Best End of Era Film

[Legionmaster]

I dunno, reviving your dead son is pretty sweet.

But the Big Guy is nothing but radioactive dust by the time that happens, so it's not that great from his angle.

Well it's after the moneyshot anyway, so no one's even watching anymore. Wait...or is that porn?

[RedZillaKing]

LMAO! I always thought Junior's resurrection somewhat diminished his father's death.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

Wait, GxG...so Destoroyah's ending is weak and inneffectual because...its a sad ending? Really? Sad endings suck?

...I...never said that. I don't think Godzilla vs. Destoroyah's ending sucks. Quite the contrary. It's just that I much rather prefer Terror Of MechaGodzilla's ending, because when looking at it from Godzilla's angle, in GvsD, he loses everything and then dies. Whereas in ToMG, Godzilla defeats arguably his strongest opponent he's ever faced, stopped an alien invasion force, and is now content with himself over his accomplishments and can live in peace. Out of those two, ToMG's ending is better for Godzilla, so I feel more satisfied with that ending.

Just a personal preference.

I dunno, reviving your dead son is pretty sweet.

Godzilla didn't know that though. At the time of his death, he thought his son was dead. His final opponent was not killed by his hands either, but by the opposition that he had no trouble brushing off every single time (adding insult to injury), and he died for reasons he probably didn't understand.

That's incredibly sad and depressing. I can't think of a worse way to go out.

And for the record, I can't think of another way to end the Heisei series other than Godzilla being killed off. However, the way his death was handled made it seem like the creators just wanted to be as cruel as humanly possible and make everything go wrong for Godzilla at his death. Killing him is fine. Killing his son in front of his eyes, having his final opponent not die by his hands, and dying for unknown reasons (to Godzilla) is just sickening.

[Blackout286]

However, the way his death was handled made it seem like the creators just wanted to be as cruel as humanly possible and make everything go wrong for Godzilla at his death. Killing him is fine. Killing his son in front of his eyes, having his final opponent not die by his hands, and dying for unknown reasons (to Godzilla) is just sickening.

I think your over exaggerating the whole death thing lol.

Although I pretty much agree with DagarahX and his statement, Destoroyah Ending was the best, Terror of MechaGodzilla, mmm, not so much.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

However, the way his death was handled made it seem like the creators just wanted to be as cruel as humanly possible and make everything go wrong for Godzilla at his death. Killing him is fine. Killing his son in front of his eyes, having his final opponent not die by his hands, and dying for unknown reasons (to Godzilla) is just sickening.

I think your over exaggerating the whole death thing lol.

I don't think I am. I think I accurately described everything that was going on at the end of the film.

[antovald20]

^Everything bad did happen to godzilla, but his son still lives, also You're going to be a film critic, so u should know that not every ending will be a happy one.

[Blackout286]

However, the way his death was handled made it seem like the creators just wanted to be as cruel as humanly possible and make everything go wrong for Godzilla at his death. Killing him is fine. Killing his son in front of his eyes, having his final opponent not die by his hands, and dying for unknown reasons (to Godzilla) is just sickening.

I think your over exaggerating the whole death thing lol.

I don't think I am. I think I accurately described everything that was going on at the end of the film.

I wasn't clear on my part (Sorry about that, I meant you over exaggerating in the whole creators wanted to be as cruel and as inhumanly as possible. I honestly doubt they wanted, they wanted a emotional ending that made feel a connection with Godzilla, and later on at the end, witness the symbolism that Godzilla will live on and never truly die in the world. That's pretty much what the ending is really about, and with that, makes it the best.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

^Everything bad did happen to godzilla, but his son still lives,

Again, Godzilla does not know that. From Godzilla's perspective, life cannot get any worse.

also You're going to be a film critic, so u should know that not every ending will be a happy one.

...

Yes, I'm aware that not every film needs a happy ending. I knew going into Godzilla vs. Destoroyah that it was not going to have a happy ending. However, the film did not need to be so cruel to Godzilla. I'm okay with him dying. But I question the sanity of the writers who decided that death wasn't enough for Godzilla. He not only had to lose his life, he had to lose his family, his pride and his understanding of the world.

I wasn't clear on my part (Sorry about that, I meant you over exaggerating in the whole creators wanted to be as cruel and as inhumanly as possible. I honestly doubt they wanted, they wanted a emotional ending that made feel a connection with Godzilla, and later on at the end, witness the symbolism that Godzilla will live on and never truly die in the world. That's pretty much what the ending is really about, and with that, makes it the best.

And in a film where unnecessary cruel acts are done to Godzilla, going from "You are alone in this world and the world does not care" to "You will never truly die", is incredibly jarring and just doesn't work for how the film was trying to portray it.

That's why I can't say it's the best. I would gladly take Terror Of MechaGodzilla's short but sweet ending over the cruel and jarring ending of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Hell, if we're talking about endings to the entire franchise, then neither of those two come even close to the emotional ending to Son Of Godzilla.

[Blackout286]

I doubt Godzilla had any real understanding of the world, and I doubt he really cared about it. The only thing that mattered to him was his territory, surviving, and much later on, his adopted son (When MechaGodzilla II came around). I think fans would somewhat agree that he couldn't care less about the actual world around him. Living was all that really mattered.

I find the portraying to be pretty good, mainly because it makes me feel more connected with Godzilla and the symbolism for the character. Although as stated by another member, TOMG's ending was pretty ordinary, I don't dislike it, but it didn't make me feel anything and it didn't really leave me satisfied with how things wrapped up.

[GotengoXGodzilla]

I doubt Godzilla had any real understanding of the world, and I doubt he really cared about it.

What I meant by that was Godzilla died for reasons that he most likely did not understand. Everything that he knew about the world, how things died and whatnot, was thrown out of the window because he didn't understand why he was dying. I know that's how I would act if I were dying from an illness that I didn't understand and no one could tell me what it was.

The only thing that mattered to him was his territory, surviving, and much later on, his adopted son (When MechaGodzilla II came around).

And Godzilla lost all three of those in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Birth Island was destroyed, he lost his son, and he didn't survive.

Although as stated by another member, TOMG's ending was pretty ordinary, I don't dislike it, but it didn't make me feel anything and it didn't really leave me satisfied with how things wrapped up.

I would gladly take "ordinary" over "cruel and jarring".

Besides, at the time Terror Of MechaGodzilla was made, it wasn't intended to be the last Showa film, it just so happened to be the last one. Looking at the lost projects section of the site, you can see that there were many plans to make other Godzilla films after ToMG. The creators tried to bring Godzilla back, it just never worked. Meaning, Terror Of MechaGodzilla is the reluctant ending of the Showa series. It wasn't designed to be the last one.

So, for what it is, I'm fine with the Showa era ending on that high note: With Godzilla defeating two very powerful monsters with no other monsters to aid him (something he had never done before), stopping an alien invasion, and essentially being at peace with himself. Walking off into the sunset seems appropriate for that situation.

[Viva la revolucion!]

This is soooo difficult. I mean, GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH is a masterpiece, a GODZILLA FINAL WARS is just so artsy and all. SO yeah, bot hof them, maybe even you can say GOdzilla Final Wars is a sequel.

[Lord Gappa]

I think the best ending was ToMG. It was more or less a "happy ending"; the aliens have been defeated, the earth is saved, Godzilla has conquered one of his greatest challenges, and is victoriously swimming off into the ocean.

Destoroyah wasn't particularily pleasant, I mean sure Junior comes back to life, Destoroyah is defeated, and the earth is alright, but Godzilla is dead. At least in both ToMG and GFW Godzilla had something good come out of it; in Destoroyah Godzilla's just a cloud of radioactive dust.

[GodzillaDude]

It's not that I dislike ToMG's ending it's just that I don't think it was big enough or good enough to be an end of an era ending. I know Destroy All Monsters was technically the last Showa movie though although that ending was pretty much the same way.

Godzilla vs. Destroyah although sad and depressing had enough major events in it that made me feel that it was fit to be the end of an area.

[Viva la revolucion!]

But sad is good because it makes you think, I think Godzlla is more than a moan in a suit he's a symbol of really deep stuff.

[Goji]

I think the best ending was ToMG. It was more or less a "happy ending"; the aliens have been defeated, the earth is saved, Godzilla has conquered one of his greatest challenges, and is victoriously swimming off into the ocean.

Destoroyah wasn't particularily pleasant, I mean sure Junior comes back to life, Destoroyah is defeated, and the earth is alright, but Godzilla is dead. At least in both ToMG and GFW Godzilla had something good come out of it; in Destoroyah Godzilla's just a cloud of radioactive dust.

Yes, but the fact that it was unpleasant is irrelevant. It's still a better "end of an era" film because it was actually planned to be the last of the series, unlike TERROR, which was not planned to be the last.

My vote goes to DESTROY ALL MONSTERS for reasons already mentioned by others. DESTOROYAH is definitely second. The ending of FINAL WARS isn't any more different than it is from most of the 70's entries, so I don't see what's so special about it. I mean, I like TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA's ending, but it was never meant to be the last of the Showa series, hence the not-so-special ending.

I think the reason some people are taking things a little personally is because films like FINAL WARS and DESTOROYAH obviously pale badly in comparison to both TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA and DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, which are above and beyond, much better films than those two. Here's the thing..the topic isn't about which film is "better", it's about which did the best job of ending an era.

[Legionmaster]

The ending of FINAL WARS isn't any more different than it is from most of the 70's entries, so I don't see what's so special about it.

Because Captain Gordon gets to repopulate Japan with sexy leather-clad nymphomaniacal scientists.

"GO RIGHT INTO IT!"

[antovald20]

Hey! GxG, i think it's pretty cool that you wanna be a film critic, and your kind of flexing your critic muscles here. No wonder u leave long posts, anyways good luck with that dude.

[Goji]

The ending of FINAL WARS isn't any more different than it is from most of the 70's entries, so I don't see what's so special about it.

Because Captain Gordon gets to repopulate Japan with sexy leather-clad nymphomaniacal scientists.

"GO RIGHT INTO IT!"

Lol Well when you put it that way, it's actually pretty awesome.

[Blackout286]

I doubt Godzilla had any real understanding of the world, and I doubt he really cared about it.

What I meant by that was Godzilla died for reasons that he most likely did not understand. Everything that he knew about the world, how things died and whatnot, was thrown out of the window because he didn't understand why he was dying. I know that's how I would act if I were dying from an illness that I didn't understand and no one could tell me what it was.

The only thing that mattered to him was his territory, surviving, and much later on, his adopted son (When MechaGodzilla II came around).

And Godzilla lost all three of those in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Birth Island was destroyed, he lost his son, and he didn't survive.

Although as stated by another member, TOMG's ending was pretty ordinary, I don't dislike it, but it didn't make me feel anything and it didn't really leave me satisfied with how things wrapped up.

I would gladly take "ordinary" over "cruel and jarring".

Besides, at the time Terror Of MechaGodzilla was made, it wasn't intended to be the last Showa film, it just so happened to be the last one. Looking at the lost projects section of the site, you can see that there were many plans to make other Godzilla films after ToMG. The creators tried to bring Godzilla back, it just never worked. Meaning, Terror Of MechaGodzilla is the reluctant ending of the Showa series. It wasn't designed to be the last one.

So, for what it is, I'm fine with the Showa era ending on that high note: With Godzilla defeating two very powerful monsters with no other monsters to aid him (something he had never done before), stopping an alien invasion, and essentially being at peace with himself. Walking off into the sunset seems appropriate for that situation.

Godzilla died for reasons he did not understand, and did not know why he was dying. I think Godzilla clearly knew the concept of death (hint Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah after being gravely wounded and left for dead), I'm certain he did not understand why those small creatures were around, and why his body was being torn apart by things that were most likely too fast for him to even see from floating metal creatures in the water. Then left for dead by creatures that brought all of that chaos near his territory in the first place. Beyond that, when Godzilla himself had taken the life of other creatures, I'm positive Godzilla somewhat understood that everything had an expiration date, even himself. True, he most likely did not know what was ironically killing him, but I think Godzilla understood that he, himself, was mortal and could easily die as well despite him being a powerful force. He almost experienced death before, actually twice (If you include his near death experience against Super MechaGodzilla in which that particular movie originally was suppose to kill off Godzilla). So how things died and what not, I think he understood fairly well despite his own situation.

Godzilla did not really loose his territory, he had others areas of it hinted by films before Destoroyah, like Godzilla vs. Mothra when the meteorite struck the area Godzilla resided within. Your suggesting as if Godzilla just marked one place as his own, when, much like animals when driven by instincts, generally mark more than one place as their territory. So one territory sinking down isn't really a big lost when you have others to go to. Hell even Junior was heading back to where was originally born after Birth Island went under, so we can pretty much assume that Junior found that to be his own territory and newly labeled home when his previous one was destroyed.

Losing his son and never seeing that he was the one who resurrected and given his son new life is tragic, but since his son was brought back through his death, then he managed to save his family and leave a legacy behind. Again, yes he did not see all of that. But still, his family survived and became a symbol, and in the end, isn't that all that matters for a closure?

For surviving, I'll direct you to my first post again. Although to be clear, I doubt that Godzilla understood that he was literally dying until he started physically melting in the 1100's, then again, he was too focused on Destoroyah. So he probably didn't understand completely until he actually melted down. Before that he acted like he normally would on a normal day.

[Legion1979]

People who keep saying Terror of Mechagodzilla has a happy ending obviously haven't seen the uncut version.