Have you ever heard of Godzilla? Well you probably have, just not the way that I have heard of Godzilla. Most of you are probably thinking about the MonsterVerse era of movies, which includes Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong, and their newest release, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. That may have been a lot to take in, but that is Godzilla, also known as “Legendary Godzilla”, is the kaiju that most of us at Township are familiar with. However, you may not have known that there are many different Godzilla movies out there. More than I can ever count!

The first ever Godzilla movie was released all the way back in 1954! People born around that time are in their 70s now, if that doesn’t put a perspective on things, I don’t know what does. This would start what I, and most of the Godzilla community, have dubbed the “Godzilla Rise and Fall” times. Toho, the Japanese movie production studio behind Godzilla, would pump out movie after movie. Some would be really good, and others… well… we don’t talk about the others. I’m looking at you, Son of Godzilla! And while some movies aren’t as good as others, they still hold a special place in my heart. I have been cemented as a Godzilla super-fan, which is the reason I went to see the King of Monsters two newest releases. During my viewings of Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, I was simply blown away!

I want to first touch on Godzilla Minus One, at first I thought I was going to hate it for several reasons. The main reason was the fact that the entire thing was in Japanese, only being able to be understood by American and worldwide audiences with subtitles. Normally, this isn’t an issue. Although, when I’m watching a movie, like most of us, I want to just sit back and watch, not read. However, what prevented the subtitles from being terrible was the fact the story writing was phenomenal. The way everything was worded, the way characters come and go, it was just beautiful. And that isn’t even bringing up the fact that this movie is about Godzilla!!

Firstly, I want to say that the visual effects look astounding. The most shocking thing is that the budget was only 15 million dollars. The box office returns were around 75 to 100 million dollars! The film even won an Oscar for VFX (Visual Effects), the first Oscar win for the franchise. Now I’m not the one to call anything perfect, but the animation in this film was perfect. They portrayed Godzilla perfectly with how dangerous he is, how he grows overtime, and how much he weighs. In some shots, he lifts up the surrounding ground due to the floor not being able to stand his weight. Now the part you have all been waiting for… the atomic breath. It isn’t your standard atomic breath, it has the power of a small nuclear bomb. It leaves black rain pouring which can cause radiation poisoning. They portray it so realistically, it is just beautiful. It is also so strikingly profound, as Godzilla was created to show the effects of the nuclear bombs on humanity. But enough about Minus One, let’s talk about Godzilla X Kong.

Godzilla X Kong is by no means the greatest Godzilla movie, but it’s not bad whatsoever. If you want to see massive kaiju fight to the death, this is the perfect movie for you. The human story was weak at times. When the human story and the movie try to take themselves seriously, it just becomes stupidly funny. I can confirm how hilarious this movie was, as I went with Danny Lanza and Adelaide Bertrand. We would just die laughing at times. But if you look past the crummy human story, you get a fun thrilling battle adventure story about war. Luckily they are probably going to make more MonsterVerse movies anyway. The visual effects were amazing, especially hollow earth, the home of Kong. It’s clear where Hollywood’s budget goes! Overall, Godzilla Minus One is an easy 10/10 and Godzilla x Kong is an 8/10. I recommend going to the theaters to see GxK before it goes straight to blu-ray, the movie experience is so much greater than you can ever imagine.