Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster: Ishirō Honda

This is it, folks: the moment when Godzilla stopped being a villain and became a genuine hero. The Godzilla films had been becoming more and more child-friendly for years, so it was only a matter of time before he stopped being a villain who destroyed indiscriminately. Thankfully, Ishirō Honda provided a plausible explanation for Godzilla's turn in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster: he either teamed up with Rodan and Mothra to defeat King Ghidorah or the entire world would be destroyed. I think this was the first Godzilla film chronologically that actually addressed the kaiju's motivations. In the scene where Mothra tries to recruit Rodan and Godzilla, the Shobijin telepathically translate their conversation to reveal that Godzilla and Rodan fight each other because...well...they hate each other. And they attack mankind because...well...they hate humanity, too. I admire the purity of their motivations. When kaiju develop complex personalities and motivations, it usually doesn't bode well for the films they star in (Mothra being the exception since she was always a complex character because of her relationship with humans and the Shobijin). Here's my big problem with the film, though: the special effects and fight scenes aren't very good. The final four-way fight is excellent and watching Mothra, Godzilla, and Rodan use actual tactics to defeat King Ghidorah instead of just charging him all at once was delightful. But the other fights pale in comparison. Godzilla's bouts with Rodan should have felt epic and grand, but they come off as really cheesy and childish due to poor costumes (you can see the plastic folds on Rodan's neck) and ridiculous battle choreography (Godzilla resorts to kicking rocks like soccer balls at Rodan more than once). The inanity reaches a fever pitch when Godzilla and Rodan start knocking a giant boulder back and forth like it was a volleyball. Kaiju films require a massive willful suspension of disbelief. But during that scene it was damn near impossible not to look on the screen and see anything other than two men in rubber suits playing with a plastic ball.

6/10