Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah - a Retrospective Review

When Toho Studios revamped Godzilla for the 1990's by producing Godzilla vs. Biollante as a direct sequel to Godzilla 1985, they made it abundantly clear that this 'Heisei Series' would feature all new monster foes to combat Godzilla. Unfortunately, box office returns for Biollante were not all that favorable so plans changed to bring classic creatures back with new or updated origins, and put a new spin on old favorites. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah was the first film to reflect this approach.

The idea is sound, and does indeed bring a different approach to this revered favorite. Gone are the alien origins and fireballs from space. Rather, this version of King Ghidorah boasts a bioengineered background via future technology. When that doesn't suffice, then the big guns are drawn with the ever-powerful Mecha-King Ghidorah! Only an amped up, more powerful version of Godzilla can possibly stand up to the test and defeat this monstrosity!

There are time travel and space continuum aspects of the storyline that verge on headache inducing, but Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah does incorporate many of the fantasy and science fiction elements that have made the Godzilla series popular. Coming full circle, with this film, the series started 'borrowing' (or 'paying homage' depending on your point of view) ideas from other popular sci-fi films, such as The Terminator. Look for many not-so-subtle nuances throughout this film and many others from the series throughout the 90's.

Interesting side note about the film, a minor media brouhaha started on this side of the Pacific during the initial Japanese release, all because of a scene where American GIs are slain by the Godzillasaurus (the creature that would eventually mutate into Godzilla) on a South Pacific island. World War II veterans and political commentators all cried foul without even having seen the film and accused director Kazuki Omori of being anti-American. While Americans did indeed fight Japanese in the Pacific War, the historical context of the scene should not be taken as anti-American. If anything, the total storyline is much more critical of Japanese imperialism and economic arrogance.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah would see the return of Maestro Akira Ifukube after a 16-year hiatus from the Godzilla series, and his bombastic compositions were a welcome sound to filmgoers.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is a roller coaster of a story that asks you to check your logic at the door and immerse yourself into a movie experience that harkens back to MonsterZero or Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster, where nothing matters but great characters and giant monster battles!