Godzilla vs. Destroyah
Release Date: 9th December 1995
Monster: Destroyah, a.k.a. Destoroyah, a.k.a. Destroyer
Description: Giant upright spiny horned winged mutant crab-like shellfish monster thing.
Origin: Mutated, highly-evolved super-microbe, created by the Oxygen Destroyer back in 1954.
Destruction: Shot out of the sky by a souped up, melting down Viking Godzilla.
Actor(s): Kenpachiro Satsuma (Godzilla), Ryo Hariya (Destroyah), “Hurricane Ryu” Hariken (Godzilla Jr.)
Wow. Just wow.
Godzilla vs. Destroyah was intended to be the final Godzilla film, and it really does feel like the end of an era, as well as a true and final showdown. Not only do the filmmakers tie this film back into the 1954 original in many significant ways, but the monster fight hasn’t yet been this big and awesome. In it, Destroyah, a monster easily twice Godzilla’s size, uses its miniature minions to attack people and Godzilla, while Godzilla, smoking and glowing red, blasts them away with nuclear blasts that are more powerful than usual, and blasts at Destroyah, while he melts down from the inside, bravely fighting and kicking ass, fending off human freeze rays from Super X3… Godzilla is not going to simply die this time. Godzilla is going to go out fighting. Godzilla is a Viking biker badass who simply cannot conceive of doing anything but a blaze of f***ing glory. Every monster dies. Not every monster dies while fighting off freeze rays, giant crab monsters, and their own inner nuclear heat. I can imagine that if Godzilla smoked cigarettes, he would light one up just before his own inner heat took him, while giving the finger to Destroyah’s smoldering corpse.
About that inner heat. In this film, Godzilla is glowing red and constantly smoking. The trials of the last few films, paired with an offscreen nuclear accident, have left Godzilla even more irradiated than before, causing his nuclear heart to pump into overdrive and his temperature to rise. Godzilla boils the water he is in, and seems to be totally out of control this time around. If Godzilla’s core temperature rises above a certain level, he’ll essentially explode in a nuclear blast that will pretty much destroy the Earth. Miki was just coming to like Godzilla, but we really just gotta kill him this time. If we don’t, everyone dies.
To make matters worse, a scientist (Takuro Tatsumi) has just invented a device that can shrink oxygen atoms, and bears an uncanny resemblance to the Oxygen Destroyer used against the original Godzilla way back in 1954. Dr. Serizawa from the original sacrificed himself to ensure that the Oxygen Destroyer was never used as a weapon, but it has been invented again regardless. And, just as the nuclear bomb created Godzilla, the Oxygen Destroyer somehow infected sea microbes, and has caused them – after a 40-year incubation period – to start to rapidly grown and evolve. At first, they are just the size and shape of horseshoe crabs, but before long, they are nine-foot-tall bug-like beings with long spindly claws and eye beams. One of them eventually grows into a bipedal spiny creature that is nicknamed Destroyah, made, literally, out of the very thing that can kill Godzilla.
The grandson of Takashi Shimura’s character from the original is now a nerdy 20-something played by Yasufumi Hayashi, and is an expert in Godzilla. Shimura appears in a photograph, and there is some footage from the 1954 original cut into this film to explain what the Oxygen Destroyer is. Every scene in the film feels devoted to eventually bidding Godzilla farewell. I’m not sure how well this approach will, however, work for the people just coming to the series. You may not need to know much beyond the original film to follow this one’s story, but Godzilla may not feel as significant to casual fans who haven’t been, like me, following the series closely. The fondness for Godzilla may not be there. Godzilla vs. Destroyah feels like the last episode of your favorite TV show. Everyone is saying goodbye and weeping softly, only it’s monsters blasting each other to death. There’s nothing but pomp and circumstance, and it’s very moving to the right crowd. When Godzilla finally does die, I felt a strong wave of melancholy. Well, and I was impressed. Godzilla wasn’t really killed by a monster. Godzilla eventually just melted into a puddle of nuclear goop. Too hot, too strong, too awesome for this world, Godzilla effing melted.
Although there is a setup for a sequel nonetheless. Godzilla Jr., you see, was turned into a full-fledged Godzilla in this film by the same off-screen nuclear accident that turned Godzilla into a hot mess. Godzilla Jr. was present at the Godzilla/Destroyah battle, and was killed in the process. One of Godzilla’s final acts was to breathe some of his life into Godzilla Jr., bringing him back. The final shot of the film is Godzilla Jr. standing on the puddled ruins of Godzilla Sr., roaring plaintively. Miki cries. A fitting end to a fitting series.
Of course, America would, three years later, attempt to start their own Godzilla franchise with the infamous 1998 version of Godzilla, which I’ll be starting with next week. Perhaps in response to the infamy of the 1998 version, Japan would return with yet another Godzilla continuity, the Millennium era, with Godzilla 2000, which will contain six films unto itself. We have two weeks remaining, my monsters. Stay tuned.
Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and co-star of The Trailer Hitch. You can read his weekly articles B-Movies Extended, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind. If you want to buy him a gift (and I know you do), you can visit his Amazon Wish List.
