Thumbnail by Bosslogic → https://www.instagram.com/bosslogic/?hl=enGodzilla is "King of the Monsters," but which Godzilla movie ranks highest on Rotten Tomatoes as "King of the Screen"?
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00:00 Godzilla is king of the monsters, but which Godzilla movie ranks highest on Rotten Tomatoes
00:05 as king of the screen?
00:07 Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla -1 was an unexpectedly huge hit in the United States, and currently
00:14 holds the distinction of being the highest-grossing Japanese-language Godzilla film in U.S. box
00:19 office history.
00:20 -1 also flips the table on the theme of the original Gojira movie by adopting a decidedly
00:27 more optimistic worldview.
00:29 Several Godzilla movies in the franchise have zeroed in on Godzilla's horrifying nuclear
00:33 origins, pointing out that the monster is the direct result of atomic testing.
00:38 Humans were only able to destroy Godzilla in Ishiro Honda's 1954 film Gojira by creating
00:45 a new weapon even more devastating than the atomic bomb.
00:49 That film is sad and dour and pessimistic.
00:51 In contrast, Godzilla -1 is about how ingenuity and redemption are qualities still possible
00:58 after World War II, and that humans needn't be hopeless or obsessed with death.
01:03 It's okay, -1 argues, to let go of the violence.
01:06 -1, however, is the 38th film in the franchise, and Godzilla has experienced a lot of highs
01:12 and lows since 1954.
01:14 Indeed, Godzilla is currently in its fourth era, and has gone through at least eight or
01:19 nine unique continuities or more, depending on how one interprets the interconnectivity
01:25 in the Millennium Era.
01:27 From 1984 through 1995, Godzilla went through the Heisei Era, a rebooted continuity that
01:33 began with The Return of Godzilla, released as Godzilla 1985 in the United States.
01:40 Return was a direct sequel to the 1954 original, and ignored the intervening 14 films made
01:45 up until 1975.
01:47 In this film, Godzilla was bigger, meaner, and more destructive.
01:52 The Heisei Era also rewrote Godzilla's origin, and concluded spectacularly, with the only
01:59 Godzilla film to have a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.
02:06 Of course, it's worth noting that Godzilla -1 currently has a Rotten Tomatoes approval
02:11 rating of 98%, a number which is extrapolated on 171 submitted reviews.
02:18 Only four critics submitted Rotten reviews of -1.
02:21 Meanwhile, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah may have a 100% approval rating, but that number is
02:27 based on only six reviews.
02:30 Despite the technicality, though, Destoroyah still holds the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating.
02:34 No one has yet been passionate enough to write a scathing counterpoint to any of the posted
02:39 reviews.
02:40 One can argue all day as to which Godzilla movie is the best, but Destoroyah has a legitimate
02:45 claim to that title.
02:47 It possesses the raucous, destructive spirit of the late '60s Godzilla films, but also
02:52 a sense of operatic grandeur, which is appropriate, given that Destoroyah was intended to be a
02:57 farewell.
02:58 The story is epic.
03:01 Godzilla Jr., a monster introduced in 1993's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2, is now growing
03:07 to Godzilla-size and looking a lot more like the original monster.
03:12 Godzilla himself, meanwhile, has become dangerously radioactive.
03:16 This Godzilla is powered by an internal nuclear fire, and that fire has only been growing
03:21 over the years.
03:23 Godzilla now glows red hot and smoke pours out of his skin.
03:26 If Godzilla gets too hot, he will explode like a nuclear bomb and kill all living things
03:31 on Earth.
03:32 Humans attempt to use a weaponized airship called the Super X3, which has been equipped
03:37 with, essentially, a freeze ray.
03:39 The Super X3 is able to slow Godzilla, but his nuclear fire continues to burn.
03:44 Meanwhile, several unusual, Precambrian creatures appear out of the sea.
03:50 It seems that the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon used to kill the original Godzilla in 1954,
03:56 has infected some of the local wildlife, causing it to grow and mutate.
04:01 Just as Godzilla was born of nuclear radiation, the new monsters are born of the Oxygen Destroyer.
04:06 These new monsters are essentially Godzilla's arch-nemesis, constructed of the very substance
04:12 that was designed to destroy him.
04:14 As the film progresses, the monsters get bigger and begin to combine until they form a massive,
04:20 winged, bipedal bug called Destoroyah.
04:23 The original plan was to call the film Godzilla vs. Destroyer, but Toho found they couldn't
04:28 copyright the word "Destroyer," so they renamed the monster Destoroyah for legal reasons.
04:34 The final fight involves Godzilla Jr. and Godzilla's eventual meltdown from his internal
04:39 heat.
04:40 Godzilla is not killed by a rival, but destroyed from within.
04:44 It's implied, however, that Godzilla Jr. will merely take the original Godzilla's place,
04:49 allowing the legacy of destruction to continue.
04:52 Sadly, there were no direct sequels to Destoroyah, and Toho was ready to hand their Godzilla
04:57 rights over to TriStar Pictures for an intended trilogy of American Godzilla films.
05:02 We all remember how that deal turned out.
05:09 Toho would instead make a trilogy of Power Rangers-like, kid-friendly Mothra films that
05:15 are great for young children.
05:17 When the 1998 American Godzilla tanked, Toho brought back the G-Man with Godzilla 2000,
05:23 the first of the six-film Millennium era.
05:27 That era ended in 2004.
05:29 There have been 11 Godzilla films since, if one counts Kong Skull Island.
05:35 As for what's next for the big G, there's Godzilla X Kong, The New Empire, and presumably
05:41 some sort of follow-up to Godzilla Minus One, considering how successful it's performed
05:46 in Japan and overseas.
05:48 Thanks for watching.