March Godzilla Film Releases Ranked, Jun Fukuda Part Two

 

 

By Joe Gibson

 

Welcome back to Plan9Crunch, where, previously we gave a brief overview of the March Godzilla film releases, especially how they intersect with one man, director Jun Fukuda. Indeed, being directly responsible for the majority of the 70s Godzilla film releases, he incidentally made three March Godzilla films, with Honda’s March Godzilla film Terror of Mechagodzilla directly following up on Fukuda characters and plots and Wingard’s two wacky Godzilla and Kong March movies being spiritual successors to the themes and aesthetics. Consequently, March is the best time to unpack the influence Fukuda had on this franchise for better or for worse, and the best way to do this is to rank these March movies. (Note: I have also previously ranked the Gamera movies and refer to my thoughts there as analogies for some of the relationships of these movies. Reading that post will not be crucial to understanding this one, but I will provide a link.)

 

Link to Fukuda Overview: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2025/03/introduction-to-jun-fukuda-plan9crunch.html

Link to Gamera Film Ranking: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/11/joes-gamera-film-ranking-worst-to-best.html 

 

6. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 1974 directed by Jun Fukuda

 

In Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, the core human ensemble uncovers an artifact linked to an Okinawan end times prophecy that teases the return of King Ghidorah but is actually about a robotic version of Godzilla disguised in a skin suit that defeats ankylosaur Anguirus before being stopped by a teamup of Godzilla and new monster related to the artifact King Caesar (an Okinawan Shisa dog lion hybrid that protects a specific royal family).

 

Having Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla this low is definitely a hot take. This is a favorite of many and, at first, appears to be a very strong film and showcase for Fukuda. As his last Godzilla film, he would know what works and what does not, and, for the most part, it is a great demonstration of his vision. The spy action is at its most thrilling and constant, there is genuinely great chemistry in the cast, and the campy underdog Godzilla is at perhaps his most compelling when Mechagodzilla makes him bleed the most he ever has. There are just a few practicality and plot considerations that make this a broken premise for me.

 

Least importantly, Godzilla and King Caesar have negligible chemistry and cooperation in the final fight in such a way that I honestly think is a detriment to both of their characters. Similarly, the “I have to rescue my brother” Fukuda staple is at its least compelling and most obligatory here (the lead’s brother gets kidnapped late in the movie and rescued very quickly). Next least important, the idea of a Mechagodzilla is such a bizarre thing for a smart and technologically advanced faction that it does require some suspension of disbelief (even stranger to first put it in a skinsuit that prevents it from using most of its arsenal). More importantly, there is a switcheroo with the artifact that results in the lead risking his life and literally almost dying just to procure a fake statue that he made and no one else knew about. The character survives due to outside intervention by a flamboyant James Bond named Nanbara and otherwise would have died for incredibly stupid reasons. That shatters much of the plot already. Most importantly, by the end of the movie, Godzilla defeats Mechagodzilla by turning himself magnetic, which he is only able to do because lightning happened to strike him earlier and for some reason it did not hurt him like lightning was established to do in previous films. This is a Gamera vs Viras situation where the movie is really good in many categories but has intense low points too. The next one is a bit more like Gamera vs Zigra (completely inept) but far more fun to watch in a way akin to Plan 9 From Outer Space through how bizarre it is.

 

5. Godzilla vs Megalon directed by Jun Fukuda

 

In Godzilla vs Megalon, nuclear tests anger underground Seatopians, who wage war on the surface with their monster Megalon but also humanoid agents that abduct Goro Ibuki and his kid brother to reprogram inexplicably size changing robot Jet Jaguar into guiding Megalon. Godzilla’s friend Anguirus falls into a sinkhole, so he makes friends with Jet Jaguar, and the two battle Megalon and a returning Gigan (we’ll get to his film soon enough). Here is a link to some video thoughts on how bizarre this movie is: https://youtu.be/1HMV1hMPgzs?si=eRpmfGNYJ78gxfVJ 

 

This is a movie that does not make sense scene to scene. Goro Ibuki and the aliens espouse and act on information that the audience learned from different scenes where they were not present, Jet Jaguar somehow changes size and the Seatopians somehow know the Nebulan aliens whose whole gimmick was that they were trying to help destroy humanity to inherit the Earth (they’re cockroaches; it surprisingly makes more sense than this entire film). So why is this film higher than Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla? That is a good question. Really, I could go either way on this, but it comes down to the fact that Godzilla vs Megalon is the culmination of bizarre genius that, like all the best cult films, takes on new meaning from its bizarre tendencies, while Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla is almost a really strong film that just was not able to stick the landing.

 

4. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire directed by Adam Wingard

 

If you need a refresher, Godzilla x Kong is the story of Kong finding others like him in the Hollow Earth, including one evil dictator Skar King, whose control over an army of apes and an ice dragon Shimo prompt a tripartite pact and teamup of Kong (protecting a baby ape named Suko he found), Godzilla and Mothra. Also, the humans have a subplot. You can listen to my review here: https://youtu.be/AI_FMxtTlIk?si=zwQoHpnG9JKFEoEx or read my review by following the links here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/07/part-three-nuanced-deconstruction-of.html 

 

Having argued GxK to be a four (or five) out of 10 in three Plan9Crunch articles and a video, it might be surprising to have it up this high. I am indeed the kind of person that thinks there are more good Godzilla films than bad, but I am uniquely situated in my poor evaluation of Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 1974 (and I think of Godzilla vs Megalon as more of a pleasant fever dream than a movie). This is a movie that starts really strong, but the cathartic moments in acts 2 and 3 come at the cost of the storytelling’s internal logic…except for the stuff pertaining to the baby Kong called Suko who has a believable redemption arc in ways that enhance the characterization of villain Skar King and hero Kong. The movie excels in its visual storytelling to an almost unprecedented degree, but, as the creative team themselves articulated, they stopped caring about the logic of certain plot payoffs and worldbuilding details midway through production, consequently an uneven Best Worst Movie.

 

3. Godzilla vs Gigan directed by Jun Fukuda

 

In Godzilla vs Gigan, cockroach aliens seek to create “absolute peace” on earth through constructing an amusement park that doubles as an attack command post. When a Scooby Doo team forms to stop them (and Godzilla and his ankylosaur friend Anguirus arrive to investigate), the aliens’ arsenal includes beam launching Godzilla Tower, a new cyborg chicken Gigan and the return of King Ghidorah (last seen when he died in a movie canonically set after this one but which came out four years earlier).

 

If you are keeping track, Godzilla vs Gigan was the last chance for Fukuda to top this list, and it honestly could have if not for a couple of features. While a simple and streamlined film grounded in the perspective of a Scooby Doo team consisting of a young manga artist (with the manga aesthetic extending to speech bubbles from Godzilla and Anguirus), his karate girlfriend, a corncob wielding hippie (I will not elaborate, just watch the movie) and a young girl trying to find her missing brother, it falters in its Nebulan alien villains who constantly reveal aspects of their plan very stupidly (this is still vastly better than the contrivances in Godzilla vs Megalon). Also, despite great characterization for Godzilla and Anguirus in codifying their friendship dynamic, the technical problems with the film are quite distracting, and those include the stock footage changing a fight scene from night to day to night again, the Ghidorah suit/puppet being unreasonably stiff, and the Godzilla suit literally falling apart on screen (with the Anguirus water suit not looking much better). This is the kind of movie that I think would work perfectly for me to review, so just let us know if you want a more in depth review of Godzilla vs Gigan.

 

2. Godzilla vs Kong directed by Adam Wingard

 

In Godzilla vs Kong, the two title monsters fight but also shady humans manipulate events on each monster’s subplot to arrange events to line up to their endgame. You can read my review of it here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2023/06/review-godzilla-versus-kong-2021-remake.html 

 

I recommend you read my review of Godzilla vs Kong so that you can be on the same page about my thoughts on the movie. To make things short, the movie makes a lot more sense viewed through the implications of its visual language (i.e. Nathan Lind is the Carl Denham of the movie because he is introduced through Denham University and thus his climactic moment with Kong is the point of his story, which wraps back around to his previous moments of characterization in pinch points which do actually correspond to him gradually learning to take responsibility for and protect Kong. Also, Mechagodzilla’s eye must be the consciousness of Ghidorah deliberately luring Godzilla around because we see it glow whenever he attacks, and dialogue from Walter and Ren confirms they are not the ones responsible). 

 

However, this type of reading must note the constant coincidences that Lind and Walter Simmons both rely on, and, while I have argued that to be an intentional juxtaposition of how much each character is willing to sacrifice for the others around them once they are out of luck, I understand if you are reticent to adopt that. Moments like Godzilla digging through the Earth into the Hollow Earth cave that just so happened to be underneath where the action was happening are unfortunate and should count against the film. I will defend the team Godzilla trio, but I do have to admit that the trio at the heart of Godzilla vs Gigan’s Scooby Doo team (the protagonist, corncob hippie and young girl looking for her brother) carries out a more intelligent and better defined investigation. It was very close between Godzilla vs Gigan and Godzilla vs Kong for me. If Godzilla vs Gigan’s technical side were stronger, it might have gotten this spot, but really the only bad effects moment in GvK is Kong’s shoulder clipping through a building, which affects nothing.

 

1. Terror of Mechagodzilla directed by Ishiro Honda

 

Terror of Mechagodzilla is the direct sequel to Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla where the Simeon aliens and Mechagodzilla return but also with the help of a disgraced scientist, his cyborg daughter and new monster Titanosaurus. This is also notable for a moment where Godzilla’s suit catches on fire while he is running through Mechagodzilla’s full barrage, not a scripted moment but one that suit actor Toru Kawai salvaged for an iconic moment.

 

While I understand the optics of putting the one Ishiro Honda film above all the Fukuda and Wingard films on this list might be a little poor (and is the main reason I would like to conclude this trilogy of Fukuda posts with a YouTube ranking of just his movies), Terror of Mechagodzilla is just that good. One of the main criticisms of movies like Godzilla 2014 or Invasion of Astro Monster/Godzilla vs Monster Zero 1965 is the small amount of Godzilla screentime. While Monster Zero absolutely lacks Godzilla screentime (though the romance is strong enough to completely offset that), G14 actually has more than its sequel Godzilla King of the Monsters, despite the latter movie feeling like Godzilla is more relevant. This is all to say that the posturing and buildup of Godzilla in any movie is equally as important as his presence, and no film handles the expectation of Godzilla showing up better than Terror of Mechagodzilla.

 

After Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, we know the stakes of the Simeons returning, and, with not only a stronger Mechagodzilla but also the new freakishly strong monster Titanosaurus, those stakes are even higher. Godzilla has long been the superhero by this point, and so the audience knows that once Godzilla shows up, everything will be alright. But then Godzilla does not show up, and our human hero is not a Fukuda esque Scooby Doo hero but frankly a pathetic man that gets overpowered and outmaneuvered by the villains, so we need a hero that we are not getting, which makes us more invested. The hero and love interest are in a tragic romance that is debatably better than that in Monster Zero but at the very least serves to humanize these stakes and show the cost of defeating the aliens. Indeed, in a sense, the success of Terror of Mechagodzilla is in reversing and deconstructing a Fukuda movie. It is not doing so maliciously because it still does keep Godzilla as this symbol of children’s hope when it would have been so easy to retcon him back to what Honda would have wanted, but Terror of Mechagodzilla respects the corners of the franchise that birthed it all while responding to the 70s Godzilla formula. (It is interesting that Mechagodzilla itself is also in three of these movies, one from each director.)

 

Conclusion

 

In conclusion, the Godzilla films of March are very diverse all while being encompassed in a type of vision of Godzilla. Here at Plan9Crunch we appreciate all the different types of Godzilla there can be and likely will focus some attention over to Godzilla Minus One once we have the space and time to carry out such a review. But in the meantime make sure to catch our upcoming video where we rank all of Jun Fukuda’s Godzilla films together with no Wingard or Honda films to get in the way. Stay tuned for that.