Godzilla Millennium Speed Art and Film Ranking
Alrighty, so as I did for the Showa and Heisei Series, I'm now going to rank the Millennium series of Godzilla films, and I'll also be including the Anime films as well as Shin Godzilla in this ranking, now I know they aren't technically apart of the Millennium series, but lumping them in here seems more appropriate than lumping them in with the American productions later on. And remember this is just my opinion, I'd love to hear your thoughts down below with your own ranking or top 3 of the Millennium films. So with that said lets go from worst to first and rank these bad boys up! And as always there will be some spoilers ahead, so you've been warned!
8. Godzilla: Final Wars
So the last place spot is going to probably anger a lot of fans, because almost every Godzilla fan I've talked to seems to love this movie, but for me it doesn't quite come together. So coming in at number 8 is going to be Godzilla: Final Wars. Now while I appreciate how this film doesn't shy away from the nods to the previous entries, almost everything else for me doesn't work. From the inspiration taken from the Matrix and the X-Men films, to the jumbled pacing and lack of heft to the Godzilla battles. With the other entries in the series when Godzilla fights an enemy you feel a little tension, but here it just seems like there's monster fights just for the sake of monster fights, and each fight seems insignificant and only there for fan-service, and while that isn't necessarily bad, I just need a little more meat on the bones for my Godzilla films.
7. Godzilla Anime Trilogy
Okay so where Final Wars lacked meat, my number 7 entry is dripping with meat, but through odd pacing and an overly convoluted premise this one just doesn't quite have the spark I was hoping for. So coming in at number 7 is the Godzilla Anime Trilogy, while the films vary in quality, I think I can comfortably put them together in the number 7 spot because they all feel like episodes of one TV show. Now I appreciate that they tried something different and out there for Godzilla's first official animated entries, I just think it was so worried about seeming smart that it forgot to make the movies entertaining. Of course the series isn't all bad, the way it tackled the twin fairies was nice, and the idea of a Godzilla run planet is interesting, and Godzilla himself looked amazing, I just feel like it was lacking the action elements that make up the best Kaiju films, even the final fight with Ghidorah was more about a man fighting his inner demons than a monster battle. But one thing I can say about this series is it's definitely the most memorable and different compared to the similarly themed regular Godzilla films.
6. Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus
And coming in at number 6 is going to be the second Millennium film: Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus. So now we're getting back to the more traditional Godzilla films, this time he's a somewhat anti-hero who reluctantly takes on the flying Megaguirus. The humans take a back-seat to the monster action, which does allow for some interesting battles between the Kaijus, but it does lack the heart of Godzilla: 2000, the film that came before this. It is worth mentioning here that this film isn't a direct sequel to that film, but actually takes place inside of an alternative time-line after the original 1954 Godzilla film where the Oxygen destroyer was never used. But besides altering that bit of Godzilla history this film doesn't really offer anything new to the lore and comes off a little generic.
5. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
So coming in at number 5 is going to be the only direct sequel to another film in this series, Tokyo S.O.S. This film benefits from the framework created by Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla, allowing the action to begin sooner, but it does lack some of the human elements that made that entry more enjoyable. But none the less this is a fun entry in the series that adds in Mothra to aid MechaGodzilla against Godzilla. Not too much else to say about this one, as it more or less just builds on the previous films groundwork, but makes the human characters a little more one-note.
4. Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla
And speaking of that films ground work, coming in at number 4 is Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla. I think this film has some of the best Kaiju action seen on screen, the fights between MechaGodzilla and the big G feel real and have some of the best effects to date in the series. The human element is also much stronger this time around, allowing us to care more for the action scenes surrounding them, and giving us more to root for. The only thing that this film lacks is a strong conclusion, as it was building up the whole movie to defeating Godzilla, but they more or less just heavily damage him and he saunters back into the ocean. But the film doesn't suffer too much from the lack-luster conclusion, and I think you'll get a good dose of Kaiju fun from it.
3. Godzilla 2000
And coming into the top 3 we have Godzilla 2000, the first film of the Millennium series is one of it's strongest. After the American 1998 Godzilla, Toho wanted to establish the character in Japan again, and I think for the most part they succeeded. The weird CGI on the UFO ship is a little distracting, but once Godzilla's opponent evolves into Orga the movie really picks up. I also really like the redesign of Godzilla, while I may prefer the Heisei era deign, I'm glad they weren't afraid to radically introduce something for a new generation. Now the human elements are a little lacking, and probably more on par with Tokyo SOS, but I think the originality of this entries Kaiju helps to place it comfortably at number 3.
2. Godzilla, Mothra And King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack
Now coming in to the number 2 spot is the film with the best name in the entire series: Godzilla, Mothra, And King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack. This is possibly the only entry in the series that frames Godzilla as pure evil instead of his typical anti-hero or force of nature and with that change we get a shift in tone here. The film is darker and devoid of some of the humour of the series, and also for the first time I believe, King Ghidorah gets framed as the good guy, and despite some glaringly poor CGI in moments the film manages to have some of the best Godzilla destruction in the series, only second to my next entry on this list.
1. Shin Godzilla
And coming in at the number one spot is a film that helped to breathe new life into the series and that film of course is the amazing Shin Godzilla. The ever evolving Godzilla in this film is right up my alley and allows to frame Godzilla in a new light. The correlation between real-life disasters and the destruction that Godzilla causes is a nice touch and helps to ground the film. The CGI is absolutely amazing, they purposely made Godzilla move slowly, like a man in a heavy rubber costume to make him feel as real as he does in the earlier entries, while allowing them to get creative with both his abilities and design. Now the human part of this movie seems to be the most controversial part of the film, largely because it takes place in a lot of boardrooms and meeting rooms without them truly getting involved in the action or on the street, but as far as I'm concerned this is a perspective that is ofter over-looked in these films and shining a light on it allows them to show the effects a large disaster has on a government system. I also feel like the human characters, while clinical in their approach, are allowed to seem more human, which helps me to relate to the movie better. So all in all this is one of the best Godzilla films I've ever seen, and I'm really hoping we can one day get a sequel of some sort to it.
So what did you guys think of my rankings? Do you agree or do you have your own opinions about the franchise. Feel free to leave your thoughts down below. And before I sign off I want to thank Colton Wood and Karen DeMarsh for supporting the Patreon, as well as all my other supporters. Thank you for checking out the channel and subscribe for more Speed-Arts in the future, and until next time: keep on keeping on!