Alternate Title: The one where Godzilla gets lasered in the dick.
The Godzillaverse has a revolving cast of monsters in it, but there are a bunch that show up with consistency. You get four of the main ones appearing all together for the first time this film, with the monster who’s widely considered Godzilla’s greatest rival getting the big introduction. Heck, he’s even supplanted Godzilla in the title here! So you know he’s got to be a big deal!
So with the introduction of King Ghidorah and with bringing Rodan in to the Godzilla canon, this movie establishes a couple of set pieces and the way things work that other films in the series will continue on with. This is also the most pulp sci-fiish of the Godzilla films we’ve seen yet, also establishing a new trend for the series.
And, it’s also where the movie wades knee deep into the goofiness the old Godzilla films where known for. Which, it’s been moving in this direction. This isn’t out of nowhere. King Kong vs. Godzilla had a lot of parody and cartoonish moments. But this takes it a step further. Some parts here are just downright slapstick. And there’s no going back from that. Kids were making up a big share of the movie market in Japan at this time, and apparently, they don’t go for big, deep, metaphorical critiques on the nature of war like adults do. Go figure.
The film centers around a brother-sister duo. Media Girl is part of the production team behind one of those History Channel shows about aliens and weird conspiracy theories that my own sister spends too much energy on. Detective Bland is, well, a bland detective. The princess of the Ruffle Kingdom is coming to Japan for some reason or other, and Detective Bland is assigned to be her security. Also, it’s January, but there’s a freak heat wave going on so it’s like 80 degrees out. This never actually matters, but hey, global warming is bad, okay?
Unfortunately for the Princess, her uncle wants her dead for political reasons. These guys are the worst dressed. Absolutely the worst. Look at that picture up there. Imagine a whole country of them. So they put a bomb on her plane as it’s heading towards Japan. Princess is watching a meteor shower from the plane, when she starts hearing a voice telling her to get out. So she apparently bails from a plane in flight, just as it blows up. Did she make it out in time? Who knows?! I do, because I watched the movie.
Lost to the Aether 