Putting aside the monster battles and goofy rubber suits, this is why Godzilla continues to resonate: because at the character's core is a horror all too real. The latest Japanese Godzilla film, "Godzilla Minus One," looks set to expand on the original’s themes, as it jumps back in time to take place shortly after the end of World War II and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Godzilla has also inspired other filmmakers to tackle modern traumas through a monster movie lens, such as "Cloverfield," which was shot in a found-footage style that evoked videos taken on 9/11. On the American side, 2019's "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" used the monster to explore climate change. 2016's "Shin Godzilla" was inspired by the Fukushima disaster and satirized Japanese bureaucracy, showing government officials wading through an absurd amount of red tape in their insufficient response to the emergency. 2001’s "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" was an anti-war film where Godzilla is possessed by the souls of people who died in World War II. The Godzilla films with the most resonance, though, go back to that original idea of using the beast as a metaphor. In Japan, Godzilla remained dormant after "Final Wars" until 2016's "Shin Godzilla," a reboot starting the Reiwa era that continues with this year's "Godzilla Minus One." Separately, there are the American movies: the poorly received 1998 "Godzilla" and the more well-liked 2014 "Godzilla." The latter birthed a cinematic universe, the MonsterVerse, in which "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" and 2024's "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" are set. The fact that the series was constantly reinventing itself in this way, inviting in new audiences and exploring different tones and genres, contributed to its longevity. Most of these Millennium-era films were standalone follow-ups to the 1954 original. Destoroyah." In 1999, "Godzilla 2000" again rebooted the series for the Millennium era, which continued through 2004's "Godzilla: Final Wars," an epic finale for Godzilla’s 50th anniversary. This began the Heisei era, which lasted until 1995's "Godzilla vs. The movies also started to be aimed more at children with an emphasis on silly humor, which helped expand their appeal as family-friendly entertainment.īut 1984's "The Return of Godzilla" brought the series back to its roots with a more serious tone, making Godzilla the enemy again and ignoring the previous films. By 1964's "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster," Godzilla had shifted into an unlikely hero who was actually protecting Japan by fighting other giant monsters. Dozens more followed, and the period of "Godzilla" films from 1954 to 1975 is known as the Shōwa era, named after the reign of Emperor Shōwa. "Godzilla" was a major hit, leading to a sequel, "Godzilla Raids Again," the following year. "The underlying story was, in fact, a protest against nuclear war," star Akira Takarada noted in a Criterion Collection interview. In the end, the film offers a powerful warning against continuing nuclear testing. The monster’s arrival is a consequence of H-bomb testing, and his scales even evoke the keloid scars of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. The film, then, used Godzilla as a metaphor for the atomic bomb. So I have a kind of hatred of nuclear weapons." However, Godzilla is also known for his heroic qualities and his battles against other giant. Godzilla is a giant monster that is usually portrayed as a destructive force. He first appeared in Japan in 1954 and has since become a worldwide sensation. "Back then, it was said that for the next 72 years, not a single blade of grass would grow there," he said in a 1990 Directors Guild of Japan interview. Godzilla is one of the most iconic movie monsters ever created. When he's not writing lists - and the occasional feature article - for Collider, he also likes to upload film reviews to his Letterboxd profile (username: Jeremy Urquhart) and Instagram account.Honda served in World War II and passed through Hiroshima on his way home. He's plagued by the question of whether or not The Room is genuinely terrible or some kind of accidental masterpiece, and has been for more than 12 years (and a similar number of viewings). He's also very proud of the fact that he's seen every single Nicolas Cage movie released before 2022, even though doing so often felt like a tremendous waste of time. His favorite directors include Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, John Woo, Bob Fosse, Fritz Lang, Guillermo del Toro, and Yoji Yamada. He'll gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU. Jeremy is an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet.
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