'It's worse, because he's arrived.'
Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
‘Who would you like to see again? Who is your favorite performer?’
‘Mothra’
'Mothra?'
We’re returning to Godzilla with Ghidorah the 3-headed monster.
The 5th film in the original franchise and the first to feature the 3-headed, lightning-breathing space dragon of the title,
who became Godzilla’s most popular adversary.
The plot is sometimes confusing.
‘The flying saucer people are obviously on guard against the unbeliever’
These guys are waiting for the arrival of flying saucers, but at the same time elsewhere...
'Stand up Princess.'
Princess Selina here is saved from the bomb on her plane by what seems to be alien intervention.
'No, no come back!'
The rest of the passengers are killed but try getting aliens to care about that.
But when this is further explained...
‘A certain few martians who escaped to earth on the day Mars died’
The Princess proves to be a descendant of Martians who came to earth,
with one characteristic left of her Martian heritage.
‘The power to tell what the future holds.’
So what happened in that earlier scene?
‘I wish I knew the answer to that one’
This maybe because, as ever, we’re reviewing the US dub;
some changes were made, some accents are baffling.
'Andale, keep moving.'
Anyway, Selina tries to warn people.
‘In the crust beneath crater here, there is the monster Rodan’
She’s right.
And soon after...
While elsewhere, a meteor cracks open to release…
Godzilla and Rodan are mostly interested in fighting each other,
while Ghidorah is out to exterminate mankind.
‘Where the monster Ghidorah passes, only flaming ruins are left.’
Who can save us?
‘The twin fairies from Mothra’s island’
Who seem to have got back into show business,
‘I think Mothra might help us in this fight with Ghidorah if the fairies ask it her for us.’
But the fairies disagree
– Mothra isn’t strong enough, however...
‘If Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla all co-operate’
That’s a big ask because at the moment...
Oh that’s got to hurt, Godzilla’s bound to hold a grudge, but Mothra gets their attention,
and they have a chat,
‘Good heavens, it looks like they’re having a conversation’
with translation from the fairies.
‘All 3 of us must fight together, against this new monster to save the earth’
In the Godzilla films we’ve reviewed, the monster stuff is great and the human the comic relief is a problem.
Here, the human plot is pretty serious.
‘Say hello to the knife that I killed your father with’
The monsters…
‘They’ve always had trouble with men and they hate them’
When Godzilla says "I’ve always had trouble with men" I do struggle to take things seriously.
‘Ooh Godzilla, what terrible language’
This is the point of the series at which Godzilla stops being an uncontrollable force of nature.
‘Ah, these monsters are as stupid as human beings’
Personally I prefer them without human traits.
That said, there’s something cool about Mothra, having failed to recruit her fellow monsters,
heading off to face Ghidorah alone,
and Godzilla and Rodan then coming to her aid,
Like a Kiju Avengers Assemble.
as if to say; maybe we don’t get on, but it’s our planet you 3-headed freak.
It’s a tough battle, especially for Godzilla.
Boy his groin doesn’t get a break in this movie.
But then, they all work together,
driving Ghidorah off.
This is the first movie with the mass monster’s brawl and it’s brilliant,
even if it takes a while to get there.
It’s also the first in which Godzilla edges into being a hero,
and while I have reservations about that, I like that they gave him a reason.
If they insist on making him a more human character, at least they also gave him a character arc
which continues through the next few films.
‘Well this is quite a surprise’
Arguably, this isn’t a Godzilla movie, he plays no more of a role than Rodan
and a lesser one than Mothra and Ghidorah.
But if you can get passed the council of Mothra,
'What is Rohan saying now?'
'He says it is none of their business is the earth perishes.'
and maybe watch the Japanese version rather than this,
‘They’re very interesting’
This is a rare entry where both monster and human plot lines engage.
‘There’s a plot to assassinate her’
Even if they’re not that closely related…
Thanks for watching. For more Godzilla reviews, click here.
We didn’t do a Godzilla review last year so should we do 2 this year and if so which?
Let us know in the comments below.