Thread:Shanethefilmmaker/@comment-397235-20140930004652/@comment-397235-20141001223205

Zilla is probably one of my all-time favorite kaiju, alongside the Showa Anguirus, Kiryu, the Gamera incarnation from the 90s, and the late Showa Godzilla. Zilla's got a personality, which few of Toho's newer kaiju manage to accomplish, and like I said, he's definitely more intelligent than a lot of Toho's other monsters.

I had this same discussion on a Godzilla group I'm in on Facebook. A lot of people complain about Zilla being underpowered and wimpy. Personally, I think the Heisei Godzilla (the one you see the most in fan art and comic books) is so overpowered as to make Superman look like a well-balanced character. I don't care about that Godzilla because I know no matter what he's going to win. With Zilla, the issue is always in doubt: he can die and that makes it all the more satisfying when he overcomes. The same was true of the Showa Godzilla: he wasn't omnipotent: he bled and on more than a few occasions got his ass handed to him (he's lost several fights, including his second bout with King Kong, several fights with Ghidorah, two engagements against Hedorah before he figured out how to kill the slimy bastard, Gigan [who made Godzilla bleed], and of course, Mechagodzilla nearly killed him during their first fight and even after teaming up with King Caesar Mechagodzilla still had the upper hand for a while). We love our heroes and want them to succeed because there's that possibility of failure, which makes them relatable.

I think the things which really pissed me off about Zilla in GFW is how spiteful it was, and how Toho decided to play an anti-American rock song while the entire scene is playing out. Alright, Toho, we get it, you're unhappy with the movie. It's a shame you didn't express any of your doubts when you reviewed the script and approved it (fun fact: Tristar had initially wanted Zilla to fight another monster called Gryphon; Toho vetoed this immediately, saying the only monster Zilla could fight was one of their IPs: they suggested Mothra or Ghidorah...for another several million dollars, roughly what Tristar had already forked over for Godzilla in the first place).

GFW is still my least favorite Godzilla film (even moreso than Godzilla's Revenge which more than anything is just a bunch of stock footage, or Godzilla vs Mothra II which is just about the most obnoxious movie ever made). I really disliked the series from the 80s and 90s; I prefer the older movies (the Showa series) and the new films (the Millenium series, which, depending on your reckoning, begins with either G98 or Godzilla 2000 and ends with either GFW or G14).