Version: Japanese audio, English subtitles (by SBS) 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' seems to get mixed reviews from Godzilla fans. It's either awesome or terrible. Having only seen 'Godzilla' (1985) and 'Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla' years ago, I caught 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' when it appeared in SBS's cult-movie time slot. 'Awesome!' was my reaction when the film finished. Sure, Godzilla has a quite a few better movies around, but 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' got me watching Godzilla movies, and for that I guess it will last as one of my favourites.
After Birth Island mysteriously blows up, a very radioactive Godzilla turns up in Hong Kong and trashes the place. Little Godzilla has gone missing, and Godzilla has been supercharged, leaving his heart about to go into nuclear meltdown, according to the mystics of G-Force. Back in Japan. Dr. Ijuin (Takuro Tatsumi) has discovered organisms - created from the DNA of the original Godzilla and the effects of Dr Serizawa's oxygen destroyer from the original 'Godzilla - living in Tokyo Bay. Growing at an alarming rate, the new oxygen destroyers pose a threat greater than Godzilla.
The story strikes me as being a weird mesh of the silliness of some of the later Showa Godzilla films, combined with the scientific merit of any average episode of Power Rangers. 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' tries to be taken seriously, but when given the smallest amount of thought, all the absurdity and rampant gaps in logic really build up. I love it all the same, but I feel that if the story had involved the viewer more instead of shoving insane amounts of drama and science-fiction in our faces, 'Godzilla vs Destroyer' could have easily been one of the best Godzilla films around. No one likes having insane amounts of drama and science-fiction shoved their face.
However, all the absurdity, gaps in logic, and questionable science, make for some cool action scenes, if nothing else. The Destroyer creatures have more than a slight resemblance to the creatures from 'Aliens', and the movie is rife with low budget special effects. Sometimes it is hard to make out what is happening on screen, but the chances are it is just another explosion or monsters duking it out. I enjoy watching monsters duke it out and take entire cities with them, and I'll bet the rest of you do too. Don't lie now.
'Godzilla vs Destroyer' may just be another average Godzilla movie, but I love it for the fact that it was the film that got me interested in Godzilla movies - 7/10
