotion, resulting in one of the best films of the entire series. Toho pulled out all the stops to make sure Godzilla's farewell was a memorable one.
Birth Island, home to Godzilla and his son for the last few films, has been leveled in the wake of a nuclear attack or accident, the film never really says. Godzilla is presumed missing, but he soon shows up in Hong Kong, sporting glowing lava-like spots over a majority of his body. His attack is devastating, leaving a wake of rubble and bodies before his exit. The JSDF hires Kenichi Yamane, grandson of Dr. Yamane from Gojira (1954), to figure out what's going on with Godzilla His response: Godzilla is a living nuclear reactor, and his rate of nuclear fissure is increasing with no signs of slowing. Once G reaches 1200 degrees Celsius, he will experience a meltdown. Intense heat will vaporize the atmosphere, eventually causing the death of every living creature on the planet. The JSDF immediately orders the launch of the Super X-III, which is equipped with a freezing weapon to hopefully diminish the heat released by Godzilla's combustion. As this is occurring, scientists discover that microbial lifeforms have begun to appear near the site of the original Godzilla's death, creatures seemingly fueled by the remnants of the Oxygen Destroyer. These parasites soon escape the lab and wreak havoc, eventually evolving into numerous air & land forms. When Destoroyah proves too much for the military to handle, Godzilla Jr. appears to do battle for the first time. He manages to defeat his crab-like land form and aerial form. Godzilla appears soon after, still burning red hot from the internal fire raging within. But Destoroyah isn't done, revealing his final form - a massive, bipedal kaiju with powerful abilities. It knocks Godzilla down before snatching Jr. away and dropping him to his death. Distraught and full of discomfort, Godzilla fights back and unleashes his unbridled fury against Destoroyah, eventually annihilating the beast thanks to help from Super X-III, before a final, emotional meltdown claims his life.
I'll be honest, this movie is kind of hard to watch if you're a serious G fan. It's one thing to know Godzilla was taken out by a device man made to destroy him as quickly as possible, thus minimizing any pain. But to see Godzilla burning from within, lashing out only because he's in such physical pain, gives this film a real sense of gravitas that few other entries have shown. The feeling of helplessness and the sense of mortality apparent in Godzilla are palpable, dripping off the screen with real weight. He's in agony right from the start, and it only continues to get worse with Jr. dying and a lengthy gauntlet of battles against Destoroyah's many forms before he finally succumbs to internal temperatures and melts. That's a tough scene - seeing those signature spines drips away like hot wax, watching his iconic face slide off as he fights with every fiber of his being to remain King. The combination of those images alongside what is easily Akira Ifukube's best score in years, is a cause for reflection on the series that stirs genuine emotion.
It's not all sad, thankfully. Although Jr. appears to die at the hands of Destoroyah, the radiation released by Godzilla's death at the end of the film was siphoned into Jr.'s lifeless body, and before the end credits roll it is revealed that he has been born anew! Ready to live up to his father's legacy as the new King of the Monsters. For the first time, a child of Godzilla's was portrayed as a true mini-Godzilla, taking on his father's trademark appearance, mannerisms, and able to fully utilize his atomic breath. Because he audience was able to see him as a true successor to the throne, his death had much more impact. Plus, it didn't hurt that both Godzilla and Miki sold it hard when Junior bought the farm. I'm glad the film was able to end on a positive note by showing Jr. alive and ready to assume his place.
The Godzilla suit used for this film, the DesuGoji, was actually the same MogeGoji suit used in the previous film, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, except that special effects supervisor Koichi Kawakita removed many sections of the suit and added in tiny red, orange, and yellow bulbs to simulate the burning glow of Godzilla's fiery flesh. The suit also had a mechanism installed that allowed for steam to be released as Godzilla lumbered around. This provided G with a striking appearance, one that likely caught many fans off guard. While there had been numerous suits used over the years, Kawakita really took this one over the top by adding in the molten glow. For the first time ever, Godzilla was rendered entirely via CGI. The scene in question comes right at the end, as he melts down. That would have been a difficult effect to achieve through Toho's usual processes, and on screen it works just fine for the moment. Godzilla wouldn't be fully realized as a CGI creation until 1999's Godzilla: 2000. And before you even mention the '98 film... don't.
Akira Ifukube returned to deliver his final score for the series, and it's easily one of his best. Hardly resting on his impressive laurels, Ifukube weaves some of Godzilla's most classic themes into a dark, brooding score that portends the cataclysmic ending to come. I absolutely love Godzilla's theme when he first appears in Hong Kong. No longer do the music cues sound triumphant in signaling Godzilla's arrival; there is an ominous tonality used to convey that this is a gravely serious matter. There isn't a bad piece of music during the entire running time, and it all culminates in one beautiful, ethereal sendoff for the Big G. Ifukube's "Requiem" is nearly four minutes of the most stirring, emotional music heard in the series. Now that much time has passed and the film can be placed in a greater context, fans realize this isn't just a requiem for Godzilla, but also for the classic series as fans had come to know it as a whole. Never again would Ifukube provide a score.
Nor would longtime producer Tomoyuki Tanaka oversee another Godzilla film again. Tanaka died less than two years after this film was released. He had been there since the very beginning, shepherding the series along every step of the way, ensuring there was a standard of quality to be met with each release. I'm not saying they were all gems, but Tanaka had a vision for the series that was superseded by no one. With his death, and the death of Ifukube close to a decade later, all of Godzilla's "fathers" were gone. The legacy that Tanaka left, however, will never be forgotten because Godzilla is an enduring symbol that will never be forgotten. The two are inextricably linked for eternity.
This was supposed to be the final Toho Godzilla film for some time, with his resurrection not set to occur until his 50th birthday in 2004. Plans were already underway for an American studio to give Godzilla a big budget rebirth on foreign soil, leaving his Japanese legacy to cease with his death here. But, as we all know, that 1998 disaster led to a universal disinterest in any sequels, leaving Toho with the option of making another film sooner than they ever expected. Less than one year after Emmerich's fiasco, Godzilla would be reborn for a new millennium, with a new suit, and an entirely new creative team set to handle his history.
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