Godzilla

If i had to choose what my favorite monster is, it would be “The King of Monsters,” Godzilla. Godzilla is a giant lizard with the ability to spit fire out from its mouth. It is the biggest threat Japan has ever faced. The mayhem unleashed whenever Godzilla emerges from the sea is terrifying and the destruction it leaves behind shocking.

The firt Godzilla movie was released in 1954. In its first appearance, the Japanese army faced the giant monster. Tokyo became the battlefiled where the story took place. The origins of Godzilla were attributed to the radiation caused by the explosion of the Atomic bombs in Japan during World War II. “Godzilla ,The King of Monsters” immediately reached worldwide popularity. It also created a new film genre known as “Monster movies”. As a consequence of its success, lots of “Monster movies” were released, most of them produced with a very poor quality.

“Godzilla” is considered as a “B serie movie” which means a movie made with a low budget, not so fancy special effects (I mean, it was made in 1954), but with lots of creativity included with some sort of magic touch, that makes them “cult movies”.

After the first movie was released, a considerable number of sequels contributed to create the legend that Godzilla is nowadays. Among the worth mentioning is, “Godzilla versus MechaGodzilla”. In this movie a Special Japanese Squad is founded to face the monster. The “Anti.Godzilla Squad” has created a robotic replica of Godzilla so that they can get rid of it once and for all. This mechanical Godzilla version is highly equipped with a vast variety of weapons. Altough “MechaGodzilla” seemed superior than Godzilla, the battle left both Godzilla and MechaGodzilla really damaged. Godzilla is forced to run away to its hideout in the sea deeps, and MechaGodzilla is left almost unserviceable.

Among all the monsters Godzilla has fought in more than 50 years of its existence, there was one that was as famous as itself, King Kong. Honestly, it was also one of the worst Godzilla movies. In this movie an expedition goes to “Skull Island” to do some scientific research. They are shocked when a gigantic Gorilla appears in front of them. Rapidly, back up arrives to the Island and captures Kong. They take a sedated Kong to Japan. Unfortunately, at the same time that King Kong arrives to japan, Godzilla shows up. Tokyo is on maximun alert. The rage of Godzilla is unstoppable. As a last resort, the Japanese government decides to set Kong free to fight Godzilla. The battle between Japanese monster versus American monster gets started. Actually, this movie has a really poor quality but just to see Godzilla and King Kong together in a movie is worth it. Apparently, this movie has two endings. It is said that in the movie screened in Asia, Godzilla beat King Kong and the film screened in America has King Kong as the winner. I have to say that I’ve only watched the film in which Godzilla is beaten by King Kong. I’ve never been able to see the version in which Godzilla beats Kong. Maybe, the double ending rumor is just an urban legend. Since in the movie Godzilla is the bad guy, if he had beaten Kong, Tokyo would have been destroyed. So, that makes me think that the double-ending is just a prank.

In 1999 Universal Picture Studios released a Hollywood version of Godzilla. The movie was simply entitled, “Godzilla” and was set in New York. Despite that the fact that this movie had an almost 100 million dollar budget, the result was a dissapointment. First of all, the producers of the movie created a new Godzilla. Many of Godzilla fans were dissapointed because even though the movie was called “Godzilla”, it really wasn’t Godzilla. The movie starred Matthew Broderick and the frenchman Jean Reno. The rest of the cast was formed by some semi-unknown actors. The direcor of this movie was none other that the guy who directed “Independence Day,” Rolland Emerich. In short, the movie counted on a big buget, decent cast, great director and a huge publicity campaign before its release, but none of them helped the catastrophe that this movie became. The critics were merciless. I’d recommend this movie only if you are a hardcore Godzilla fan. I’m one of them. So, while it was playing, I went to watch it twice and then bought the VHS recording of it.