The Best Classic Japanese Godzilla Movies, Ranked
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Godzilla is back…again. This time around, it’s for the clash-of-the-titans reunion, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Coming hard on the heels of last year’s sensational (but unrelated) sleeper hit Godzilla Minus One and 2021’s unsensational (but related) Godzilla vs. Kong, the new film represents the fifth and latest installment in Warner Bros.’ MonsterVerse for those of you keeping score at home.
Toggling back and forth between our surface world and the subterranean, kaiju-infested Hollow Earth, The New Empire trots out some familiar faces (Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle) as well as some new ones (Skar King, mini-Kong,chttps://www.esquire.com/entert...). And while the title may suggest that the two oversized icons are foes—or perhaps being multiplied by one another, that ‘x’ is a little confusing—it turns out that… well, we won’t give anything away, but suffice to say that the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” saying gets a workout.
In any event, we decided that the latest Godzilla appearance provided an excellent opportunity to go back and rummage through the Toho archives and rewatch the venerable Japanese studio’s classic Godzilla oeuvre. Yes, there are definitely some major stiffs in the collection (yeah you, Godzilla vs. Gigan), but the films from Toho’s Golden Age, known as its 1954-1975 Showa Era, are one of those rare gifts that keep on giving to movie lovers with a sweet tooth for man-in-a-rubber-suit monster mayhem and scale-model urban demolition spiced with a dash of sociological subtext beneath the giddy kaiju craziness.
So without further ado, we present Esquire’s countdown of the Top 10 old-school Japanese Godzilla flicks (plus one newer one!) just in time for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire…
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
No need for Kong or any other expensive special guest stars here. The 33rd Toho Godzilla movie is a classic solo outing updated with some truly dazzling CGI. In fact, Godzilla Minus One managed to beat out Hollywood heavyweights like Napoleon, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for the Best Visual Effects Oscar this year. Not bad on a budget of $10 million. Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the film returns to the themes of the 1954 original: the looming specter of nuclear catastrophe and a scarred nation trying to heal itself. Godzilla Minus One is easily the most emotional and resonant story in the saga yet, which, I realize, isn’t saying all that much. But you may find yourself wiping away a tear or two between rounds of stunning smash-and-mash mayhem. Still, the main attraction is obviously the film’s eye-candy effects, as it should be. With a tenth of the budget that an American studio would throw at it, director Takashi Yamazaki really delivers the awe-inspiring goods—and with more soul and panache than Warner's five recent MonsterVerse flicks combined. This is a real movie, folks—not just another silly, break-the-bank Tinseltown blockbuster.
See the original post on Youtube
10. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963)
Yes, this particular clash of the titans has been waged before. And depending on your tolerance, not too terribly either. I suppose the fact that we’re now being treated to a $200 million rematch is just further proof (as if any were needed) that there’s no new ideas under the Tinseltown sun. Interestingly, the first time around, it was Kong who managed to finagle top billing on the marquee. And while “The Eighth Wonder of the World” looks absolutely nothing like the star of the 1933 RKO classic (actually, he looks more like the bastard child of a couple of the Banana Splits), he gives Godzilla all that he can handle in this entertaining, enjoyable, so-bad-it’s-batshit-awesome mess. After being awoken from an icy slumber, Godzilla sizes up the simian behemoth and they face off rather epically on Mt. Fuji. King Kong vs. Godzilla is the movie that kicked off the whole “Godzilla vs. Fill in the Blank” grudge-match formula. And, as it would soon become clear, it proved to be a hell of a formula.
See the original post on Youtube
8. Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
Here’s where shit starts to get real. Sure, the plot of Invasion of the Astro-Monster gets a little talky at times, and we could do without the East-meets-West romantic subplot, but the sixth film in the franchise has some of the best orgy-of-destruction sequences in the classic canon. A flying saucer full of aliens from Planet X touch down on Earth offering a cure for cancer if they can borrow Godzilla and the winged Pteranodon, Rodan, to kick the snot out of a third monster back on their home planet: the three-headed dragon-badass Ghidorah (a.k.a. Monster Zero). The deal with the aliens turns out to be a con job (those shifty bastards and their body-hugging silver space suits!), but the battle royal on Planet X is very much the real deal as Godzilla and Rodan turn out to be a formidable tag-team dishing out some serious kaiju wrath.
See the original post on Youtube
7. Godzilla Vs. Megalon (1973)
By the early ‘70s, the prolific output of Godzilla sequels was in danger of running the franchise into the ground. And much as James Bond tried to goose its own pop-culture relevance by cashing in on Star Wars mania with Moonraker, the Toho braintrust looked elsewhere for a fresh shot in the arm—namely, in the popularity of the kitschy Japanese Ultraman TV series about a flying robot superhero. Enter Jet Jaguar, an Ultraman-esque hero (or is he…?) who teams up with Godzilla to battle Megalon, a giant googly-eyed cockroach with drill-bit arms from the lost underwater continent of Seatopia. Godzilla vs. Megalon is pretty out there (even for a ‘70s Godzilla film), but it’s also hugely satisfying—especially in states where recreational cannabis is legal.
See the original post on Youtube
6. Godzilla vs. Hedorah, a.k.a. Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971)
Returning to the ecological-parable roots of Ishiro Honda’s 1954 original, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is a Trojan horse of a monster movie. You see, humanity is destroying the environment—and that destruction comes with a price tag: Hedorah! Better known to Western audiences as ‘The Smog Monster’, this melting wax-candle of a beast that feeds on toxic sludge, sewage, and pollution. And given the state of the state of the planet, how can you not root for him a little, right? Wrong. Because, as the stentorian voice-over announcer on the trailer intones: The Smog Monster is “a mastodon of destruction” (which, come to think of it, would have been a hell of a name for a Guns N’ Roses tour in 1987. This is a pretty sweet little early ‘70s Godzilla flick.
See the original post on Youtube
4. Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Here we have the Wrestlemania of Godzilla films, a wild and deliriously bloated bill of Toho’s greatest monsters (there’s at least a dozen) uniting to save Earth from nefarious aliens. With O.G. auteur Ichiro Honda back behind the camera, this all-star free-for-all is also notable for giving us a glimpse of our favorite kaiju in the wild, living their carefree lives on the desolate and aptly-named Monster Island. That is, until sinister aliens start commanding them one by one to unleash hell on major cities around the world (“Rodan Ravages Moscow!”, “Mothra Massacres Peking!”). Is it the most artful Godzilla movie? No. But is the most insane and it delivers the most value. In short, Destroy All Monsters gives proof to the maxim that too much is never enough.
See the original post on Youtube
2. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
Arguably the most famous Godzilla film after the original, Mothra vs Godzilla (a.k.a Godzilla vs. The Thing) more than earns its gold-plated rep thanks to the oversized moth of the title (although the series would dither back and forth about whether Mothra was friend or foe) and the bonkers pair of tiny twin pixie-women who have a special connection to it. First unveiled in Honda’s 1961 film Mothra, the flying Keith to Godzilla’s Mick has a field day fluttering her wings to produce tsunamis that wreak maximum havoc and giving birth to larvae that promise an infinity war of sequels. Simply put, this is hands down the best Godzilla chapter of the ‘60s.
See the original post on Youtube
1. Godzilla (1954)
The first time is always the best, isn’t it? Well, at least, it is here. Ichiro Honda’s monster-movie masterpiece is, of course, an allegory about the horrific devastation unleashed by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII. But like all of the best B-movies of the Cold War era, even its cut-rate rubber-suit trappings can’t disguise its profound message—the terror of a nation that faces annihilation without warning. But if that was all that Godzilla (originally titled Gojira in Japan and re-cut in the U.S. to add star Raymond Burr) had to offer, it wouldn’t have anything close to the lasting impact it continues to have six decades-and-change later. Godzilla is also a masterclass as a straight-up horror flick with a populace fleeing for their lives with no clue what the hell is happening to them. Its terror goes beyond logic and deep into the world of nightmares. With Godzilla, Honda’s immortal, poetic creation arrives fully formed as a supersized specter of the apocalypse. Afterwards, there was no hiding and no turning back.
See the original post on Youtube
You Might Also Like
