Every Godzilla film, ranked from worst to best

Director: Ishiro Honda

Despite being one of director Ishiro Honda’s favorites, All Monsters Attack is frequently cited by fans as the worst film in the franchise. The issues are the use of stock footage and the tone, with the film standing as the silliest, most kid-friendly entry. The film follows a lonely, bullied boy, Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki), who dreams of visiting Monster Island, the home of Godzilla. Once he finally reaches the island, he meets Godzilla’s adopted son, Minilla, who is facing his struggles with a bully, the monster Gabara. Ichiro helps Minilla fight Gabara and learns how to defeat his bullies in the real world. All Monsters Attack feels more like a Japanese iteration of an After-School Special than a Godzilla film.

Director: Jun Fukuda

There’s just something about Minilla. Maybe it’s his face or maybe it’s just his sheer existence, but whatever it is, fans find him grating. In Son Of Godzilla, scientists working on a weather-altering machine on an island end up creating a radioactive storm that mutates the praying mantises on the island into giant creatures. The giant insects discover an egg, containing a baby the same species as Godzilla. The infant’s telepathic cries reach Godzilla, who comes to the island to train Minilla and defeat the giant insects. The effects work, especially on the mantises is genuinely pretty great, but the whole Godzilla as a father figure scenario feels a little too twee.

Director: Jun Fukuda

Showa-era Godzilla films frequently did the most, which is an inherent part of their charm. Godzilla Vs. Megalon takes it a step too far, though, resulting in a weird gumbo of elements, and a spot on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. The undersea civilization of Seatopia unleashes its god, Megalon, to destroy the surface world. But Megalon needs guidance (he apparently can’t follow directions) so Seatopian agents enact a plan to steal the robot Jet Jaguar (the real star of this movie) from a trio of inventors. Eventually, the trio regains control of Jet Jaguar and uses him to fight Megalon. The Seatopians then send a distress signal to their alien allies, who send Gigan as backup, leading Godzilla to join the fight alongside Jet Jaguar, forcing their enemies to retreat. The odd combination of elements isn’t helped by the fact the kaiju suits in this one look particularly rubbery.

Director: Roland Emmerich

Expectations for the first Hollywood-produced Godzilla film were high, especially given the lengthy development and the fact it was helmed by Roland Emmerich, hot off of Independence Day (1996). The resulting film, Godzilla, isn’t a particularly good Godzilla film, as it lacks genuine socio-political commentary, and the Godzilla here is devoid of personality. There’s also the fact that the film is missing the star power element (sorry, Matthew Broderick) that made Emmerich’s ID4 and Stargate (1994) such hits. But as a big-budget Hollywood monster movie, Godzilla has some fun moments as it follows a group of scientists and the military on the hunt for Godzilla to stop the monster from reproducing. The hatchling Godzillas in Madison Square Garden is a highlight, and while there’s a lot the film is lacking, we’ll always wonder what Emmerich could’ve done with the two planned sequels.

Director: Motoyoshi Oda

The greatest failing of Godzilla Raids Again, which is not entirely the fault of the film, is that it’s the first sequel to follow the masterpiece that was the original Godzilla. With the original Godzilla having died in the first film, Raids Again introduces a second Godzilla who would lead the franchise during the duration of the Showa era. The film introduced the versus concept, having Godzilla face off against another monster, Anguirus, which would establish the trajectory of the franchise. The human story, following two pilots and their girlfriends, has a lot more clarity than some of the later storylines, but compared to the first film, it’s dull. Raids Again lacks urgency and horror, and its attempt to capture the spirit of Honda’s original film highlights what it lacks.

Directors: Kobun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita

The first animated Godzilla film, Godzilla: Planet Of The Monsters is filled with interesting ideas, perhaps too many interesting ideas. Godzilla destroys Earth at the end of the 20th century, despite humanity and their alien allies’ best efforts. Their failure results in a mass exodus as humans search the galaxy for a new homeworld to colonize. Some 200,000 years later, humanity decides to return to Earth to see if it is still inhabitable. Upon arrival, a group of battalions discover that not only is Godzilla still alive but he has changed the biosphere of the planet. The group sets out on a mission to destroy the monster, but in killing it they discover they have only killed the offspring of Godzilla and the original monster is now over 300 feet tall, setting the stage for the two sequels that would follow. The plot itself is interesting but the film drags, becoming overloaded with tech talk and expositional theories, leaving the characters undeveloped and the film tedious.

Directors: Kobun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita

Godzilla: City On The Edge Of Battle, the second installment of the anime Godzilla trilogy, introduces a nanotech version of Mechagodzilla, a human-made weapon that could be the planet’s only defense against Godzilla. Where the first film explored the effects of nature growing out of control, City On The Edge Of Battle centers on the dangers of rampant technology, with the nanometal used to create Mechagodzilla being poisonous. Despite interesting ideas, City On The Edge Of Battle is plagued by too much exposition across too long a runtime, making its greatest battle the one for the attention span of its audience.

Directors: Kobun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita

The third and final film of the Godzilla anime trilogy, Godzilla: The Planet Eater is the best of the bunch, but it’s also saddled with the same problem that hindered its predecessors. The introduction of Ghidorah, a kind of Lovecraftian god, forces humanity to reckon with spirituality. There is a clear overarching theme to each entry in the trilogy, as well as some beautifully rendered animation but this film, like the others, never feels like it entirely moves beyond its philosophy class leanings. Yet, what we’re left with is a compelling idea that Godzilla is not an enemy to be warred against, but a natural occurrence that humanity must learn to live alongside. There’s a hypothetical version of this trilogy where the three films were condensed into one film that could have resulted in one of the best Godzilla movies. But as a trilogy, the films feel too stretched out and too light on character to feel as fresh and exciting as the concept proposes.

Director: Adam Wingard

Godzilla Vs. Kong, the fourth film in the Monsterverse franchise, brought two titans together to clash. Admittedly, the fight scenes between Godzilla and Kong are pretty cool, and there are some eye-catching visual effects. But the film’s characters and its overall narrative are a letdown, resulting in a piecemeal film that has all the staples of studio interference, along the lines of The Justice League (2016). Actors who were cast, like Jessica Henwick, are absent from the film, and key returning characters, such as Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) are reduced to cameos, while a key character, Ren Serizawa (Shun Oguri), does not refer to his father, Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), whose death in the previous film would’ve provided plenty of motivation. It’s a far cry from the previous Monsterverse movies, which took audience complaints about human characters and simply turned them into cartoons that only act to push the film toward a climax. It’s not the worst Godzilla film, but it may be the most disappointing given what came before and what the filmmakers had at their disposal.

Director: Masaaki Tezuka

While there are certainly some neat ideas in director Masaaki Tezuka’s film, its reach exceeds its grasp both in terms of story and CGI effects. Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus rewrites the ending of the original movie so that Godzilla was never destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer, and instead has been a returning threat to Japan, feeding off nuclear energy. An unsuccessful attempt to switch to clean energy leads a defense team known as the G-Graspers to create a manmade Black Hole in which to capture Godzilla. But during the testing process, they accidentally revive an extinct, predatory species of Dragonfly who are drawn to Godzilla’s energy, and eventually reform into the species queen, the Megaguirus. While Megaguirus looks cool, the fight between her and Godzilla leaves something to be desired, and the Black Hole subplot really doesn’t make sense, even in the forgiving context of the franchise’s loose take on science.

Director: Kenosho Yamashita

Brilliant special effects can’t entirely save Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla from its sluggish pacing. But boy, does SpaceGodzilla look cool. When Godzilla’s cells are introduced to radiation in space, the result is SpaceGodzilla, who immediately sets his sights on Earth. His first move is attacking Godzilla’s offspring, Little Godzilla (a new and less annoying version of Minilla), before setting his sights on Japan to transform the Earth’s core into a type of energy he can consume. But Godzilla and the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ mecha MOGUERA, which splits into a land and air vehicle, take the battle to SpaceGodzilla. The battles are fun but the stuff surrounding it isn’t quite as memorable.

Director: Ishiro Honda

When the time came for the third Godzilla film, Toho upped the ante by bringing in the American monster who kicked off the whole giant-monster/kaiju phenomenon, King Kong. And it certainly worked for audiences: King Kong Vs. Godzilla holds the record as the most-attended Godzilla film in Japan to date. The plot revolves around a pharmaceutical company’s marketing scheme to capture King Kong and use him for advertising. Kong’s capture leads to the return of Godzilla and a clash between the two behemoths. The resulting showdown is a blast, and it delivers one of the franchise’s most iconic moments, where King Kong shoves a tree trunk down Godzilla’s throat. While it’s quite the shift from the World War II reckoning that started the franchise, the film does offer some compelling commentary on the pharmaceutical advertising business. Who wouldn’t take pills from the company that owned Kong?

Director: Jun Fukuda

Ebirah, Horror Of The Deep captures the spirit of a pulp adventure novel and follows a boy and his two friends as they search for his brother, who is lost at sea. Their quest leaves them washed up on Letchi Island, controlled by a terrorist organization, The Red Bamboo, which has enslaved the island’s indigenous people. But terrorists aren’t the only threat as Ebirah, a giant crustacean, also stalks the island. The island also just so happens to be the same one where Godzilla was trapped following a previous battle with Ghidorah. Godzilla is awakened and engages in a battle with Ebirah while the boys save the missing brother and free the island’s indigenous population, defeating The Red Bamboo. Ebirah doesn’t take itself too seriously and while certainly not the most ambitious Godzilla film, it is one of the most casually rewatchable.

Director: Jun Fukuda

It may come as a surprise to learn that such an iconic Godzilla adversary was a late addition to the original run of Godzilla films, capping off the Showa era in two films. The first of those, Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, sees Godzilla on a murderous rampage through Japan, catching off guard civilians who have come to know him as a hero. But this destructive force of nature isn’t Godzilla, but an imposter, created by aliens from the Third Planet of the Black Hole, who seek to use their creation, Mechagodzilla, to take over the world. Of course, Godzilla won’t stand for that, and he is joined by the guardian deity King Caesar, who aids him in defeating Mechagodzilla. There’s an interesting layer of mysticism versus technology at the heart of the film that adds a new aspect to the classic versus formula.

Director: Ishiro Honda

After the release and success of Honda’s Mothra (1961), Toho decided to take a page out of the King Kong Vs. Godzilla’s playbook and merge two properties. Mothra Vs. Godzilla shifted Godzilla away from his science-fiction and horror roots and turned him more towards fantasy, in part to fulfill Toho’s desire to entice a younger audience. The gamble paid off, and Mothra became one of one of Toho’s most beloved characters. In the film, two tiny twin fairies and their god, Mothra, protect an egg from the wrath of Godzilla. There’s a fairy tale-esque beauty to the film, and while it is one of the odder entries in the franchise, it has a magical quality. Plus, it’s one of the few Godzilla films that works even though it places its focus on the adversary rather than Godzilla himself.

Director: Takao Okawara

Despite the title, director Takao Okawara’s Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II isn’t a sequel to the 1974 film, but a reinvention of the Mechagodzilla mythos and his rivalry with Godzilla. From the wreckage of Mecha-King Ghidorah, the military’s Godzilla defense task force, G-Force, built Mechagodzilla. After discovering a stolen egg in Rodan’s nest that hatches to reveal Baby Godzilla, G-Force uses the infant to bait Godzilla into a battle. Effects-wise, Okawara’s film is one of the best of the Heisei era, and while the plot isn’t particularly complicated or emotionally involved, it’s one of the franchise’s stronger battle-centric movies.

Director: Takao Okawara

Mothra is reimagined for the ’90s in Godzilla Vs. Mothra. The twin fairies, now the Cosmos, enlighten humanity about an ancient battle between Mothra and her villainous counterpart Battra. Some 12,000 years ago, an ancient civilization attempted to control the Earth’s climate, resulting in the Earth’s creation of Battra to restore the natural order. But after Battra destroyed the ancient civilization, he became driven by blood lust, and Mothra was sent to Earth to defeat him. Their battle resumes in the present as Earth’s climate is once again thrown out of balance. Both Mothra and Battra realize that a greater threat to Earth exists: Godzilla. The film is an effective warning against climate change as well as one of the best-structured Godzilla films, despite originally being proposed as a Mothra solo reboot.

Director: Koji Hashimoto

The first film of the Heisei era, The Return Of Godzilla rebooted Godzilla with a bigger budget, modern effects, and a darker tone that would carry through most of the era. The film ignores all the films that preceded it except for Honda’s original Godzilla, setting a new standard for the franchise and introducing the requel concept that would catch on in Hollywood decades later. The film was conceived as a result of younger generations moving past the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Return aimed to re-instill that fear, bringing Godzilla into the era of the Cold War and raising the possibility of not only nuclear attacks but a full-scale nuclear war. The Return is much more militarized than the Showa era films, a trait that would continue through the Hesei era.

Director: Ryuhei Kiamura

The final film of the Millennium era, Godzilla: Final Wars brought out all the stops in a massive celebration of Godzilla’s 50th anniversary that relies heavily on fan service and left critics mixed on its execution. Decades of environmental disasters have led to the proliferation of giant monsters as well as superpowered humans, all collectively known as mutants. These mutants, conscripted into the Earth Defense Force, helped put Godzilla on ice in the South Pole. But they prove to be out of their depths when the aliens known as the Xilians invade Earth, armed with their own monsters. It’s up to the defense force to free Godzilla in the hope that he can save the planet. Final Wars is full of fun references and callbacks, though weak on any larger thematic considerations. It’s an action-packed tribute but offers little to think about.

Director: Ishiro Honda

The ninth Godzilla film, Destroy All Monsters, is the battle royale of the franchise, bringing together Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, and Anguirus. The film is such a blast that even Minilla’s appearance is forgiven. The monsters have all been corralled on Monster Island, resulting in a peace that Japan and the world haven’t known in years. That peace is shattered when an alien race known as the Kilaaks telepathically takes control of the monsters and leads them to attack Earth’s greatest cities. Once the Kilaaks lose control of the monsters, thanks to Earth’s human heroes, the result is a final battle that stands among the best of the entire franchise, with all of the monsters teaming up to deliver a beatdown on King Ghidorah. Destroy All Monsters isn’t complex, but it delivers on spectacle with monsters, aliens, and mass destruction.

Director: Ishiro Honda

The final film of the Showa era was a box office failure, resulting in the franchise going dormant for nine years. Despite this, Terror Of Mechagodzilla is a thrill ride that’s part espionage film, aquatic horror, alien invasion, and cyborg body horror. The emergence of an aquatic dinosaur, the Titanosaurus, leads Interpol agents to a mad scientist, Dr. Mafune (Akihiko Hirata), who has been tasked by aliens to use the creature to destroy the world, along with Mechagodzilla II. The latest version of Mechagodzilla is controlled by Mafune’s daughter, Katsura (Tomoko Ai), a cyborg who happens to also be in love with one of the Interpol agents attempting to stop Mafune and Mechagodzilla. Godzilla intervenes, destroying the threat after an epic battle that ultimately leads to Katsura sacrificing herself. In the end, Godzilla walks off into the sunset in a fitting end of an era.

Director: Kazuki Omori

The reintroduction of King Ghidorah in the Heisei era is a smorgasbord of Hollywood tropes, resulting in a film that’s fun to watch if overly ingratiated to the box office hits of the era, Back to the Future and T2: Judgement Day. In Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, a group of time travelers from 2204, known as the Futurians, claim to have the key to preventing the creation of Godzilla. The group, along with several scientists from the present, travel back to 1944 to prevent the dinosaur that becomes Godzilla from being bombarded by radiation from Hydrogen bomb testing. Unknown to the scientists, the Futurists leave behind three small creatures known as Dorats who merge and form King Ghidorah after the bomb testing. As you can imagine, that doesn’t bode well for the present day when the Futurians reveal their plan to use Ghidorah to destroy Japan and prevent it from becoming a superpower in the future. Japan is then forced to recreate Godzilla to save the country. Despite criticisms raised by the film’s politics, it still manages to deliver a clever new iteration of King Ghidorah and an epic showdown with Godzilla.

Director: Ishiro Honda

Invasion Of Astro-Monster, the sixth Godzilla film, brought back King Ghidorah, further establishing the three-headed monster as Godzilla’s nemesis. Aliens from Planet X, the Xiliens, promise Earth a cure for all diseases in exchange for Godzilla and Rodan, who they need to defeat King Ghidorah, also known as Monster Zero. But the Xiliens’ plan turns out to be a ruse as they plan to use Ghidorah alongside the mind-controlled Godzilla and Rodan to wreak havoc on Earth and hold it hostage. The film contains one of the better human storylines, building a buddy relationship between Japanese astronaut Fuji (Akira Takarada) and American astronaut Glenn (Nick Adams), who sell the beleaguered government employees trope while also proving to be heroes the audience can root for. The film stretches its narrative a bit thin, but still stands as one of the best Showa-era entries.

Director: Ishiro Honda

Political assassinations, aliens from Venus, prophecies, and a three-headed monster who would become Godzilla’s nemesis all come together in one of Godzilla’s most entertaining entries, Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster. It’s a film that shouldn’t work but ultimately does in terms of both the human storyline and the monster one as the stakes are always clear. Ghidorah introduced several elements that would become key to the franchise going forward, as well as a more notable blending of genres. A princess (Akiko Wakabayashi) facing an assassination attempt is possessed by an alien from Venus who warns humanity of the return of Rodan and the coming of King Ghidorah. Mothra seeks Godzilla and Rodan’s help to stop Ghidorah from destroying the world, but the two monsters refuse, after the years of abuse they’ve been subjected to by the humans. Inevitably, Mothra’s bravery in taking Ghidorah on herself and almost dying in the process forces Godzilla and Rodan to put aside their differences and face Ghidorah. Ghidorah broadens the scope of the Godzilla franchise by focusing on more than one monster, making the film feel like the first true blockbuster effort of the series.

Director: Takao Okawara

The Millennium era kicked off with a novel idea. Rather than deliver a new series of sequential Godzilla movies, each entry, except for the two later ones centered on Mechagodzilla, would stand alone, the only continuity shared being Honda’s original film. In Godzilla 2000: Millennium, Godzilla has been a constant threat since the 1950s, resulting in the creation of the Godzilla Prediction Network, led by Yuji Shinoda, who, along with his daughter and a journalist, has been tracking Godzilla a la storm chasers, in an attempt to study the creature. Meanwhile, Crisis Control Intelligence, headed by a former associate of Shinoda, Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe), while seeking to destroy Godzilla discovers a UFO in the Japanese trench. The UFO awakens and seeks Godzilla’s genetic regenerative powers so it can survive outside the ship in Earth’s atmosphere. With Godzilla’s DNA, the aliens transform into the giant monster, Orga. Millenium is one of the easiest entry points for those looking for a way into Japanese Godzilla movies as it establishes compelling characters, clear stakes, and modern (for 1999) effects. 2000 raises the idea that Godzilla exists within the people of Japan and that monstrous ambition to either learn or destroy results in new horrors.

Director: Jun Fukuda

In Godzilla Vs. Gigan, director Jun Fukuda unexpectedly delivered one of Godzilla’s bloodiest battles, alongside a body-snatchers plot that inched into horror territory. Insectoid aliens take over the bodies of deceased humans and use their new forms to create a tower to send a signal to King Ghidorah and Gigan and bring them to Earth. Their plan and the tower itself are disguised under a peace-themed theme park, World Children’s Land, with its centerpiece Godzilla tower. A manga artist (Hiroshi Ishikawa) who helped design the park, along with his friends, stumbles on the plan and accidentally alerts Godzilla and Anguirus through the signal, as well as King Ghidorah, and Gigan, a new adversary who has metal claws for hands and a saw blade in his chest. While Gigan makes no sense biologically, he gives Godzilla a run for his money in one of the series’ best and bloodiest showdowns.

Director: Masaaki Tezuka

Mechagodzilla is reimagined for the 21st century in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, and the result leads to one of the franchise’s best one-on-one battles. A cyborg constructed from the original Godzilla’s skeleton and given the name Kiryu is inducted into the Japan Self-Defense Forces as a Godzilla deterrent. The cyborg’s primary pilot is Lt. Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku), a demoted officer still dealing with the consequences of getting her team killed during a previous monster attack. Director Masaaki Tezuka’s film not only delivers on action but provides great character development to Akane as she struggles with her own guilt and her fellow pilots’ mistrust. While the film is not without its cliches, Akane’s ability to gain the trust of her teammates and forgive herself, while also battling Godzilla, makes for one of the franchise’s more moving and character-driven entries.

Director: Masaaki Tezuka

For Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., the only direct sequel in the Millennium era, director Masaaki Tezuka returns to further explore Lt. Akane and the cyborg, Kiryu. While the film doesn’t have the same level of character focus as its predecessor, Tezuka up the ante in terms of the action while also bringing Mothra into the fold. Godzilla continues to attack Tokyo, drawn to the bones of the original Godzilla housed inside Kiryu. The Prime Minister refuses to return the bones to their resting place, and while Kiryu undergoes repairs, Mothra emerges as Japan’s protector. Yet Godzilla proves to be too much for her and she sacrifices herself, giving Kiryu time to undergo repairs before a final showdown against Godzilla. While the seeds for a third film following Kiryu are teased in a post-credit scene, it never came to fruition as Toho opted to end its Millennium era with Final Wars. All the same, S.O.S. remains a highlight of the era.

Director: Yoshimitsu Banno

Director Yoshimitsu Banno’s Godzilla Vs. Hedorah takes Earth’s pollution problem to heart and delivers what was then the most topical Godzilla film since Honda’s original. An alien life form that feeds on Earth’s pollution and grows into a giant monster with an acidic touch and a toxic smog that reduces the human body to charred bones. Banno goes for a darker tone than most of the Showa era sequels, making the human death toll horrific and drawing intentional parallels to the dead bodies left in the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The tone is somber, and no scene better showcases Banno’s aim than when a group of young hippies gather at dusk on Mt. Fuji for a campfire and songs before the end of the world. The battle between Godzilla and Hedorah is a great one, and one of the franchise’s most brutal fights, with Godzilla losing an eye and the flesh on one hand. But it’s the foreboding sense of inevitable disaster that another Hedorah could rear its head if Earth isn’t careful that makes the film such a powerful one over 50 years later.

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

In Godzilla, Mothra, And King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla has been relegated to the past and replaced by modern concerns. But the past haunts the present and Kaneko’s film serves as both a ghost story and a subversion of Godzilla tropes. Godzilla is the manifestation of souls killed during the Pacific War, enraged by Japan’s denial of its violent history. Mothra, Ghidorah, and Baragon are spiritual beings known as Guardian Monsters who must confront Godzilla and stop him from destroying Japan. The film contains excellent kaiju fights, but there’s more to them than just violence and destruction. The battles represent Japan’s reckoning with its past while also attempting to protect its future. Kaneko’s film is one of the most beautifully complex Godzilla movies and a clear standout in the Millennium era.

Director: Kazuki Omari

Godzilla Vs. Biollante is a Godzilla film unlike any other and one of the series’ darkest chapters. The film was born from a public story-writing contest, and the winner, dentist Shinichiro Kobayashi, was inspired by the hypothetical death of his daughter. The film follows a scientist who tries to keep his deceased daughter’s soul alive by combining her genes with a rose that’s been altered with Godzilla’s cells. The result is a giant plant-like monster with teeth that emits spores and naturally draws the attention of Godzilla. The creature is the most complex and beautifully designed kaiju ever delivered on-screen, a mix of Cronenberg-level body horror and the suit work that has given Godzilla, his allies, and his enemies such personality over the years. Ultimately Godzilla Vs. Biollante is a tragedy about the monsters that can be born as a result of loss.

Director: Takao Okawara

Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah, the seventh and final film of the Heisei era, is also that era’s best, featuring some of the franchise’s finest special effects and an ambitious narrative that harkens back to Honda’s original film. In the film, Godzilla’s heart, which serves as a nuclear reactor, is nearing critical, which threatens a world-destroying nuclear meltdown. At the same time, ancient underwater creatures, mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer that defeated the first Godzilla in the 1950s, have resulted in man-sized creatures, that eventually merge into a larger creature dubbed the Destoroyah. The creature sets its sights on Godzilla and his son, Godzilla Junior, killing the latter and absorbing its cells, becoming a massive kaiju. The death of his son sends Godzilla further into meltdown mode as the film builds to a clash between Godzilla and the biological manifestation of the weapon that killed his predecessor. There is a fascinating commentary on how weapons meant to save lives can eventually evolve and become more threatening than the thing they were originally meant to destroy.

Director: Gareth Edwards

Taking inspiration from Jaws and other early American blockbusters, Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla finally delivered a Hollywood Godzilla film that works. While some may be particularly critical of its characterization and pacing, Edwards excels at creating a sense of scale in tandem with Seamus McGarvey’s stunning cinematography (the Halo jump scene remains breathtaking). Godzilla is a patient film, the kind of blockbuster Hollywood studios rarely produce anymore, and it makes the bold move of killing off its most famous actor, Bryan Cranston, early in the film. But the thematic weight of that choice and the effect the loss of a father has on Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor Johnson) alongside Godzilla’s role as an environmental harbinger of the natural order of things makes the controversial choice an effective one. In an age in which humanity is constantly looking to improve and elongate our own lives, without larger consideration to the ecosystem, Edwards’ ability to grapple with the balance of birth and death, and the biological need to protect and create a legacy, is engaging. And seeing Godzilla unleash his atomic breath for the first time? Chill-inducing. The success of this film led Toho to revitalize Godzilla for their reboot.

Directors: Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi

The Reiwa era once again brought about a reboot of Godzilla and it took a drastically different direction than what had come before. With Shin Godzilla, directors Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi make Godzilla uncanny and terrifying again, showcasing an unsettling evolution of the monster as it wreaks havoc on Tokyo. Rather than simply looking at the devastation caused by the monster, or pitting him against another kaiju, Shin Godzilla examines the bureaucratic red tape of the government and its numerous offices as it attempts to contain and destroy Godzilla without relying on nuclear weapons. Shin works within the context of Japan’s nuclear tragedy, while also exploring its contemporary politics for a film that feels like Godzilla meets House Of Cards. It’s a talky movie, with a lot of characters to keep track of, but the reward is one of the all-time great Godzilla films, which renewed interest in the character and introduced a new level of prestige to the franchise.

Director: Michael Dougherty

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters is the best American Godzilla movie. Following up and expanding on the themes of Edwards’ film, director Michael Dougherty focuses on the mythic nature of the Titans, creating a sense of awe that reminds humanity of how small it is within the ecosystem and the fear that comes with relinquishing control to greater powers. A population that seeks to control the world, that lacks the awe and respect that comes from fear is nothing but a parasite, the same as the alien invader Ghidorah, who parallels Vera Farmiga’s Dr. Emma Russell. Russell’s daughter, Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), possesses a kind of theism in the Titans, following through on the mission of Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) by making peace with the Titans to make peace with ourselves and our existence as part of a larger system. For all of the film’s downright incredible action sequences and monster fights, given added power by Bear McCreary’s booming score, King Of The Monsters is a reminder that humans and their lens are essential to Godzilla films and that none of these Titans have any meaning, allegorical or otherwise, if not framed through the human perspective. It’s a film that actively rejects the idea that these movies can be made without human characters and makes the case that to understand Godzilla films is to understand the human characters’ place within them.

Director: Ishiro Honda

The film that started it all. Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla is a haunting post-war examination of the devastating effects of the atomic bombs unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bolstered by Akira Ifukube’s incomparable score. Godzilla is the embodiment of the fears of a nuclear holocaust carried by a generation yet to recover from real-world events. The monster emerges as the kind of creature that becomes engrained in a population’s memory as both a destructive reality and an allegory that speaks to the never-ending fear of repeat attacks. Godzilla is, at its core, a horror movie, which makes the successful reclaiming of Godzilla as a reluctant hero during the Showa era all the more fascinating. But in terms of the first film, there is a realism of almost documentary level as Honda follows the devastating effects of Godzilla on Japan while scientists, the military, and civilians all grapple with the monster, a structure that Shin Godzilla would later effectively borrow. There is a push and pull between the scientists over whether to study the monster or destroy it. This debate showcases the kind of scientific curiosity without foresight that led to the creation of the atomic bomb in the first place. The film proposes that the circumstances that created Godzilla could happen again if humanity isn’t careful and, ultimately, that’s what makes Godzilla hold so much weight within the culture and makes it so necessary to revisit, because humans are rarely, if ever, careful.