Hello everyone out there, this past August 25th The Film Connoisseur turned Three Years Old! That’s right, it was three years ago that I promised you guys reviews for all kinds of films, and so far, I think I’ve been delivering. Yay or Nay? I want to thank all you guys out there for reading and commenting on my reviews and articles. So far we got more than 200 readers (and growing) so I guess I must be doing something right! If not, than I’d appreciate your comments on how I can improve. Also: what would you guys like to see more of? Monster Blog Posts? More lists? Collaborations with other blogs? Remember: I aim to please so speak up!
I promise you guys to continue delivering quality articles and reviews for as long as you guys keep reading them. I’ve got some really cool stuff lined up for you guys in the coming months, starting with my focus on action/revenge films which should be starting up this September, so look forward to a bunch of articles, lists, reviews on the wonderful world of revenge films! Also, like always, Halloween is going to be a special event this year on The Film Connoisseur! Not gonna spoil it for you guys, but I can promise you, it will be so cool that it will bring back the dead! Be on the look out for that!
Well, you know how I’ve kind of turned into a Godzilla nut lately? If you don’t believe me, check out my Godzilla reviews, they keep growing in number! So, I thought that in order to celebrate our third year it would be a good idea to write a special article on certain things that you are likely to see on a Godzilla film. You know how when you watch a James Bond film, there are some things you will always see? Like for example, you just know your going to see Bond driving a cool new car, or use a new gadget. You just know he is going to meet with ‘Q’ and go through a new batch of gadgets he will be using in the film. Or you know how when you see a Dracula film, you just know your going to see vampire bats, or someone coming out of a coffin? Well, the same rule applies for Godzilla films. And so here, I offer you, 16 THINGS YOU ARE LIKELY TO SEE IN A GODZILLA FILM! Enjoy this celebratory post!
Godzilla Coming Out of the Water
Godzilla is an amphibious creature, he lives happily in the underwater depths of the ocean, but when he emerges to show us humans a lesson or two on who’s boss, first we see a burst of light, then we see a mountain of water, then we see Godzilla himself.
Godzilla Stomping Over Tokyo
It is almost a given that we will see Godzilla walking over Tokyo at some point in any Godzilla film. When you and I wake up in the morning, the first thing we think about is a nice breakfeast with bacon, eggs and coffee; Godzilla’s mind works just a little different. His first thoughts of the day? "Destroy Tokyo !"
People Running From Godzilla
This is perhaps the sure fire image you are apt to see on every single Godzilla film, people running for their lives! In some films, the people of Japan are so used to Godzilla attacking; that they know exactly what to do. He’s attacked Japan 28 times already after all!
Godzilla vs The Army
When Godzilla attacks Japan , one of the first things that humans mobilize against the green skinned monster is the army. Though to tell you the truth, humans have never really learned the fact that regular tanks and machine guns just don’t cut it against Godzilla’s practically indestructible body. In every movie, the army always gives it their best shot. Gots to give the Army a couple of points for developing new weapons to fight Godzilla like the so called ‘Maser Guns’, unfortunately, said Maser Guns are still completely useless against Godzilla!
Human Made Machines Built to Fight or Destroy Godzilla
Maybe in the first film Gojira (1954) humans were caught off guard by Godzilla emerging for the first time, but after repeated attacks, humans aren’t just going to sit back and let Godzilla destroy Japan anymore! Humans have created various giant robots spaceships and weapons to fight the giant lizard! They have even built a robotic version of Godzilla called Mechagodzilla! The Japanese are such crafty beings that they even built a machine that creates a black hole that sends Godzilla into another dimension as seen in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)!
G-Force
After a couple of films, an organization called G-Force was established to study and find ways to stop Godzilla. They have a department that monitors Godzilla’s movements across the face of the earth, they have a unit that concentrates on ways to destroy Godzilla, and they even have a unit that drives ships and giant robots that go up against Godzilla himself, mano-a-mano as they say. Funny thing about G-Force, the logos and uniforms constantly change from film to film, I think that’s so freaking funny.
Godzilla vs. Whatever Monster Is On The Films Title (Or The Joy of Watching Giant Monsters Fighting!)
This is the reason of being for these films, watching two giant monster kicking each others asses! Gotta hand it to these movies, it is true. Watching giant monsters fighting and destroying buildings is extremely fun! Whats the funnest part of these fights? The special moves that the creatures pull off when they fight each other, for example, in Invasion of the Astro Monster (1965), when Godzilla kicks Ghidorah’s ass while fighting on planet X, he jumps up and down in the air doing this hilarious dance that you just have to see to believe! On another film Godzilla shoots his laser beam out of his mouth which allows him to fly through the air! Yes siree ladies and gentleme, these movies can get really nuts! And that’s not all, some of these Godzilla movies unite a whole bunch of monsters in one single film for one gigantic monster brawl! Examples of this are: Godzilla Final Wars (2004) and Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001)! If you ask me, Destoroyah has been Godzilla's most fearsome/deadly enemy to date, but King Kong himself ranks way up there in that category as well. King Kong vs. Godzilla is a must watch for anyone interested in seeing a classic monster fight!
Godzilla Shooting His Atomic Breath
This is one of the most iconic images you are likely to see on any Godzilla film, and a large part of what makes Godzilla, Godzilla. Were talking about Godzilla shooting his Atomic Breath, which is basically a powerful radioactive ray that shoots straight out of his mouth. The ray sometimes changes color from film to film. In the early films, the Atomic Breath was more like a spray, or a mist and looked like it. On the more modern ones, the Atomic Breath resembles a laser beam. I even saw a Godzilla film in which his Atomic Breath changed to red. In Roland Emerich’s Godzilla (1998) he basically shoots a ball of flame out of his mouth instead of the usual Atomic Beam. But whatever, the results are the same: total destruction for whoever steps in the beams way!
Monsters Falling On Buildings
What do you expect when giant monsters decide to duke it out right smack in the middle of a city? Of course they are going to tare half of the cities buildings down! And this is one of the funnest parts of these movies. To be honest though, the Japanese have never really perfect the art of making believable miniatures, in some of these films it is painfully obvious we are looking at miniatures. But who cares right? Watching monsters destroying public property is fun! Plus, there’s genuine artistry involved in the making of these sets, and to be fair, in the more modern films, they are more convincing. I just love it when one monster hurls the other through the air and they end up falling and toppling a whole building!
Monsters Grabbing Each Other By The Tail
This is a common fight move amongst giant monster fights. Mothra, the giant moth that continually kicks Godzilla’s ass film after film, loves to grab Godzilla by the tail. And Godzilla himself has done it many times, especially to King Ghidorah who has three tails! The move consists of grabbing a monster by its tail, then spinning him around in the air two or three times and then letting the monster go to fly through the air and land on some building or mountain. Pretty nifty move if you ask me!
People Looking At Giant Monsters Fighting
What are humans to do when giant monsters are fighting? Well, those who aren’t trying to stop the giant monsters have to simply step back and watch the spectacle, which is what always happens in these films. Film after film you will find scenes of humans simply sitting back and watching the Monster Gods fighting each other in complete awe. Most times, these watchers simply explain what is going on, for example they'll say comments like: "It looks like this will be Godzilla’s final fight!"
Mothra
This cute little creature is not to be judge by its colorful look; it will eradicate your sorry ass from this world with a flap of its powerful wings! You don’t believe me? Then ask Godzilla, who’s been beaten by this seemingly harmless creature on more than one occasion! Mothra represents the spirit of the earth, so it is always represented as a good guy in all Godzilla films. For some reason, Mothra is always referred to as a ‘she’, but that’s probably because it’s name ends with an ‘a’. This creature has a couple of powers, she has shot laser beams out of her antennas, she has this magical pixie dust that comes out of her wings that’s a killer, and when she starts flapping those wings, even buildings will start falling down, so don’t piss this giant moth off! Mothra has two shapes, before she turns into a giant Moth, she’s a larva that can also be very deadly, in fact Mothra has even beat Godzilla in her Larva stage by shooting a liquid out of its mouth paralyzes Godzilla! In almost all Godzilla films Mothra dies, only to be reborn in future films. Believe it or not, Mothra is one of the more popular Godzilla creatures in Japan , she’s even starred in her own series of films.
The Shibojin (a.k.a. Mothra’s Twin Fairies)
In the Pantheon of Godzilla movies, there is a giant creature called Mothra. This giant moth has two fairies that serve as a means to communicate with the humans. Since Mothra appears in so many Godzilla movies, well, so do Mothra’s twin fairies. The are called ‘The Shibojin’. They’ve been played by a long list of Japanese actresses, but one of the first to interpret these fairies was a Japanese pop band called ‘The Peanuts’. But basically, these two little fairies can convince Mothra to help humanity, and how do they do these? By summoning the giant Moth with a song, which is a pretty catchy tune if you ask me. They also have magical powers, they can appear and disappear, teleport, they can do all sorts of crazy things depending on which film your watching.
Godzilla Junior, Baby Godzilla, Little Godzilla, The Little One, Godzuki
This is a character that most Godzilla fans hate, but others have grown to love. I personally despise this chracter because it looks so childish and unrealistic. In most movies he is portrayed so badly that I can’t help but to hate him. Still, Toho Studio’s always finds a way to squeeze this character into many Godzilla films especially when they want to aim a particular film towards children. Usually, a child will tag along with Godzuki through out the film. Essentially, Little Godzilla is Godzilla’s child, though we’ve never seen Godzilla give birth to Little Godzilla or anything of the such. Which brings to mind the question: is Godzilla a female? He is always referred to as a ‘he’, yet he gives birth to a Baby Godzilla? Or does Godzilla reproduce a-seuxally? Or perhaps there is a Lady Godzilla we’ve never seen? Whatever the case maybe, Godzuki is one hell of an annoying characters sometimes squeezed into a film for no reason whatsoever other than to sell another toy. The one time I liked Little Godzilla was when he appeared in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), on that film he resembled his father a bit more, because Little Godzilla was all grown up. In fact, Little Godzilla actually kicked some ass in that one!
Alien Invaders
On more then one occasion, Aliens come down to earth and figure somehow into the plot line of a Godzilla film. On almost every occasion, in fact, I’d say on every occasion the aliens purposes are devious and harmful towards humanity. Sometimes what they want is to take away earths monsters so earth will powerless against their invasion as seen in Invasion of the Astro Monster (1964), other times all they want is to harvest our mitichondrias, don’t ask. Sometimes they even bring their own monsters to do battle with the Big G. Sometimes the aliens even control the giant monsters with the powers of their minds! One thing is for sure, Alien beings are not to be trusted on any Godzilla film!
Godzilla Going Back Into The Ocean
Almost all Godzilla films end this way, with Godzilla heading back into the ocean. After a hard days destruction of private property, its back into his oceanic home for Godzilla. Sometimes he gets thrown into the ocean by his enemis (or along with his enemy) and sometimes he simply walks away from the fight, and slowly goes back into the water depths. Until his next film that is! I am one of those eagerly awaiting Godzilla’s resurrection, the last Japanese Godzilla film (Godzilla: Final Wars) was made in 2004, so it’s been a while. Godzilla always changes from era to era, so I am expecting the next Godzilla era with eager anticipation. Cant wait to see what Godzilla will look like on his next film, and I cant wait to see what crazy story will come along with it. Until then, I guess we’ll have to see that American remake that is being made, I hope it wont disappoint.
