Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
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| Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah | |
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| Directed by | Kazuki Omori |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Shogo Tomiyama |
| Written by | Kazuki Omori |
| Starring | Kosuke Toyohara Anna Nakagawa Megumi Odaka Katsuhiko Sasaki Akiji Kobayashi |
| Music by | Akira Ifukube |
| Cinematography | Yoshinori Sekiguchi |
| Editing by | Michiko Ikeda |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Running time | 103 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
| Preceded by | Godzilla vs. Biollante |
| Followed by | Godzilla vs. Mothra |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (ゴジラvsキングギドラ Gojira tai Kingu Gidora?), alternatively spelled Godzilla vs. King Ghidora, is the 18th installment in the Godzilla series of films. The movie was released theatrically in Japan on December 14, 1991. It was directed by Kazuki Omori and produced by Shogo Tomiyama. The special effects provided by Koichi Kawakita was also another highlight in the credits. This film was considered the most controversial in the series. Mostly noticeable was the World War II sequence. The scene depicted U.S. soldiers being killed by Godzillasaurus on Lagos Island, allowing Japanese soldiers to escape. After the movie's theatrical release, an American cable news broadcast (namely Nightline)[citation needed] reported that the film included anti-American sentiments. The time travelers, known as the Futurians, were also discussed due to their Western nationality. Director Kazuki Omori did defend Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah saying that the movie wasn't meant to be anti-American.
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[edit] Plot
Terasawa, a young Japanese reporter is covering a story of a dinosaur sighted during Pacific War. At the same time a spaceship appears in Japan, coinciding with Godzilla's awakening in the ocean. The ship lands, and three humans--Two western men Wilson and Grenchiko and one Japanese young woman Emi--come out of the ship and reveal themselves as delegates of nations of year 2204. They make a time travel to warn Japan of the grave future that it has ahead of them; due to industrialization and nuclear power, Godzilla will reappear and destroy the country for good, or so the Futurians say. They also present books that Terasawa would write in the future, which say the dinosaur he is covering is Godzillasaurus, the dinosaur that would become Godzilla after radiation exposure of a American nuclear explosive test after World War Two.
Terasawa and several Japanese civilians and military personnel are selected by the Futurians to go back to 1944 and delete Godzilla from history, thus preventing Japan's bleak future. Futurians have Emi and an android named M11 to pilot a time traveling shuttle to complete the mission.
Godzillasaurus was originally living on a Pacific Island named Lagos in 1944 during the final stage of Pacific War, where and when a Japanese unit was opposing an US amphibious landing of the island. Futurians and Japanese of 1990s come to the island and observe the battle secretly. The Japanese unit was almost eliminated by the US landing unit, but the Godzillasaurus appeared and killed American soldiers. US ship fired to and heavily injured the Godzillasaurus and left. The remaining Japanese unit saluted to the injured Godzillasaurus and left, too. Then Futurians teleport Godzillasaurus to the Bering Sea.
Unbeknownst to the Japanese, however, the Futurians replace Godzillasaurus with three genetically engineered creatures called Dorats, who then were exposed to radiation of the nuclear test and mutate into the three-headed, dragon-like King Ghidorah, who appears in present Japan. It is then that the Futurians' true malevolent intentions are exposed: The story they tell Japanese of 1990s is a lie. The true history of the future is that despite damages by Godzilla, Japan with her giant corporations would grow into a super power that affect the future world greatly; King Ghidorah is a controlled weapon Futurians made to damage Japan further, in order to keep her from becoming a super power. However Wilson and Grenchiko are more ambitious. They want to use King Ghidorah to delete Japan from history completely. Emi disagrees with that. She reprogrammed M11 and leaves the mother ship to help Japan.
Terasawa and others then seek out Godzillasaurus to create a new Godzilla, who is the only force powerful enough to defeat King Ghidorah and the Futurians. They borrow a nuclear submarine from Shindo Heavy Industry, a successful giant corporation established in post War Japan by Shindo, a former officer who was saved by and saluted to then injured Godzillasaurus on Lagos Island.
Unbeknownst to the Japanese or Futurians however, is that the past had not been changed at all, but fulfilled. The Godzillasaurus they had transported in the Bering sea was not the same that mutated into the Godzilla that attacked Japan in 1954. An old newspaper article recounting an accident in the Bering sea involving a nuclear submarine explains the origins of the second Godzilla. The Japanese realise this too late, as the sub they sent encounters an already mutated Godzilla, still recovering from the Anti Nuclear Energy Bacteria he was exposed to in Godzilla vs. Biollante. Godzilla attacks the sub and absorbs its power, purging his system of the bacteria and becoming even larger than before.
Wilson and Grenchiko sent Ghidorah to combat it ashore in Hokkaidō. Ghidorah almost strangles Godzilla to death, but at mean time Emi, Terasawa and the android sabotage the mother ship. Ghidorah' motion is affected and then it is defeated by Godzilla. Godzilla decapitates its middle head, and has it sink into bottom of the sea. Emi and others teleport the mother ship in front of Godzilla and leave. Godzilla destroys the ship along with Wilson and Grenchiko onboard.
Godzilla then sets out to ravage Japan. Emi and M11 go back to future with the time travelling shuttle for help. Godzilla enters Tokyo city and stands before the headquarter of Shindo Heavy Industry, where Shindo himself stays to wait for Godzilla. Shindo and Godzilla look into each other's eyes for a moment and Godzilla destroys the Shindo headquarter completely. Then Emi comes back from future with resurrected King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah is cryopreserved in the sea to 2204, when Emi and Futurians make it a cyborg under Emi's command: Mecha-King Ghidorah. Emi uses it to subdue Godzilla and sinks them both into the sea. Then Emi says goodbye to Terasawa, one of her ancestor, and goes back to future. In the end on the bottom of the sea, Godzilla awakens and roars again.
[edit] Trivia
- When Terasawa and Emi have their conversation, she reveals that Godzilla never destroys Japan. This is in fact true, because in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla dies and his son takes his place. Wilson and Genchiko states that Godzilla will destroy Japan in the future. This does not matter, because Junior is the Godzilla that never destoyed Japan, even if their plan was a success. And Junior befriends humans as a baby and as a child, so the Emi Kano was right.
- When the American fleet opens fire on the Godzillasaurus, its wounded cries are that of another famous Japanese kaiju: Gamera.
- In the Episode Hamstergeddon of the TV show Invader Zim, a giant robot used capture cables and a machine hand to carry Ultra Peepi into spcae, similer what Mecha-King Ghidorah did in the movie
- This is the first of the Heisei Godzilla films that would not be released in the United States in any way until 1998, when hype for the American Godzilla (1998 film) prompted TriStar to finally release it alongside the other previously unreleased Heisei films on VHS and DVD.
- This was the first Godzilla film to feature an actress, Megumi Odaka, to play the same character in an original Japanese Godzilla movie, Miki Saegusa. However, the first time for an actor was Raymond Burr, who had appeared in the American version of Godzilla, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, then many years later appeared in The Return of Godzilla (known in America as Godzilla 1985).
- This is the first Heisei Godzilla film to feature an original score by Akira Ifukube. Although 1989's Godzilla vs. Biollante featured three of Ifukube's themes, they were not conducted by Ifukube himself.
- This marked the first time Godzilla was able to defeat King Ghidorah twice in a Godzilla film without any assistance from other monsters.
[edit] Box Office
The film sold approximately 2,700,000 tickets in Japan, and grossed around $11,000,000.
[edit] DVD Releases
Columbia Tristar
- Released: November 10, 1998
- Aspect Ratio: Full frame (1.33:1)
- Sound: English (2.0)
- Supplements: Liner notes
- Region 1
- Note: Double feature with Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth
