Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

After an old soldier tells a story of how he met a dinosaur during the war, journalist Terasawa concludes that this creature must have been the one that would been transformed into Godzilla 10 years after. As he researches further for a book, enlisting the help of millionaire tycoon and squad captain Shindo, Japan is visited by a UFO. Inside are three travelers from the future, who bring a dire warning. Because of an attack by Godzilla, there is no longer a Japan. To change this timeline, the 'Futurians'. Using Terasawa's information, they conduct a mission back into the past, successfully removing Godzilla from the nuclear test site.

Upon their return however they declare an ultimatum-Accept dominance by them, or be destroyed by new monster King Ghidorah.With Godzilla no longer around, all hope seems lost. But rogue Futurian Emmy helps Terasawa and friends to fight back, and to reanimate Godzilla. All the while, Shindo has his own motivations for resurrecting the old dinosaur...

After Godzilla vs. Biollante's more cerebral and adult plot failed to light the box office on fire, its writer and director Kazuki Omori decided to shake things up for the next entry, returning the series closer to its more fantastical roots, while also adding elements from pop-culture at the time, and bringing back a classic foe. This led to Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, considered one of the best entries in the series.

While not one of my personal favourites, this is still a neat entry in the series. It's a high concept tale that delves a little more into Godzilla's origin, while giving us plenty of action, intrigue, and social commentary.

The story here is a good one. It begins with two seemingly unrelated plots weaving together side by side-A UFO's visit to Japan, and Terasawa's quest for the dinosaur story. These soon connect in a satisfying way, and from that point on we always know the basic gist of what's going on, even if the finer plot details might confuse you a little.

 

This film owes much to Back to the Future, which had just recently lit up the box offices and made film history with its own portrayal of time travel. This works very well, and in its own unique way too. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah feels inspired by that series, but never ike a ripoff.

There are also shades of The Terminator, which come off a little silly at times, but never too badly. For every idea that doesn't work, there's a marvellous one, namely Mecha King Ghidorah.

Where the film threatened to lose me at a few points was the coherence of the time travel. Trying to get it all straight in your head is confusing! Namely, how does everyone remember everything? And what does this time change mean for Godzilla. Has the original '54 film been erased, along with all previous Heisei entries? Later entries would suggest not, so does that mean at least some of this film's events are ultimately reversed? Bloody time travel...

Terasawa is a good protagonist. Despite being a regular bloke, he does manage to acquit himself quite well in all of the action scenes, without ever feeling unnecessary or useless. He's likeable and clever. Though I do find it baffling how readily he's willing to ignore a breaking story on an honest to god alien encounter, to instead follow some old crackpot's story about dinosaurs! That's a dedicated journalist for ya.

Shindo has perhaps the most interesting character arc in the entire film. He's not a nice character, but he has depth to him, and is never 100% a good guy or a villainous asshole. This culminates in an emotional final scene between him and Godzilla, which can be interpreted in a few different ways. Also, on another note, I am curious though, if the Dinosaur World exhibit was so offensive to the other soldier from Lagos Island, how come it was made by Shindo, who had that same connection with the dinosaur?

Japan's best psychic Miki Saegusa makes another appearance, and once again I found her unnecessary. Her presence actually seems to take away from another character. Terasawa has a girlfriend, but she never appears onscreen. She may not have had a whole lot to contribute either, but she probably would've been more welcome than the psychic lady that don't do nothin'.

Miki really annoyed me in some scenes, like when the Japanese government plays a sneaky trick with a nuclear sub to resurrect Godzilla, and she has the gall to be angry! Well I didn't see you with a plan, sunshine! I thought you liked Godzilla too, why wouldn't you wanna see him up and at 'em again? Also, for someone who claims to care about Godzilla, she sure is involved with an inordinate amount of attempts to kill him!

The villains are an amusingly over-the-top bunch. They've got good motives, and the concept behind them is a neat one! Economic terrorists from the far future destroying a country in the past to make their own time richer.

They are very naive in places though, and why they trusted Emmy alone with the robot when they already know she's betrayed them is anyone's guess (unless they really did believe that she only left the ship to spy on the heroes for them, which only strengthens my previous argument).

Lastly, there is Emmy herself. She is a spunky heroine, and I always liked her, just as the film intended...but there are a few problems. Firstly, she didn't exactly win any points with me considering she was the one who let the Dorats out. She seems pretty darn suss to me! She acts like she was always a good guy, yet if she didn't know what the Futurians' plan was...what did she think they were all doing?? Her reaction when discovering their plan was one of the funniest parts for me-"This is pretty much terrorism! You've gone too far.".

Now onto the monsters. Godzilla gets simultaneously a lot yet only a little here. We get to explore his pre-nuclear origin in an interesting way, that adds to his character rather than subtracting. His connection with the soldiers is good too. After his resurrection, Godzilla is meaner than before, and this poses a problem. No sooner than he's defeated King Ghidorah does he start laying waste to Japan himself! As the protagonists hilariously say, "He's no longer the dinosaur we knew.".

King Ghidorah makes for a great presence as usual, in both forms. He is once again a perfect match for Godzilla. Though if I had to pick a criticism, it'd be that Ghidorah never comes across as his own man (you know what I mean!). He's either mind-controlled by the time travellers, or by the heroes. A shame considering the movie is named after him, yet he's little more than a henchman.

The cutest addition to the film by far are the Dorats! Adorable pets from the future, they end up playing a sinister role in the villains' plan, and this takes a surprising turn! I wish they appeared more, and most of all, I wish they existed in real life! I want one!

There aren't a huge amount of monster battles here, but what we get are fantastic spectacles. The titular kaiju really go at it, and there's lots of variety in their fighting. It can come across quite brutal at times, and you're bound to cheer when seeing some of the hits Ghidorah takes. As for the final battle, Emmy could've send Mecha King Ghidora back any time she wanted, being in the future, but I guess she knew the audience would enjoy seeing at least a little of Tokyo get stomped/trampled on by Godzilla. She made the right call.

The acting is all good. Kōsuke Toyohara makes for a good protagonist, while Megumi Odaka once again collects an easy paycheck as Miki Saegusa. My favourite performer in the film was Anna Nakagawa as Emmy, who is cute, intelligent, and kicks major amounts of ass. Yoshio Tsuchiya also impresses with his performance. He gets across a lot of personality as Shindo, and his final scene is one of the best in the series.

The main trio of Americans do great jobs, and I found it really cool how they were all actually speaking Japanese themselves! They're amusingly cheesy in places, like whenever they let out an evil laugh, but that just adds to the charm. Who did a less than impressive job were the Yanks in the 1944 boat scene, who make an already cringey scene worse with their hilariously bad acting.

The direction by Omori is great, with many effective moments, both close-quarters and wide open. The moments of Ghidorah's shadow swooping in over the bay is a great shot, and builds him up well.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is a great showcase for what a series can do if it's in trouble. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. Just tackle things from a different angle, bring in a good mix of old and new, and hope it all works out. And if you really handle it with care and attention, you just might end up with a classic...